The September 2014 issue of One Spirit, Many Voices is now available for upload

The September 2014 issue of One Spirit, Many Voices is now available for upload. Come read about all that is going on, get inspired, and find out how you can be a part of our newsletter and our ministry. http://inspiritual.biz/newsletters/

Submissions are accepted through the 20th of each month.

Your Inspiration

What is Inspiring you today? http://inspiritual.biz/my-inspiration/

Thought for the day

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Thomas Acquinas
http://inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

Trust and Obey

Dear Ultimate Consciousness, 

Lol. Well it is nice to know that people miss my blogs when I do not write them. It has been less than a week since my last blog and I got a few emails from people who wanted to know if I was okay. Those made me feel loved. When I write, I do it for me and sometimes even for the trash can so I do not attach others responses to what I write. It is for me and if it does some good in the world, then bless it. If not that is ok too.

The last few days have been a journey in faith. They have been a reminder of the importance of doing two things in my life trusting and obeying. Trusting and obeying the leadings of spirit even when they do not make sense to me personally. The one regret I have this week is that I did not listen to my intuition and not wear my brace to school on Tuesday. However, I did trust and obey from that point forward. I think you were trying to prevent me from incurring the wounds that I got from my brace rubbing against all the bug bites that I got while near and in the compost the past few days. I didn’t obey you then and so came home to infected welts all over my leg, which I have never experienced and my leg seemed twice as big as normal.

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Thought for the day

There is nothing more perplexing in life than to know at what point you should surrender your intellect to your faith.

 ~Margot Asquith
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Thought for the day

Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.

 ~Victor Hugo
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Song of the week

Sometimes we all need a reminder of what faith can do. This is the theme of this week's song of the week. http://inspiritual.biz/inspiritual-song-of-the-week1/

Thought for the day

Faith is the quiet cousin of courage.

~Judith Hanson Lasater
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Thought for the day

Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.

~Mahalia Jackson
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Set Your Intention

What do you intend to create today? http://inspiritual.biz/my-intentions/

Thought for the day

He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well — even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.

 ~B.C. Forbes
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

LET’S DANCE!

Faith, for some, is about the relationship they have with their Higher Power. Faith is about one’s level of awareness and attunement to the presence of the Higher Power in our everyday lives. So deepening one’s faith is like developing any relationship. That deep knowledge of what the Divine can do in and through our lives develops over time. It is about our constant interaction with our spiritual partner. Through our interactions we

Practicing faith, then, is like developing any relationship. You have to give it time and attention. We have opportunities to interact with the Divine in every aspect of our lives and with all of our senses. 

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Thought for the day

The language of faith is crucial because it affords human beings the privilege of intimacy with the ultimate. 

~Michael Eric Dyson
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Inspiration Journal

What is inspiring you this week? http://inspiritual.biz/my-inspiration/

Thought for the day

Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.

~George Seaton
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Gratitude Journal

So what are you grateful for this week? http://inspiritual.biz/gratitude-journal/

Thought for the day

Faith is a passionate intuition.

~William Wordsworth
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Our Photo Gallery

Check out the pictures of our meditation and prayer garden in process. http://inspiritual.biz/inspirituals-photo-gallery/

TWO BIRDS, A FROG, AND ME

This morning I woke up to this quote on my calendar that took me a moment to think about. It said, “One day Dong-shan was washing his bowl, and happened to see two birds fighting over a frog. A monk also saw this and said, “Why does it come to that?” “Only for your benefit,” Dong-shan said.

I know very little about Dong-shan and perhaps one day I will learn more about him, but this story seemed to resonate with me. In part because the way he answered the question reminded me of how I tend to respond to my students, always with another question or a statement, which will make them, think at a deeper level.

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Thought for the day

As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.

~Emmanuel
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IF IT DOESN’T TASTE GOOD ___________

A few months ago, we became aware of a new restaurant in our area that delivers. We became excited when we saw they had fried chicken. We decided to try it. I ordered the fried chicken dinner, which came with salad and French fries. After having waited patiently for over an hour for the food to arrive, I learned an important lesson. If it does not taste good, do not eat it. Those who know me understand I am one to look for something positive in every situation. In particular case it was a challenge to do; the delivery was amazingly slow, the soda we ordered for Zoe came with a puncture hole in the bottle and was spraying soda at us. They made no effort to even go back around the corner (1/4 of a mile away) to bring us a new one. Then we opened the food. What can I say, the salad was made with lettuce that was limp and brown, the tomatoes smelled bad, and the onions still had peel on them. It neither looked nor smelled good enough to want to eat it, so it went in the trash. The fries were still partially frozen and unseasoned. The chicken, well, the first bite told me that I did not even need to swallow it. Not only was it overcooked and under seasoned, but also it tasted as if the chicken might not have even been healthy to eat, it tasted that bad. It did not taste good, so I did not eat it.
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Song of the Week

this week's song of the week is a meditation which we do at our Oneness blessings the 1st and 3rd thursday nights. It is so powerful.http://inspiritual.biz/inspiritual-song-of-the-week1/

Thought for the day

Your heart is a sun—
Joy its stars,
Faith a moon, shining in your darkness....

~Terri Guillemets
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Thought for the day

Faith is not about everything turning out okay, faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out.

~Author Unknown
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My Intentions

What do you intend to create today? http://inspiritual.biz/my-intentions/

Thought for the day

Faith can move mountains, but don’t be surprised if God hands you a shovel.

~Author Unknown
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

THE BRACE FOR YOUR BROKENNESS

Recently, I shared with someone that every step I take is in faith. They did not fully understand what I meant. Sometimes we hear people talk about walking in faith. For me, it is not just a spiritual faith walk, but also a physical faith walk. On October 15 2007, as I was opening my office door at the church I was pastoring at, I felt a pain shoot down my right leg, followed almost immediately by numbness and a sense of shock. I also found myself going why now God as within minutes, a special guest and his entourage arrived and I was bracing myself to figure out what was going on, how I was going to lead worship, and how I was going to manage to look like a calm, cool, collected leader in the midst of this storm that was suddenly and unexpectedly raging in my life. The words which kept floating through my spirit were peace, be still. Peace, be still. Through the grace of God and the support of my wife and good friends, my car and I got home safely. 

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Thought for the day

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.

~Author Unknown
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thought for the day

As you reach for understanding, you find that your ladder of facts isn’t long enough, and you try to extend it by adding a rung of faith. Eventually you see that the task is hopeless, and you put away your ladder of facts and go get a ladder of faith.

~Robert Brault
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Inspiration Journal

What is inspiring you this week? http://inspiritual.biz/my-inspiration/

Thought for the day

Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.

~Rabindranath Tagore
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

Gratitude Journal

So what are you grateful for this week? http://inspiritual.biz/gratitude-journal/

Thought for the day

A faith of convenience is a hollow faith.

~Father Mulcahy, M*A*S*H, "A Holy Mess," 1982
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

Song of the week

Sometimes we just need to sit and listen to hear the eagle's soar. This is the feeling in this week's song of the week http://inspiritual.biz/inspiritual-song-of-the-week1/

Thought for the day

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith.

~Author Unknown
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

TRY IT; YOU MIGHT LIKE IT

Growing up, I can still hear my mother tell me, “Try it, you might like it.” It is one of those lessons I strive to remember even today. I may not have liked something when I was a child, but that does not mean I will not like it now or even 10 years from now. My wife, for example, has not liked zucchini since I met her, for no explainable reason, but that she did not like it. However, a few months ago I made a zucchini and pasta dish that she loved. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it more than anyone else in our household did and has grown to enjoy zucchini since then.

The same is true of restaurants. 

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Thought for the day

Faith is courage; it is creative while despair is always destructive.

~David S. Muzzey
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Thought for the day

Faith is like radar that sees through the fog.

Corrie Ten Boom
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Inspiration Journal

What is inspiring you this week? http://inspiritual.biz/my-inspiration/

WALK IN THE DARK

When I was pastoring, the song we processed into every Sunday was “Walk in the Light.” We never sang the whole song, nor do I think anybody knew the whole song, but they liked the rhythm and the notion of walking in the light. For a number of reasons, I have been thinking about this song quite a bit lately. It dawned on me the other day that walking in the light is fairly easy. When the lights are on, we can see details about our surroundings and others that we cannot see when the light is off. When we are walking in the light, we can see the path before us. We can see obstacles in our way. We can see the wide diversity of colors that surround us. We can see things and then associate the scents we are experiencing with them. We can see the signals that the weather is changing in the sky. We can see the clouds forming shapes. We can see flowers blooming, plants breaking through the soil, animals of all kinds feeding themselves and looking for food. We can see the plants and trees responding to the changes in the atmosphere. There is so much we can see when we walk in the light.

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Thought for the day

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

 ~Khalil Gibran
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What is inspiring you?

What is inspiring you this week? http://inspiritual.biz/my-inspiration/

Thought for the day

Faith is believing that the outcome will be what it should be, no matter what it is.

~Colette Baron-Reid
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

Gratitude Journal

So what are you grateful for this week? http://inspiritual.biz/gratitude-journal/

Thought for the day

Faith is not without worry or care, but faith is fear that has said a prayer.

~Author Unknown
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

WHAT I KNOW

The other day I challenged my readers to think about what they know, not what they believe, but what do they have that deep knowing about, that unshakable faith about. After having put that out there for people to think about, I realized I needed to do the same. I needed to articulate what I know, not what I believe. Today, this is my intent, to begin to articulate what I know and pray that the words exist to help me explain the unexplainable.

One thing I know for sure is that there is an Ultimate Consciousness in the Universe and regardless of what one believes, the journey one is on, or what one even calls this source, it exists. To discuss how one calls upon this source is something I choose not to do. It is as productive as discussing whether one calls a carbonated beverage soda, pop, coke, etc. What is important, for me, is that one acknowledges one’s source. How I have called upon this Divine source has changed over time in my life and still changes depending on whom I am speaking with about the Divine. 

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Thought for the day

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Mother Teresa
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Song of the Week

This week's song of the week reminds us how powerful our faith in the Divine can be in our lives. http://inspiritual.biz/inspiritual-song-of-the-week1/

Thought for the day

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther King, Jr
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

CONSTANCY

Last week, I wrote about consistency and one of my readers commented back to me on LinkedIn that it was also about constancy. This week, I thought I would spend some time thinking about constancy, as it is important both in and out of the kitchen. Constancy has been defined by Merriam Webster as the “state of being constant or unchanging” and as the capacity to demonstrate “steadfastness of mind under duress.” Cooking requires one to constant and at the same not be constant.  There are those moments when preparing the meal, especially during the holiday season or other major event, can seem stressful. However, in those times, one stays centered, focused, and remembers that one will make it through one more time. Watching chefs at work, you can see their constancy. Regardless of how hectic things get and how much duress they are under, that ability to stay constant is important in ensuring the quality of food, but also the ability to be present for the kitchen staff. In cooking competitions, one sees the cheftestants ability to stay constant during competition. At the same time, it is important to be open to constantly growing and evolving in one’s knowledge and understanding of foods, ingredients, preparation methods, etc. chefs can spend years perfecting a single dish. 
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Thought for the day

In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was 'Help me.' Sometimes a prayer was 'Thank you.' What I've discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away.

Iyanla Vanzant
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

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I started this discussion in the cover letter for the August newsletter. Just about every religious tradition in the world, whether they call themselves a denomination or a movement, has something one is to believe if one is to be a part of that tradition. It may be a part of their principles, creeds, sacred writing, or even spoken about as a “what we believe” statement. Each is clear on what it is they believe. A belief is the acceptance that a statement or body of writing is true or that something exists. It does not necessarily mean that you know it is true or that something exists, rather that you are choosing to accept that it is true.

Beliefs are ideas.

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Thought for the day

 “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see”

William Newton Clarke
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Thought for the day

 “Faith is an act of a finite being who is grasped by, and turned to, the infinite.”

Paul Tillich
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Gratitude Journal

So what are you grateful for this week? http://inspiritual.biz/gratitude-journal/

Thought for the day

"Most processes leave out the stuff no one wants to talk about: magic, intuition and leaps of faith."

Michael Bierut
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

Thought for the day

"[The void] It's that place in our lives where what we've been hanging onto . . . clinging to for dear life . . . is stripped away. It's that place in us where we let go of what we know, what we think we know, and what we want and surrender to the unknown. It is the place of saying and meaning, 'I don't know.' It means standing there with our hands empty for a while, sometimes watching everything we wanted disappear; our self image, our definition of who we thought we should be, the clones we've created of ourselves, the people we thought we had to have, the things we thought were so important to collect and surround ourselves with, the job we were certain was ours, the place we thought we'd live in all our lives. . . Surrender control to the supreme wisdom and authority of God and to the Divine in your soul. Step into the void with courage. Learn to say, I don't know. That's not blind faith. It's pure faith that will allow God and your spirit to lead you wherever your soul wants and needs to go."

Melody Beattie
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/

August 2014 One Spirit, Many Voices newsletter

The August issue of One Spirit, Many Voices newsletter is available for download. You can download this month's and past month's newsletters at http://inspiritual.biz/newsletters/

IT’S A FAITH THING

Last night, at our 4-year anniversary celebration, someone asked me how all this began. I could feel this little smile creeping up from inside me going, “it’s a faith thing.’ I would like to say that it began four years ago, but when I am honest with myself, I realize that I began manifesting this ministry years before I resigned from my pastorate. I remember having a conversation with a colleague who asked me what I would really like to do and I remember saying that I wanted to work with people who want to grow and evolve spiritually. I think that is when I first manifested this into being. When I told the Ultimate this is what I wanted to do, the Universe began to put everything in place for this to happen. However, one of the things that I came to realize is that I could not create this ministry while I was still pastoring and so things began happening to help me make the difficult decision to leave. While I will always care and pray for the congregation I left behind, the minute I announced my resignation I felt this wave of light and energy sweep through me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.

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Thought for the day

 “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again. Be faithful to that which exists within."

Andre Gide
http://www.inspiritual.biz/thought-for-the-day/