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Sunday, May 27, 2001
Dolly Parton - "Get
off the cross. We need the wood."
"Life
is Good, All the Time," but this life is also short when we
put it in the  perspective of eternality. In Religious Science we
know that we are ALWAYS experiencing
ourselves in this world. In other words we are always
"choosing" our experiences. We can choose Joy, Love and
Happiness or we can choose their opposites. We can
"choose" to release those things that distract us from Joy,
Love and Happiness or we can create a long-running soap opera and stay
with whatever it is until the bitter end. And probably end up
embittered, disappointed and blaming everyone and everything around us -
but the person who really did it to us - ourselves!!
I love Dolly Parton, she is rich with humor, rich with Love and rich
with Joy. Oh, yes, she has had her crosses to bear, but she
climbed down from them and moved into a larger experience of Life.
She did exactly what each and every one of us can do - if we choose it. But,
we must choose to "get off the cross" that we are bearing and
get into the "spirit of living." We do this by releasing
whatever it is that disturbs us and move on with Life. So many of
the things that we think are oh-so-important turn out to be of little
importance in the long run. So many of the things we fear, never
happen! So many of the things we think others "think"
about us, they don't - they are too busy dealing with their own
miseries. So, let's get over ourselves already and start living in
the idea that Life Is Good - All The Time.
A little boy went up to the Pastor of his church
and told him, "when I grow up, I'm going to give you some
money." The Pastor was touched by this and replied,
"that is a very nice thing to say, but why?" The little
boy replied, "because my father says you are the poorest preacher
we have ever had."
We must be willing to learn from everyone and everything. We must
be willing to be open to the world around us and see it as beautiful and
supportive. We must be willing to laugh at ourselves and at the
dramas (past) we have created in our lives. If we want a future filled
with re-runs of the same dramas, we can just keep doing what we have
always been doing, we can just keep thinking the same way and I
guarantee you, we will get the very same thing - maybe it will appear to
be different - but it will turn out the same.
Lighten up! Get into the Spirit of Life! Let go of the
"baggage" that does not bring you into an experience of
greater Joy and Happiness. Give it up for more laughter, more fun,
more of every Good thing! Give up being sick - the things that
make us sick don't go away while we're sick. Give up being poor -
escape the prison of poverty and open our minds to new opportunities and
ideas. Give up the tears over old relationships and open our minds
to new ones - filled with more love and joy! In other words,
according to the beautiful Dolly, "get off the cross - we need the
wood." Our troubles and burdens don't serve us. They
never did and they never will. We can learn the lessons of Life
just as easily through faith, hope and joy as we thought we could from
struggles, challenges and fear. If the horse is dead, get off!
The Prayer of Jabez: "Oh that thou
wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine
hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil,
that it may not grieve me!" And God granted him that
which he requested - joyfully!!
And
So It Is!
Letting Love use me
in Its own Good Way,
Henry Lee
Bates
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