Commitment

The subject matter for this week’s message is Commitment.

In other words... we should honor ourselves and be responsible for our decisions by keeping our word and sticking to our intentions.The mighty FOLLOW-THROUGH.

Our world today is a place of extreme haste, too much to do and too little time to do it all in.  

        Or is it???

Why is it that some people cannot manage to get the simple basics of day-to-day life completed and yet other people seem to have very successful lives accomplishing so much.  They work hard; they play hard; they have time for family; they have time for relaxation and recreational sports; they find time for entertaining; not to mention their hobbies and other leisure time.  Do they just do everything ‘partially’ or do they do it ‘poorly’ because they have too busy a schedule to complete everything?  Or is there some other trick to their full lives? 

     If so, what is the trick?  

Early in life before the age of 10 many of our lifestyle patterns are created and made permanent in us. Most people develop both good and bad patterns but what is important to understand is that some of these patterns are based on the circumstances we found ourselves in during these early years.  Some may have had bad experiences that resulted in bad patterns being repeated over and over again in our lives for 50 or 60 years.   Let’s talk about those patterns.

Today's message is not about living a full life but it is about the patterns we develop over time. Seriously we have all developed patterns that RULE our ‘day to day lives.’  Yes, all of us have.  So, let’s look at our days objectively and see how these patterns repeat over and over each day, every day, day after day, week after week, month after month and naturally so because by now they are familiar and predictable patterns which feel very comfortable to us.  

    Comfortable yes, but understand comfortable is NOT necessarily GOOD...  

Let’s put this on a more personal level. How many of OUR "collection" of patterns are preventing us from attaining all the glorious things we see in other people's lives like a better job, a more successful career, a fulfilling family life, time to go fishing or hiking, a book published, helpful things done for others, hobbies, traveling, scuba diving... and the list can go on forever...

    What has happened to OUR dreams?

When do we intend to do all those things that we have always PROMISED ourselves we were going to do. Here's the wake-up call dear friends... 

IT IS OUR PATTERNS AND HABITS THAT DICTATE HOW WE LIVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE OUR LIVES... UNTIL THE VERY END, WHEN IT IS OUR TIME TO LEAVE THIS PHYSICAL EXISTENCE. 

So how do we remove the negative patterns and habits and replace them with positive habits and patterns.   There are a number of different things we can do like Spiritual Response Therapy, Theophostic prayer, affirmations and something that really works well for all, setting goals. Let’s decide on the end result we would like and then plan our goals carefully.  We’ll plan small goals that follow one after the other until we have achieved what we’ve set out to do. It won’t be that hard. We’ll just take Baby Steps! 

Now,getting back to patterns,here is the tough problem: Too many of us have developed negative patterns like “I don’t feel good” or "I don't feel like it" or "I will do it tomorrow" or "I will get to it later" or “I can’t start that unless I have the time and circumstances to do it the right way” and so on and so on.

We all need to recognize what these patterns are about?  MAINLY what MOST of us lack today is self-discipline.  We can change.  Does it seem so hard to force ourselves to do a little bit today and every day?  We will take baby steps again that will soon enough result in something that will bring us a lot of joy and fulfillment in our lives. Think about it, the only thing that stands between us and ALL our goals and good intentions is self-discipline.

    OR,let's look at it another way, “How much does OUR WORD mean?”   

If we say to our parent, or husband, or child that we are going to do something, do we make a point of doing it? Do we keep our word?  

What’s our answer?

Yes Always - Sometimes - Seldom - Only when I want something

 How about ourselves?  Certainly we can respect ourselves right?  We can say to ourselves ,” I respect myself.” and believe it? We honor ourselves right? You care about YOURSELF don't you? And I care about MYSELF.  So when we promise something to ourselves, do we keep our word?  WE always intend to keep our word... but do we? I didn’t bring this up to make us feel too bad.  We are certainly not the only ones.  The point is though: Few of us keep our word.  That is why our lives are such a mess. 

Let's really think about this. If we don't keep our word to ourselves, do we truly respect ourselves?  If we don’t truly respect ourselves  can we truly honor the SPIRIT within us, our SOUL and our whole being.  Can you see what I’m talking about?  We must realize that a promise to ourselves is not a trivial matter at all, but is in fact a promise to our God and Creator.

If we make a promise to anyone and we consider that we are making a promise as a physical representative of our Spirit, and as a representative of The Creator who dwells within us, maybe then we will take our promises serious enough to in fact HONOR those commitments. Our WORD will in fact MEAN EVERYTHING. Our WORD is our promise, our commitment... WE SHOULD HONOR IT.  And by doing so we will honor OURSELVES and we will HONOR JESUS CHRIST AND OUR CREATOR.

    IT’S A NEW Beginning...  Starting Right Now...

From this day forward, our WORD IS our EVERYTHING. We may sign contracts in print to satisfy the fears and concerns of others but as for us, OUR WORD IS OUR EVERYTHING. If we say we will do it, it is written in stone. From this day forward, our WORD will honor both our own Soul and our Creator.  

On that note, we need to think first and be clear and sure about SOMETHING before we casually give our word or promise to do it. This is serious business. We will find that we feel a new sense of self-respect once we have put it to the test. Let’s be careful what we promise and when we do make a promise, let’s place it at the very top of our priority list to get done.  We should do whatever we say we will right away if at all possible. If not, then we must make the time in the next few hours to take care of that promise. I think we will feel exhilarated that we will have re-discovered our self respect.

We also need to be conscious of our feelings and not promise something just because we feel pressured to say YES or agree to do everything. When we remember that our WORD is our promise and with it we MUST honor our Soul and our God... Then we have time to think about something before casually saying: "OK, I will do it" or whatever the case may be. We should never feel bad to say "NO". We are responsible for our lives and what happens in them.  If we want to live in integrity then we must make firm decisions as to what goes and what does not. 

Now as for the rest of our lives, we’ll start the process slowly and develop a game plan.  Let each of us make a list of at least 5 things we want to accomplish in the next 2 months.  They need to be things that are realistic, reasonable and attainable. Don't put "buy a new car" on your list if you are currently in bankruptcy proceedings. That would be unrealistic.  Also, we must set a reasonable time limit for each of our goals to be accomplished in. 

That should get us started.   Once we’ve set these simple goals, just 5 to start with, we are ready to test our WORD.  Let us go about our day as we should, but this time instead of allowing the old patterns and habits to dictate our day, what and how we do things, let’s take a step back and observe ourselves and our daily experiences.

We must look for our ‘patterns’ at play and particularly NOTICE the ones we don’t want, the ones that don’t fit our goals. We should become very aware of these patterns and "see" how it is we get caught up in life. Instead of LIVING by design we are guilty of existing by repetition. Let’s not forget our short list of  goals (or we can call them promises made to ourselves) for this week. There’s no need to speak of them or mention them to anyone else.  We’ll just place them at the top of our priority list and make sure, come rain, fire or broken down car, that we fulfill those promises ON TIME. 

I know that when we will do this we will feel elated and encouraged to do it again and again the next week and the next and so on. Let’s take it from here and make a new list every week and stick to it. I believe we will discover a new found self-respect and our Spirits  will rejoice that we again honor them by and with our actions.  We will be starting to live impeccable lives based on healthy values and truth, and saying good-bye to illusion and the old negative habits that have governed our lives so far.

   Our goals and commitments are ours to choose...

However, while here on earth, WE have only so many years in which to do what we came here to do.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking there will always be time to start this later.  None of us know if we will even be here tomorrow or not.  We need to start immediately and quit wasting precious time. We must allow our true selves and the spirit within us to emerge and become dominant in our lives. We need to allow our Souls to become an active part of our daily lives. We are here for one reason only and that is to grow spiritually. There is NOTHING on this earth more important for us at this very moment. NOTHING....

Your Mission this week if you so choose:

Read the following  prayer at least 3 times this week. FEEL it... AND  MEAN it !

^----- Feel free to modify this prayer to suit your personal needs^{. -----}

I call upon you now my Creator and I ask for your Love & Light to shine brightly into my Heart this day as well as all the days of the year ahead. You have led me to this opportunity for transformation and I thank you for working in my life in this wondrous and mysterious way.

I stand before you now with the deepest commitment of, and to my Soul and to You, that I will grasp this opportunity for transformation and that I will follow through and keep my word. I give my WORD this day, my solemn promise that I will take time out of every day to absorb as much of these teachings as I possibly can. I give thanks and place trust in You that You will grant me the means to grow spiritually as fast as I possibly can, every day becoming more ready for the unveiling of my Life's Purpose. I wish to honor You and honor my Soul by fulfilling my Life's work to the best of my ability.  

I hereby request that my individual and unique purpose be revealed to me as soon as I am ready. I trust that all that I may need to complete this purpose will be provided for effortlessly, when and where it is needed, to complete my work. 

It is my deepest desire to "allow" my Soul to become the active, permanent expression of who I truly am in my daily life. I now invite my Soul to merge with my body and anchor permanently in this physical body so that I will always be grounded in the Spirit and in Your Love.  

I wish to permanently emanate Your Divine Love & Light wherever I go. I now make myself, this body, my be-ing, available to You so that You may use me as a vehicle of your service, a conduit for Your Divine Love & Light, a vehicle through which you can touch the lives of all whom I meet with your Grace and Unconditional Love.  

Guide me and teach me to be the purest vehicle for your service that is attainable. It is my intent to always follow Your Light and Divine Guidance as I continue on my spiritual journey ahead. I will do You proud.

Your Son/Daughter ________________

                                    ^{(fill in your name)}   

SO BE IT...  Now & Forever... (AMEN)

Let’s not forget our short list of goals for this week.  There is no need to speak of them or mention them to anyone.  We will just place them at the top of our priority list and make sure, come rain, wind or fire, that we fulfill these promises to ourselves on time.

Next week we will have new material that will continue building on last week’s and today's messages. Let’s integrate what we have learned this week as fast as we can so that we will be ready for next week message.  

I wish all of us well on our week ahead. May our Creator bless us richly and may we be guided so that we will experience a radical transformation. All we need to do is "allow".  Let us "BE" our TRUE Selves this week ahead, and let’s not let the old self take control any more. May God bless us with great insight and growth during the days to come.

Blessings, Reverend Sharra