Thank you. We are truly blessed by your presence here with us today. Today's talk is all about, are you dancing? Are you dancing? Are we still living in the past the past of grief? After this year of being alone, being separate, are we willing to dance? Because life unfolds in many moments and we put those moments together and we create and manifest what we think we love and who we are. And what's our real truth. Are we filled with sorrow for what is gone by those old days? Are we standing in the crossroads taking a new path, a new way in Unity, we say, one of our guiding principles is thoughts have creative power to determine events and attract experiences. So what are we determining? What are we manifesting? What are we attracting/creating? So I'm going to sulk in sorrow and in grief, because it is part of who we are, and it is going to be with you ebbing and flowing through your entire life. I'm going to ask you to put on some music dance, even if you're dancing from your chair, from the pew, from the bed, wherever it is, lift up your life to that higher vibration. I'm going to ask you to do it right now. Stand up and dance.
(Music plays)
You can have a seat or you can keep dancing. I'm not making light of where we're at, but I am saying there's a different path for each of us. Grief is universal and it's difficult. All our attitudes and beliefs are tested and have been tested this last year, this last 16 months, we've all been pushed. I know I have. Maybe I'm the only one, but what did you make of that time when you were at home, totally alone for some of you? I still had my family that was with me through the process. And I had this community that was with me through the process, even though we were connecting online with the folks out there and you guys were all out there, we still had each other. So what are we really grieving for? I think it's for joy. I think it's for living. And what did you make of the last 16 months? Judy, this beautiful soul spent the last 16 months being creative and manifesting as you'll notice her outfit matches her mask with her dress. That's what she manifested during COVID, and more than one of them, right?
What did we really manifest? Because we are an ism of the bigger world, right? Whatever is happening outside of us is happening inside of us. And we are carrying it outward. If we don't find a different method to change our belief in what the outer really is, they're going to be in it, whatever it is. So we can be in that grief, we can be in that sorrow. Sometimes we have to be where we can live and dance and be the rebirth of ourselves. So what is it that you haven't done?
You hear a lot about there not being enough servers in restaurants or at the bars are in the stores that we don't have enough people to work. You hear that a lot. But what if during that 16 months people took an opportunity to change and they taught themselves new skills and they got different types of jobs where they're working from home. They're being creative in different ways instead of at the store or at the restaurant, serving your food.
Is that possible? You hear a lot that people haven't come back to work because you know, they're still getting their benefits, whatever they are. I don't know about you guys, but if you've ever received unemployment benefits, it's kind of a joke. You can't survive on it. You can't live on it. So why would people stay in it? Right. I really believe that a lot of folks have found new ways, manifested new lives and jobs. I also believe that people don't want to go back to what, whatever it was before, because they realize now that wow, life can be so filled with joy.
Having time to be is joyful. When you're caught up in the materialistic energy of the universe, you don't always get that joy every day. It can get real humdrum to show up at the office with all the gossip and all the negativity, instead of being pure, joyful, right. And letting life flow. So living in the flow is really, really important. We have to let go of the idealistic images of the past, which we've had falsely created. They don't really exist, right? Because when we were in it, we weren't happy. And so if we recreated, are we going to be happy again? Are we going to be happy? No, we're not. We have to remember that the Christ within does the work that's our job is to connect with that Christ with that.
It's also our job to care for each other as love and light, no matter what's going on in the outer world, we have to stand in our truth and be loved. When we're interacting, we interact as love. We have to interact directly with those that we have a problem with. So if I have a problem with somebody, I need to go to them and say it. If you've got a problem with somebody, you got to go. Because if not, then you're creating all this chaos in the universe. Right. We all know that, but we do it anyways. Okay. But recognize what you're doing. You got to live from that Christ self, right? You got to live the truth that you truly are. You got to live the love.
I was asked last week why I was trying so hard to keep this community alive. What a question, what a question to ask a Unity kid that has been a part of this community for 61 years that has been loved and has loved in this community. Why would I not? That wasn't a good enough answer. I had to really think about it. Why am I the one to carry us through a pandemic, God forbid, and then to whatever else is coming our way that we don't even know yet.
So I really thought about it. And the answer that I have is that I was born into this beautiful community of spirit, to hold love and light this community, and those who have passed through the doors are a part of me. And I am a part of them. And it has given me true love and joy. I want this community to be alive, to give back to the children who show up to be loved and to stand in truth and to be light that are yet to come through our doors. And I don't mean just the babies that we're going to christen here in a minute. I mean, all God's children, because we are a community of love. And if we can't be that, then we need to close the doors and go home.
