[Developing a conscious connection to the divinity within.]

You already have it all within you. The universe of possibility, potential, and demonstration is a latent aspect of your beingness. The door to access its vastness of possibilities and potentials is your awakening to the awareness of and knowledge that the door is opened only by your own personal choice. As Jesus said, “Knock and the door shall be opened.”

Use it or lose it… what might you ask? The first awareness that comes to mind is the word “choice,” with all its ramifications. Each of us has this ultimate power for good and right knowing and living available to us. It’s just a heartbeat away to a conscious connection with the divinity that we are, that oneness with the realization that God is all there is and expresses in many forms of this thing called life.

It’s an attitude of grace and reverence based on unconditional love for self and all, realizing and accepting the nature of the divine essence that has been bestowed upon us so freely, and is truly the breadth of life.

As spiritual beings living in this human dominion, we have unlimited opportunities to get in touch with the Essence of this gift, and to become aware of what we allow to block the recognition, realization and expression of love’s presence in, as and through us.

How many times has my impatience and self-will run riot in my life? For me it seems to be a daily occurrence. As truth students following a spiritual way of life and practicing the principles in all our affairs, we become aware that, as expressions and children of an almighty spiritual force, we are surrounded by and immersed in an infinite creative power, and that we can change any situation by the way we believe and think about it. Change your thinking, change your life. Allow that creative power within you to express all the beauty, splendor and love that is available for you to call forward. As a minister friend of mine once said, “It’s nothing until you call it forth and focus your attention on it.”

The creative power is a impersonal law of action, so it is vital that we learn to apply it positively and for good rather than negatively or destructively. Consciousness is the sum total of all our experiences up to this point, how we have dealt with them, and the extraordinary vastness and effects of race consciousness upon us.

As we enter, approach and practice the essence and realm of our spiritual nature, we are given the opportunity to see and interpret all life in the spiritual light of truth. Consequently, when we do identify with the one source of life and accept unequivocally that each of us is a vital and influential component of this almighty spirit, we find that our communication with ourselves and others and all life is truly an adventure of living rather than a “sentencing and struggling” experience.

Of course this spiritual practice doesn’t come easily or just appear on the horizon of our life. Yet it can surface and be affirmative, effective and a benefit to all concerned. A trained mind and mindfulness is a much wiser choice than an untrained and scattered mind. And this basically is the core ingredient of a spiritual way of living.

Each of us is a gift of an almighty power of creation and, as such, have much to share with each other. All too often we humans get “stuck” on a mindset, because of habitual conditioning learned in childhood, which we hold onto and practice in adulthood.

I awakened to the insight that I am not my mother, I am not my father, I am not my sister, brother, husband or any of my peers. Rather, I am an individual expression and representative of a spiritual Mother/Father light presence, responsible for my own behavior, actions and responses to life. This, in essence, is what spiritual practice is all about. This practice can be incorporated in all our affairs – creative self-expression, relationships, health and prosperity. In Science of The Mind, Ernest Holmes declares “The eternal has placed itself at the center of man’s being in order that man may function individually.” What an awesome discovery, awareness and realization to accept, become and practice.

This almighty force for good has many avenues and wavelengths to broadcast its message. Because of the free choice we each have been given as individuals, however, it is our awakening and calling it to our conscious attention that determines our use, misuse, or loss of this greatest gift of life. Know thyself to be divine and let that indwelling spirit guide and direct you to make better choices and enhance you to live your best life.

Rev. Pat Cross is a Science of Mind minister, lecturer, author of Spiritual Awakenings, counselor and teacher. (727) 934-6730. – http://www.RevPatCross.webhop.biz