God's Hands

I wrote the majority of the content of this post prior to election night; however as I read through it again just now, I realize that it is relevant. Whether you are one of the millions who felt sad and disappointed at the results of the election or one of the millions who celebrated, this applies equally.

While I hesitate to anthropomorphize God as I do not wish to support the concept of God as a deity, I believe it is apropos to say – you and I are the hands of God on Earth. In fact we are the expressions of God on Earth who are here to care for the manifest world. In the creation story in Genesis we are told that God gave humans dominion over the “lower” life forms. This does not mean that we are to have control over them, but that we, as the “higher” life forms, are to care for them. These include animals, plants, water and our environment.

It also includes our human brothers and sisters. Those of us who are blessed to enjoy privilege in America and the freedoms and bounty provided to us must care for those among us who are not as privileged as we. We, as God’s hands on Earth, are not intended to only be concerned with maintaining our own well-being and positions of privilege at the expense of those who are not like us. This applies to all who differ from us in physical or mental abilities, nationality, race, gender, religion, and sexual or gender orientation.

We must awaken to the awareness of God in and as each of us and know our unity. We must hold each other in the Truth of our Oneness. We must speak and act from our awareness of our unity, so that we can truly manifest the kingdom of God – Peace, Love, Joy, Equality and Equity – upon the Earth. We must accept that God – Love, Life, Harmony, Order, Peace and Love – can only be demonstrated through our will and actions.

In light of the above, I trust that what follows will not seem trite. I share it as an example of how something simple can be a source of awakening.

Last Friday, I decided it was time to rake the leaves in the front yard. Those who know me know that I do not like doing yard work. When I asked my inner Knower why I don’t like yard work, it came to me that I was shamed and guilted into doing yard work when I was a teenager. And although I begrudgingly did it when my father gave me little option, I resented every minute of it.

That seems to be a common reaction among humans. When we do something motivated by shame or guilt, we feel resentment.  As I reflected on my leaf raking experience, I recognize that as I began my endeavor, I was indeed being motivated by the demons of guilt and shame.

I was having friends over for dinner on Friday, and I felt embarrassed that they would drive up and see the leaf-covered yard. I had the thought that they would judge me negatively for not keeping the yard clean - further evidence that guilt and shame were my motivators. And, yes, initially I resented spending part of my afternoon raking leaves.

However, as I progressed in my leaf raking, I realized that I could have a different attitude about this project. It was one of those ‘V8’ moments. You know the ones when you smack yourself on the forehead at the realization that you could have made a completely different and more life-enriching choice.

I was reminded of what my friend and Unity Minister, Karen Romestan, who serves Unity on Greenville in Dallas, said about giving attention to their aging building and the amount of time it was consuming. She referred to it as “ministering to the building.” When I thought of my leaf raking as ministering to the property and to the Earth, I had a complete change of mind and heart. In that moment, I saw my effort as an act of service.

I saw my leaf raking as serving the Earth, the neighborhood and Unity Spiritual Center Denver as the property adjoins the parking lot and is owned by the center. My change of mind allowed me to see my efforts as serving order and beauty, as well as giving to something greater than myself.

As I continued to rake the leaves into piles, I witnessed the beauty of the leaves waiting to be bagged and placed with the compost collection bin. My heart felt lighter knowing that the leaves were going to be composted, as I see that as being of service to our planet and the environment.

The simple act of raking leaves last Friday proved to be a valuable life lesson for me. It reminded me that I am here to be in service. I am here to be in service to God, the Source of all creation, as I serve creation. This includes serving humanity, animals, the Earth and our environment.

I am also here to be in service to God as the Truth of my being. Every act, when approached from the desire to be in service to God, takes on an entirely new dimension. Nothing is done from a sense of shame or guilt. There is no resentment. There is only the free-flowing of love through acts of kindness and service as expressions of the God I am and in service to the God in and as all life. It truly is God serving God.

Keeping in mind that she wrote her books in the early twentieth century and used language in referring to God that we most likely would not choose today, H. Emilie Cady, in her book, How I Used Truth, states this idea eloquently. She says,

Your hand is God’s hand. My hand is God’s hand. Our Father reaches out through these, His only hands, to give His gifts. We have nothing to do with the supply. Our part is to pass out the good freely and without ceasing. This we can do only by making a complete consecration (so far as our consciousness goes) of our hands, our entire being, to the service of God, the All-Good. When we have given anything to others we no longer consider it our own, but recognize it as belonging to them. So, this conscious consecration of our hands to God, helps us to recognize them as God’s hands in which is (no longer “shall be”) the fullness of all things.

As we move though this coming week, I encourage us all to ask ourselves…How can I serve today? How can I serve God as me? How can I serve God as you? How can I embrace more fully the God I am, so that I am giving freely from the eternal flow of Source that is the essential nature of who and what I am?

I encourage us to think less about the ways we can be served, less about how we can get what we think we want or need. Instead, give what you would like to receive. We can only truly know that we have something once we are free to give it away. We can only know love when we know that we are love, and we can only truly experience love when we dare to give it away without expectation of return. As Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth said, “I can only know myself as I know myself as the self-livingness of God. I can only really know myself when I know I am ‘in the flow of life’.” ¹ God can only flow freely as me in service when I cease asking “What’s in it for me?”

Let us consider more what we can give, rather than what we can get.  May we affirm as the prayer of St. Francis states, “It is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying [to the needs of the adverse ego ²] that we are born [into the awareness that we are] eternal life.”

Join on Sunday morning at 10:00 as we explore together what it means to be in service as God’s hands in the world.

¹ In the Flow of Life, Eric Butterworth

² The Revealing Word