Emergence

For months, a tedious stop-and-go drive to work frustrated my friend Jim. Then one day his CD player beckoned, and it wasn’t long before Jim’s perception started to change.

Instead of dreading that long commute now, he finds himself looking forward to his favorite music and inspirational recordings.

His blood pressure dropped and his work performance even improved, all because Jim turned his immediate environment into a playground — just as philosopher Eric Hoffer described: “It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal setting for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.”

Jim puts it his own way: “Stop seeing the journey as empty. Instead, have fun on the road.”

If you want new things to happen for you, then try putting your world together in a new way. It is eye opening how much a new arrangement of existing elements can transform everyday life.

My friend Libby left a long-term job to enter a world that released untapped compassion from her soul. Her new career draws on earlier education; long-term interest in elder care; and her ability to train, manage, and inspire others.

Libby now directs a cozy cottage designed for the special needs of 16 dear ones living their later years with dementia. She calls it her “life of sacred purpose.”

“I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. Had you asked me why, I could not have explained,” she said.

In moving away from the certainty of top-down goals, she rearranged her life to emerge from within.

Jesus said, “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time.” (Matthew 10:19)

Even in extreme situations, the whisper of such inspiration will be heard — if someone listening.

In 1909, a teenaged Robert Stroud went to jail and was never free again. His violence continued in prison, and he ultimately would spend all his adult life incarcerated, much of it in isolation.

From the grueling prison conditions of the time, there would be no reprieve for Stroud, but he managed to change his own perceptions.

His shift began when he rescued injured sparrows from the prison yard. He followed with intense studying of bird health, experimenting with cures, and authoring texts and scientific articles that earned him respect far beyond prison walls.

Stroud had become the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz.”

What prison walls do you sense in your own life?

So much of our perception is ruled by rigid expectations. Traffic jams, for example, expected frustration from my friend Jim. Climbing the corporate ladder expected focus on the next rung from Libbie. And prison life expected bitterness and violence from Robert Stroud.

Until they changed their reality by choosing different expectations.

Openness and trust — “let go and let God” — show us the unexpected choices that really are close at hand, once we are open to seeing them. Invite God to lead you to the emergence of new life and joy.

Rev. Mindy Lawrence
Unity Church of Christianity
Houston Texas
713.782.4050
mlawrence@unityhouston.org

Rev. Mindy is available to perform custom ceremonies such as weddings, christenings, and memorials at your chosen location.