How to Be More, Do More, and Have More | Rev. John Riley

Well good morning, and what a wonderful world it is. Today is a very special Sunday as I’m sure you all know. It is 63 days until Easter, so that’s very exciting. Wait, wait. What? What? Oh, it’s Super Bowl Sunday? “Oh, okay”, says the imaginary audience. Yes, it is Super Bowl Sunday.

Where is Your Focus?

So, my question for you today is, when you woke up where was your focus? What were you focusing on? What was top in your mind when you woke up? Was it the idea, was it your dreams and your goals and the things that you want to accomplish in your world, in your life? Perhaps it was the aches and the pains that we feel in the early morning when we wake up. Maybe, maybe you were thinking about everything that you didn’t accomplish last week that wasn’t quite finished. Maybe you were thinking about everything that you needed to accomplish today before the Super Bowl started.

Wherever your focus was, just take a moment to think about where that focus was because there’s a lot of time between now and when the Super Bowl starts. It’s very interesting. We had a conversation about this last night with our family. My son Ethan was wondering why does it have to start so late in the afternoon. Here on the west coast it’s somewhere in the four o’clockish range and I think for him he would love for it to just start when he rolls out of bed and have the Super Bowl ready to go at like 10:30 in the morning.

But we decided to talk, we started to talk about “Well, why do they stretch it out and move it to the evening?” And, you know, I think it’s time for us to get all of those things we need to do before the Super Bowl like get to the store and get all of those avocados and chips and salsa and seven-layer dips and all of the, you know, 1.3 billion dollars’ worth of popcorn. I’m sure that’s what, what I was going to say, what you were thinking of. All the things that we need to do before we have those big parties and as we get ready for those parties and get all the food, even if it’s a party amongst ourselves, we try to shove it into the refrigerator and in the pantry and get everything ready.

So in the beginning, in the morning when you wake up is it always automatically rush, rush, rush? “I’ve got to go, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to get to my meetings. I got to go. And somewhere in there, I’m going to think about my goals, my dreams, my aspirations. Somewhere in there I’m going to think about my aches and pains and somewhere in there I’m going to think about what’s happening in this present moment.”

Shifting Consciousness

My challenge to you is shifting consciousness, of course, because that’s what we do here. We shift our consciousness to more greatly align ourselves with Spirit, that allness of life, love and wisdom, to shift our consciousness, to know our oneness with that divine essence and to do it every moment of the day.

And I think the best way to do it is to begin in the morning, is to start in the morning. And here’s some tips that I discovered as I was cleaning out my pantry getting ready for the big day. The first tip is to remember — first off let’s set the ground here — to remember that we are one with the allness of life, love and wisdom. As Eric Butterworth would say and I like to say, the ocean is in us, God is in us like the ocean is in the wave. Thich Nhat Hanh used to say enlightenment is when the wave realizes that it’s the ocean.

So, it’s that near to us. It’s as close to us as our breath and when we begin to realize that, that allness is breathing us and allowing us to be in this present moment. So, as we do, we need to make sure to make the most of what we have.

So often we’re looking at life in terms of what we don’t have, or what we need to do, what we didn’t accomplish, what we have to accomplish before 10 o’clock this morning so that I can get to the Super Bowl. All along the way, we’re so focused on all of the challenges in our lives. If we are looking at our dreams we’re coming at it from the perspective of “I’m not there yet. I don’t have that which I need.” So, when we focus, change our attention to first focus on doing all that we have, all that we can with what we have, we realize that in this moment you are blessed.

The Blessings in Your Life

Just look around you right now and see all of the things that you may have in your lives that are a blessing to you. Whether it’s a pet, a cat, a family member, food in the pantry, whether it’s your breath, whatever it is in your room, take a look and see how blessed you are. Because I think we forget about it sometimes, and we don’t make the most of what we have. We buy that big box of rice and stick it in the pantry or whatever it is and it gets pushed to the back as new things come. In this world and this experience of our world, in this present time when things seem to be shifting again, when costs seem to be rising, when we’re not sure what’s happening with the pandemic — it’s getting better; it’s not getting better — whatever it is and there’s shift in how we’re going to be doing business and how we’re going to be living and experiencing the world in this coming year. So, with all that shift we are looking at everything that we don’t have and everything that we want to do or need to accomplish.

But if we start right where we’re at, in this present moment with the good that we have right here and right now, then we’re opened. We have now focused on the good in our lives. As Casey talked about it, God the good, the omnipotence, that idea that is ever-present, that idea of abundance that’s always there. And if we are focused on that from the outset, that opens us up for more.

In the depths of the depression in the twenties, Charles Fillmore wrote a book called Prosperity — and it was his answer to this idea of lack consciousness — in which he said, do all that you can with what you have and as you proceed in this manner, a way will open up to do more because you’re making use of everything that you have, and you’re coming at it from a perspective of “I am good. There’s so much good in my life.”

When we come from that perspective it’s easy for us to add into that, to add more to that. So, in this process of cleaning out we need to be mindful of and pay attention to the things that will spoil. Not just the banana that’s sitting in the corner that’s slowly turning brown. What else can spoil in your life if it’s not given attention? Maybe relationships. Certainly, if we have significant relationships in our lives and we don’t reach out to people and we don’t say “You mean something to me and I’m so grateful for you. I’m grateful for your presence in my life”, then how will they ever know? Then that relationship becomes stale. It begins to decay. It becomes brown on the outside.

Pay Attention to Your Thoughts

How about thoughts? Pay attention to your thoughts. Can’t thoughts spoil? Sure. If you’re not paying attention to what you’re thinking and what’s going on in your mind, if you don’t exercise your dominion over your thoughts, your words, and your actions, you’re just allowing yourself the monkey mind, allowing that that monkey mind just run amok, you have no control over it and those thoughts will turn to thoughts of ruin and wreck and what you don’t have, and lack and limitation. But instead, take control over our thoughts. Don’t let those thoughts become spoiled.

How about those bright ideas, that the currency of Spirit brings you these ideas and these inspirations and how you can move forward and accomplish your dreams, and how you can get done everything that you need to get done before the Super Bowl starts? If we don’t take advantage of those ideas as they come to us, they float away. They’re not yours until you grab hold of them and bring them into manifestation in just a way that only you can, using that divine energy within you to bring it, to bring forth and create something good in the world, something that is filled with compassion for yourself, self-compassion, something that is filled with self-worth, something that is filled with compassion for other people, that creates good in our world.

So, don’t let those ideas, those thoughts and emotions, those relationships, don’t let them spoil simply because we forgot about them, or we didn’t pay attention to them.

Don’t Push Away Your Good

Then finally, don’t push away your good. So often we talk about this idea where people say “Well, this happened but … This great thing happened but, then this happened” and so our focus goes immediately to whatever that bad situation was. “This wonderful thing happened over here but this happened over here”. If you look at kids, this is a great example. Young kids at a birthday party, young kids whose birthday party, all these presents. The kid gets all excited. He rips apart the present. He takes out the toy. “Ah, this is the best thing ever. This wonderful toy. Oh, there are more presents”. He sets it down, goes on to the next one, the next toy, the next toy. Half hour later, all of the toys are strewn on the ground and the kid’s playing with a box. How are you like that in your life?

That’s how we all grew up. That was our childhood tendency but are we still doing it? Are we reaching and striving for all the shiny objects in our lives and then when we get them, we set them aside? “Oh, I got it but now I need something else” because we’re trying to fulfill that inner yearning for Spirit, that inner yearning for purpose, that inner yearning for expressing that good by the trinkets that are out there, by the things in our lives. We do that with relationships too. “Here’s the perfect relationship. Okay, next.” How often are we doing it?

Just take a moment to think about where your focus is, and whether you’re letting things spoil, whether you’re doing the most with what you have or whether you’re pushing away your good. We push away our good by pushing, by taking people for granted. We push away our good by not accepting a compliment if somebody says “thank you, this is what you mean in my life” or “when you said this, this was really important” or “when you did this it was really meaningful”. “Okay yeah whatever, it was nothing. It was nothing”, a great way of pushing away, not accepting the compliment. It seems like you’re grateful for the gratitude. But in our consciousness what we’re saying is, “It’s okay, I’m not worthy. Don’t worry about it, I’m not worthy”. How about just a thank you and allow it to soak in. Allow that blessing to be a part of who you are and to allow it to take you where you want to go.

The Kingdom of God

There’s a wonderful story, I think, in the Bible. It’s in Matthew, chapter 25 and it’s a parable of the talents. Now, this is towards the end of Jesus’s road to, of his teachings. He was sitting down on Mount Olivetti with his disciples and giving them a lecture, basically, talking about the idea of the kingdom of God. Jesus always said the kingdom of God is within you. So, we look at that as that knowing that oneness within us in every present moment, waking up in the morning and focusing on “Thank you, God. I have breath. Thank you for all of the wonderful things I have in my life. Thank you, loving presence, for this new day. Thank you, allness of life, for this energy that’s filling me up, for this harmonizing energy that is coursing through my body right now, that is permeating every cell in my body.” As we start you out, picture that, that harmony happening in our lives then we start to create that harmony in our lives. We start to attract ourselves to that harmony in our lives. We start to move along the path of goodness, of greatness. Looking for each step of the way and how we can bring a sense of peace into the world, into my life, how we can bring a sense of compassion and understanding to people, how we can make sure that our loved ones are appreciated without attachments.

Of course, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and it’s the day where we are supposed to say “I love you” to our significant others, whoever he, she, or they may be, and yet we expect something in return. We expect a dinner or a present or some something special to happen. Now we’re putting expectations on how well we performed with each other, how well the date went, how well the dinner went, or how much love we’re giving each other rather than just being present to each other, just being one with each other. Whatever relationship you may be in or may be experiencing, maybe you don’t have a significant other per se, but maybe there are other people in your life that you can reach out to and just say, “You mean something to me and I’m so grateful to you.” You might write a card, a thank you card, a greeting card, a welcome card. Just let people know.

The Twelve Powers

So, back to the talents. This idea, this parable was that a master was leaving town and he brought three servants before him and he said I’m going to give you talents, which was a form of money, a form of currency. And to give you an example, one talent was basically 20 times what a servant makes in a year so it’s a lot of money. And he gave talents to three servants based on their ability. So, one he gave ten. One he gave five. No, one he gave five, one he gave — oh I don’t remember. One he gave ten, five, and two, I think it was. No, one. One he gave one, two, and five. That was what it was. Ministers. Anyways, he gave them these talents and he said I will be back. When I come back, show me what you’ve done. The first one invested and so he doubled his talent. He went from five to ten. The second one invested and took, took the lead from the other one and invested and went from two to four.

The third one was afraid, was fearful about the master and what they might do and if he lost it, so he buried it, to keep it safe. When the master came back, the servants came back and said “Look, I invested what you gave me and I brought back twice as much”. “Oh, thank you, good and faithful servant”. The second one, “I invested what you gave me. I brought back twice as much”. “Thank you, good and faithful servant, and both of you will be given more responsibility according to your abilities”. The third one said “Well I was afraid and I buried it because I didn’t want you to get mad and here’s your talent back”. “Oh, you wicked, wicked servant. How can you do that? If you know I wanted you to invest it, why didn’t you? You will be cast out into the dark, gnawing and gnashing your teeth and upset”.

Now, if you took that literally, what is Jesus trying to teach us? Is he teaching us capitalism, greed? What is he teaching us? But it’s a parable that he’s talking to the disciples about. It’s a parable about how to experience this idea of the kingdom of God, that you are given talents. In Unity we call that the Twelve Powers. Dominion, love, faith, zeal, letting go, all the twelve powers that make up this idea of the Christ consciousness, of that divine essence within us. Those are all our abilities that we can use and when we use them then we are in the flow and we are given that in return.

On the other hand, if we waste them, if we hide them, if we’re afraid when we get that new idea, that new inspiration, when we know that we have that power within us to move forward but we are too afraid to, and so we distract ourselves, and so we move into a different direction. When you think about that idea from that perspective, from a perspective of consciousness, a metaphysical interpretation of the parable, to enter into that Kingdom you’ve got to use all of your abilities and it happens at any point in time that you use them. The Kingdom of God is present here and now. It is within you. It is that consciousness, that of knowing that allness with life, love and wisdom, of knowing that as Thich Nhat Hanh would say, it’s the wave knowing that you’re the ocean and then using that knowledge and that wisdom and those abilities to bring forth your good, and good for the world.

Making the Most of Your Abilities

Make the most of those abilities within you and as you do, the way will open up for you to do more and experience more and know more of that divine essence that’s within you. Pay attention to those aspects of you, those components, those powers that you are not paying attention to. Maybe it’s the power of elimination or letting go. In that letting go, combined with love, the harmonizing energy, combined with wisdom, is the power of forgiveness. Where in that do you need to put more attention? And don’t push away your good. Know that you are a living expression of the image of God, know that it is your divine inheritance, this idea, this expression of goodness, even on Super Bowl Sunday.

Allow that goodness to be who you are and to guide you every step of the way so that you are you, so that you can be you. And in being you, express more of your good in life and claim it. There is good in your world. It’s time for us to claim it, so that when we come from that experience and that knowing that we have, we’re already in a state of grace. That just opens us up to receive more, to do more, to be more when we come from that knowing that place of consciousness, of knowing our oneness with Spirit and everything else is added unto that. All of the good that we’re going to do in the world, all of our goals and dreams and even these aches and pains as I move through them, for good is there working, right here, right now. You have everything that you need within you and your expression of it comes from within, comes from that brilliant light that is who you are. Just allowing it to be, a little bit more, a little bit more bright.