How You Can Become Resilient and Resolute in Achieving Your Goals | Rev. John Riley

Well, welcome on this wonderful day in September. And, over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been working on really the activity, the idea of moving into our divine essence and living from that divine essence in our lives, even in the face of obstacles, even in the face of stress and strain.

Judgements, Agendas, Resentments

A couple weeks ago — I have to remind myself here — a couple weeks ago, we were learning how to overcome obstacles by identifying our JARs or other people’s JARs. Do you remember that? Other people’s judgements, agendas, resentments that might be hurled towards us, and learning not to pick that up. Then in the next week we learned how to — we looked at the courage to look within, how to become paused, how to pause and presence ourselves in that one energy, that one essence of life, that consciousness that is within each one of us, and then begin to proceed and be a poised presence in our world and to pivot towards God.

So, as I — on Monday — as I started to think about what is the next step, what came to me are these words, these ideas of resilience, and resolute and resolve and then I realized resolute and resolved were the same word. So, it became resilient and — what was it? — resolute. I was thinking, okay, yeah that makes sense. We’ve got to become resolute if we are pivoting towards God and if we are trying to move forward and wanting to move forward around these obstacles in our lives, we really have to make a resolute stand. We have to really become, decide that we are going to do that. We have to make up our mind that we are going to live in that expression that we are talking about. We have to choose to be that light. Innately you are it. Tag. No tag back. I am already it. But we forget. We don’t always remember that. We are not always shining so we really have to become resolved in our mind that we are going to be that.

So, as we run into these obstacles, we talked about that idea of making a change. We bump into it. We might have to turn around and go around it, we might have to go over it, we might have to go through it, we might have to change our direction altogether. When we become resolute, we really have to look at and think about, “Is this for my highest good? Is this goal that I have, is this yearning that I have within me, is this direction the right direction for me at this time?” Because a lot of times, I think for many people, we become a little complacent. We have our dreams and our goals and it’s like “Well, that is for next year. That is for after COVID. That is for, we will do that in a couple of years.” We become complacent, kind of get stuck. If it’s really where you need to go, if it is where your heart is pulling you, the things that you want to do in life, the things that you want to accomplish or what you want to achieve, then if it is really that important to you, then become resolved in God to do it. Decide that you are going to be that essence. Decide that you are going to express that power of will within you to move forward. Decide that you are going to take that step, whatever that step may be.

Be Strong and Courageous

This was inspired for me by the quote by Joshua, chapter one, verse nine that says, be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Spirit is everywhere present. As Jho said, it lives and moves and has its being in us. God can do no more for you than God can do through or as you, for you are the feet and the hands of God. We just have to decide that is what we are going to do. We have to make a choice that says, “Yeah, that is who I am. I am going to keep moving forward. I am going to keep my eye focused on that divine essence, on that energy, that love.”

As I was thinking about that I’m like, wow, I’m really in my head. There is a lot of heady stuff in there. And that word ardent came to mind. Ardent. I had no idea what it meant. I kind of knew what it meant, so I had to look it up. What is this word ardent? Ardent really comes from the Latin word, it comes from the idea of fire, of passion. So, it’s like ah, that was the head, resolute, now ardent is the heart. Be joyful. Be one. Be expressive. Be that presence. Be that joy in life. If this is where you want to go in life, if this is who you were meant to be, do it. Okay, goodbye.

The words that came to me, of course, were from Matthew, chapter twenty-two, verse thirty-seven. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. So, the head and the heart have to be involved if we are to shine our light, if we are to be that expression, that divine essence of who we are. It’s simply a choice to say “I’m going to be that passion for life. I’m going to be that passion as that energy of Spirit moves through me in all that I do. I’m going to be that excitement and I’m going to be joyful about it.” It’s a choice.

As I was practicing this during the week, I’m like, okay, on Thursday my daughter Erin and I — you may remember I spoke about her a few weeks ago; she is going to UC Irvine — so we packed the car the night before, the van. Everything is in there including her bike. We got up Thursday morning. We drove down to Irvine. If you have ever driven down I5 it’s a lot of nothing. It’s a lot of farms, a few scary places of cows. It’s just like, straight down with a lot of trucks whizzing by. So, I’m driving down this road thinking okay, why am I, what is the purpose, and then the purpose came to mind. I am bringing her to school. I am launching her on her next chapter in life. Then it became a joy. She had the playlist going on Spotify and we were just jamming the whole way down. It was fun because we chose it to be, because we decided that it was going to be fun. As I drove back yesterday by myself, I said okay, I am going to choose for it to be fun. It felt like it just went by so quickly, that seven-hour drive. It just felt like it whizzed right by. Normally at the end, at the last hour, I am gritting my teeth, I can’t wait for this to be done. I was like, ah, I’ve got this. It’s because I was concentrating and focussing and writing my talk or thinking about my talk and thinking about this idea that it’s a choice.

Choosing to Be Resilient

We have to choose to be resilient. We have to choose to be ardent, to have that flame within us, then live from that and allow it to be. So, I thought as I am going through this, I thought “Yes, I’m going to be all passionate, I am going to be excited, I’m going to really drive things going down, and oh my life is just going to be on fire.” You know what I found out? The reality was I had moments of that, and I got stuff done, and I was excited about it. But most of the time, when I was ardent in heart, I felt lighthearted. When you are ardent in heart and really own that fire that is within you, own that divine essence of love that emanates from you, you become light in heart. That proves it. Just let them do their thing. Bless you, firetruck. When I became resolute in mind, in decision and deciding this is what I am going to do, everything took on an effortless approach. I did stuff but it wasn’t like, oh I’ve got to do this. It was like, oh, here I am. Life just became effortless. It became so much easier when I made that choice to turn my eyes, turn my heart, turn my head towards that divine essence and allow that to be my guide.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

The quote is “seek first the Kingdom of God and then all else will be added unto you”, and this is what Jesus was talking about. Seek first that consciousness of knowing your oneness with that divine essence of life, love and wisdom, that infinite flow. Choose to be a part of it. Seek first that expression and experience of love. So, when I did have those frustrating moments, because we are going to have them, it doesn’t mean they all go away. Those obstacles still come but when I met it, I met it with a little different look. I did, I took out my notes and said okay, what am I supposed to do Riley, Rev. Riley? I am supposed to pause. Okay. I’m paused. Presence myself. Yep, there is only one God. There is only one God. There is only one God. Become poised. Maybe tomorrow. So, it took a little bit of time occasionally. Right. But I allowed it to be. I allowed my thoughts to be my thoughts. I didn’t go down the blame, shame and guilt spiral. I allowed my feelings to be the feelings. I didn’t shove them down and suppress them and I mostly didn’t explode them onto other people. Mostly. Sorry. But most of it was just that process of okay, I will get through it. This is just an obstacle. I’m finding my way around it and then sooner or later it’s like okay, I reframed the situation completely.

First, I became resolute to reframe it in my mind, to know that there is some gift here. There is something that I can learn from. There is something I can take from it. Then I reframed my heart, brought it back to love whenever I started to feel resentment or frustration. I brought it back to love. I brought it back to love for self. I brought it back to love for the other person, for the situation, for humanity, just even if it was just a little bit of a little opening. As I continued to do that, again, my heart became lighter. My thoughts became lighter and effortless. It became easier for me to flow through that experience. I am resolved in the mind of infinite intelligence. I am resolved in the mind of infinite intelligence. I am going to say that one more time and invite you to affirm it.

I am resolved in the mind of infinite intelligence.

Together:

I am resolved in the mind of infinite intelligence.

That was alright. We will try another one. See if you can add the ardent to this one. I am ardent in heart. That’s a tongue twister. I am ardent in heart. Energetic, enthusiastic, filled with zeal for life. I am ardent in heart. Energetic, enthusiastic, filled with zeal for life. Would you affirm that with me? Together:

I am ardent in heart. Energetic, enthusiastic, and filled with zeal for life!

Oh, you trailed off. Just that last part. Filled with zeal for life. With an exclamation point. Together: “Filled with zeal for life!”

You’ve got to really own it. Why not? Life is too short to be bored. And then resilience. I think that as you become and as you make that choice and you align your thoughts with that one Presence and Power and you align your heart, your energy, that energetic experience with that one Presence and Power, with that Spirit flowing ever through you, with the sum and substance of all that is. When you become aligned you become more resilient. You are able to dodge and weave. You are able to be more flexible. You are able to make changes and to continue down your path, to do it with enthusiasm, with joy, even in the face of those knuckleheads. Do you know the ones? Nobody knows the knuckleheads. Good for you. Sometimes there are knuckleheads, according to my judgments of them. What that resilience does is it really activates that power within us of faith, that even though we don’t necessarily see what is happening out there, even though we can’t see the way through. We may not be able to identify with our goal or our dream or be able to know what is happening, but faith is that knowing, that deep inner knowing that, for shorthand, God’s got this.

The Idea of Faith

Rev. Dorothy Pearson, who was a favourite amongst Unity ministers for many years, would often say the words, “I am in the realm of I don’t know. But God does.” That is that idea of faith. Faith is the confidence, assurance that what we are, that which we hope for, a conviction of reality, of things which we do not see. That faith is the confident assurance of that which we hope for, in conviction of the reality of things that we do not see. We become that experience. We use that power to just know I’m heading in the right direction because my heart is light, because my thoughts are clear, and every step will be revealed to me as I go.

Now you know me. I like to have, I like to use acronyms right, so it’s easier for you to remember. So, Resolute, Ardent and Resilient. RAR. You are very kind. Yeah, I was worried about that one. Some people might want to go with the heart first. ARR, and in that case it’s like a pirate. ARR. Well at least you’ll remember it through the week. Let’s move to our affirmation. Our affirmation is on the screen. I am going to read it once and then invite you to affirm it with me and just note the exclamation point at the end.

Resolute in mind, Ardent in heart,

I am poised and unwaveringly centered in God.

With clarity, I navigate my course.

I AM Resilient!”

Together:

Resolute in mind, Ardent in heart,

I am poised and unwaveringly centered in God.

With clarity, I navigate my course.

I AM Resilient! 

And so it is.

Thank you all for being here today. What a joyful blessing it is to be with you. Have a wonderful week.

Prayer for Protection

Now for our Prayer for Protection. Together:

The Light of God surrounds us;

The Love of God enfolds us;

The Power of God protects us;

The Presence of God watches over us;

Wherever we are, God is!

And, all is well. “

Have a wonderful week. Love and blessings.