"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever." (Psalm 23: 5 & 6; King James Bible Version (KJV). "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3: 5-6; New King James Bible Version; (NKJV). "...for in Him we live and move and have our being," (Acts 17:28 to comma; NKJV). "Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." (Words of Christ Jesus; Luke 17:20-21; NKJV). "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" (Philippians 2:5: NKJV).
During this Thanksgiving season in the USA and many other countries, we turn our thoughts to the good things that God has brought to pass in our daily lives. Sometimes, we feel that we have little reason to be thankful, with the dysfunctional political divisions, failing state of economies, terrorism, and just plain unhappiness of the citizens of our various nations in general. Such unhappy and desperate times 'out there' in the externalized, material assessment of things, brings forth a sense of futility, abandonment, and fear. We feel desperate and miserable because we run out of options with which to meet, and solve, our individual and collective problems that occur when income streams dry up, countries are at war, and governments fail us. Yet, despite this dismal scene before our eyes, we do have options when something bad happens to us, in any way, shape, or form. We have options because of one, very important fact: Our true Source of all good is found in the invisible kingdom of God, which dwells within the conscious awareness of every individual on this planet. This innate, inner consciousness is often referred to as the 'Christ Consciousness' because it is the universal, spiritual consciousness within us all. This deeper, inner consciousness of reality is the mind that was 'also in Christ Jesus' (See quote at beginning of article). This spiritual consciousness is within all God's children and is our very link to God. Thus, because the universal Christ Consciousness dwells within each of us, there is still reason to recognize, honor, and thank the divine, loving Spirit of God for all the options that exist on our behalf. Through Its infinite options, divine Spirit continues to bless Its entire creation, despite all appearances to the contrary that turn up in the outer world of form and action. Here is a recent experience that illustrates what I'm saying about God's ever-present options: Earlier this year, a young couple found themselves in an unfair position when a company failed to complete a project for them, even though a contract had been signed by both parties. This company simply stopped action, with no explanation, right before the finish product was due to be delivered. (The couple thought that the company, due to the falling economy, was possibly backing out of its agreement in order to raise the earlier, agreed-upon price.) Although the law was on the side of the couple, it would take a lot of money to sue the unethical company and waste another several months of time. The couple felt helpless and trapped, with no way out. They would lose time and money, no matter which way they turned. For a brief couple of days, they felt like victims without options. Discussing things over, the couple realized that God was never out of options, and since they could never be without God, they really couldn't be out of options themselves. They decided to trust the Almighty to care for them. Soon, the thought unfolded to hire another firm to finish the project, even though that firm was located in another city. They decided to trust this new directive as God's possible way for them to follow, so they contacted that distant firm. Within twenty-four hours, a representative of that company drew up a contract with the promise to move swiftly. Within less than two weeks, the whole project was done, and with a product that was superior to the one that the first company had promised, but failed to deliver. So, the couple was delivered from the unethical practice of one firm, to a far better situation with another. How many times in this human experience do we feel like we're trapped and out of options? How often do we feel abandoned to a fate that we can't seem to escape? The answer is: just as often as we forget that there is a higher Authority caring for us, who is never out of options. In times of trouble, our loving Father/Mother God has infinite options, (choices and ways to bless us). Deep down within our spiritual sense of things these divine options are always present within our Christ Consciousness. And when trusting in God's care for us, whatever option we need at the time, comes forth in thought, unfolding to us what action we should take in order to fix our earthly experience. Because we 'live and move and have our being' in that infinite Mind we call God, we have infinite options to heal any sense of lack of good we could imagine. So, in order to experience the healing presence of God's options, we must first realize that God exists, despite the fact that we don't perceive deity through the limited, physical senses of perception. If we don't believe in God's presence and loving care, we won't wait for, nor detect, the solution that unfolds in thought from within our deeper, spiritual consciousness. When we absorb the fact that the finite universe of physical form merely symbolizes the forever, spiritual universe of God's creating, we are on our way out of the difficulties. For, it is not in the physical sense of things that our true answers come. It is in the spiritual universe of God's creating that the presence of life, health, supply, opportunity, harmony, time and space exists. That's why Christ Jesus said that the kingdom of God is "within us" (Luke 17:26; NKJV). It's within our own conscious awareness of it. The heavenly kingdom is the true (spiritual) creation of God, who is infinite Spirit. That's the kingdom where all of our forever-options exist. That's the invisibly-present kingdom that has never left us. That's the kingdom which still awaits all of God's seemingly earth-born children, who are really the forever-children of Spirit, and no one else. When the metaphysical (rather than physical) view of reality starts to beckon us, a spiritual awakening is beginning. The absolute sense of materiality (the outer world of form) as reality begins to slip behind the awareness of something invisibly present and active. That is when finite materiality, with all its seeming laws and mortality, begins to lessen in our thoughts, replaced by our spiritual sense of life and all being. That is the awakening that brings to thought the everlasting, spiritual, universe of God's creating, which exists right where the outer world of form seems to be reality, but is only a temporary deception of being. Our true, everlasting reality is spiritual in substance and form. Whatever is material in form is subject to decay and annihilation. Yet, from our deeper sense of being, we can perceive that our spiritual soul is never trapped in a finite, material body form, to begin with; thus, we can't really die out of a finite body form. Our everlasting, spiritual identity, which lives and moves and has its being in God, Spirit, doesn't need a vulnerable form to occupy. So, while we are wandering through the desert we call this material existence, we tend to accept it as our true reality. In the belief in materiality as reality, we tend to forget that God is Spirit, and thus invisible to the physical senses. Yet, invisibility isn't proof of God's absence. Many things are real, yet invisible to the senses. But relying upon physical laws and beliefs, through all the twists and turns of this temporary, material sense of being, and thereby leaving God's infinite options out of our lives, we miss the benefits and deliverance from the earthly troubles that assault us. Christ Jesus was trying to teach humanity the way out, not of materiality as a real state of being, but out of our collective BELIEF in materiality as the real state of being. To set aside God, Spirit, is to curse our own sojourn here, in this physical experience (which is only a temporary, collective illusion of life) when we could have had all the good that lies beneath the surface of the material façade. So, when it comes to the many evils that can assault our daily lives in this temporary, material experience, there isn't a day gone by that we don't need to know that we are never trapped, nor stymied in any human situation. We need to know that the evils of this world can be overcome. And that is why our realization of God's loving presence is so important. It is just plain self-defeating to dismiss God, who is connected to our own inner, spiritual being. We must never leave God out of our daily lives, which can be fraught with peril. For that loving, infinite Mind and Heart of divine Spirit, is the One who is never out of options.
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