Su Podraza-Nagle
Sunday service, January 28, 2024
Good morning to those of you here in the Sanctuary and those of you viewing through technology. Welcome.
Rev. Deb is on vacation for some much-deserved R&R and we know she is going to have a wonderful time.
Before we dig in and get started, I just want to put in a little plug for a special day that’s coming up and you may want to know about.
It’s coming up on that time of year. In a little over two weeks, the day will be here when secret admirers and those in love express their feelings with special cards with heartfelt words of love and sometimes, precious gifts. The colors of pink and red will be in vogue, chocolate will BE the major food group, and florists and other stores will sell out of flowers. Especially roses.
It’s the day of love and admiration.
This will have clarity near the end of my thoughts. And as always. There will be homework…..
Today and in the coming couple weeks, we’re going to explore the topic of Love. How we come to invite love in and experience it, what it looks like as one of our 12 Powers, and then seeing it all around us.
Unity Truth students know the Principle of Mind, Idea, Expression.
Today and in the coming weeks, we will become familiar with self love, loving others, loving God expressing. Or, Philautia, ((phee-lav-TEE-ah,)) Hesed and Agape.
The Greek word, “Philautia”, in English, is self love. The Greeks understood early on that in order to care for and love others, we must first be able to direct these emotions inwards. It may seem obvious, but the relationship we have with ourselves is the one we’ll be in the longest.
Today, we are going to invite love in and experience it. Let’s see if we can begin to fill ourselves up.
In Matthew 22:39 in part it states, …..you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
For some of us, our love meter may be a little low. So how can we love our neighbor?
Remember that airline safety instruction at the beginning of every flight? Many of you may have heard me talk about this before. When the oxygen mask drops, put one on yourself first and then put one on your child.
The word LOVE is both a noun and a verb. It is an intense feeling of deep affection, and to have a great interest and pleasure in something.
In order to assist in the reconnecting of your- self love,
Here are 3 gifts I would like to give you today.
In the book, “The Sacred Human” by Jim Rosemergy, he states,” The first gift of love is acceptance.” Some of us may be hard pressed to accept this gift.
We find it truly challenging to accept ourselves as we are. Instead, we chastise ourselves for not being good enough. For some, this can happen before our first cup of coffee!
Be open and receptive to the gift of acceptance. We are good enough as we are. When we have filled ourselves with Philautia, ((phee-lav-TEE-ah,)) or self love and we can go higher. Right here, right now, meet we meet ourselves where we are. Acceptance.
Affirm “I love this person I take myself to be. I accept with love, who I am. I love me.”
The second gift of love is appreciation.
Appreciation for who we have come to be. Each of us are unique, we have different talents, life travels, life experiences different stories to tell. We all come from different walks of life, and have different life experiences. We have come so far on our journey. That is no small feat! Take a look in the mirror within and appreciate the wonder that you are!
Honor that small voice inside that says, it’s time to rest. Be patient. Take a timeout. A bit of self- care. Rev. Deb is the perfect example of expressing self care right now. 3 weeks of per bliss!
Remember, we are spiritual beings having human experiences. We have gotten into this crazy habit of human-doings instead of human-beings.
Accept the gift of appreciation and honor yourself with selfcare.
Affirm: It is with all that I am that I accept this gift of appreciation!
The 3rd gift, of love is Gratitude
Accept the gift and practice gratitude for the body carrying us around. It’s the only one we have. What are we grateful for? The heart that keeps beating without fail. The lungs which function without thought. The brain held tightly so that we are able to think, talk, reason, share emotion, and so much more. Having gratitude for our skin which protects us. It’s the largest organ we have and it is deserving of our gratitude. The way it heals itself when injured! Wonders of wonders. Bless and love your body with exercise, perhaps a massage, meditate and as one of my favorites, take a nap.
Affirm: I am grateful for this magnificent piece of wonder called my body. I will whisper affirmations of love toward my body and it will respond.
Three gifts of love to get us started on our way to filling our love center full.
Acceptance, appreciation and gratitude.
Start today. Create affirmations just for you. Write them down and place them in strategic places around your home and car. Buy yourself flowers and a card, write a poem to yourself and then mail it to yourself. Remember to have self care moments. Pray, meditate, nap or exercise. Write down your life experiences and share them with a friend.
Be gentle, kind, and loving toward yourself for that is the only way we can start to love others. We need to fill ourselves with love. It’s an inside job. Let’s start today.
Let’s start right now by singing our way into meditation…..
We bring our attention into this moment focusing on our breathing as we just relax
Breathe in realizing behind each breath who or what breathes us.
Focus on your heart center spreading the pink light of love
Think these thoughts as I say them to your heart center.
I love this person I take myself to be. I accept the love of who I am. I love me. I breathe in the gift of acceptance.
I am part of everything that is all that has been or will ever be.
It is with all that I am that I accept this gift of appreciation! I breathe in the gift of appreciation
Love is reflected in love
My body is an amazing gift. My years on the planet have taught me how to listen to, and take loving care of my body. I am in vibrant health.
I breathe in the gift of gratitude.
In the silence lets’s repeat the gifts of Acceptance, appreciation and gratitude. In the silence, repeat these words to yourself.
And now for some homework
Here's an exercise that I gave us all a couple of years ago that we can practice again for the next couple of weeks every day for the rest of this time that we're together, look in the mirror of your home, we all have one see yourself. Really see you. Hug yourself like you love yourself. Say the affirmation, God is love this love surrounds me in this love I safely dwell spend about 30 seconds just for you to love you.new line See and feel that love radiating inward and outward for some of us, it may be a challenge but you got this. You can do this. See the beauty of love shining through as you as you challenge yourself to complete this exercise release any thoughts of it's weird, awkward, embarrassing, goofy, or uncomfortable.