Retreat Forward Into Spiritual Enlightenment

You hear about taking retreats for your spiritual enrichment and personal self care all the time. But what about taking a :Retreat Forward?” “Retreat forward” into your greatness. We’re not kidding!  We’re encouraging you to retreat forward into the person you are meant to be.

This  may sound a little like an oxymoron — “Retreating Forward.” How can we retreat forward you might ask? But think about it. What is means is to take a retreat from your busyness, from all the worries and activities of daily life, so you are able to catapult forward toward your greatness. It means making time to create that daily practice of Silence — retreating into the sacred domain of the Divine — so you can emerge at a whole new level of awareness, launching yourself forward toward a life lived from the Truth of who you really are!

You have the power to dramatically change your life;

• To turn your life completely around if necessary;
• To be the kind of person you’re meant to be
• To engineer a future that is happy, healthy, and fulfilling;

Each and every one of us has the wherewithal to achieve incredible, phenomenal, stupendous, and lasting success in whatever we do.

Sounds good doesn’t it? It’s probably something you’d expect a Unity minister to say. It’s certainly something you’ve heard motivational speakers promote thousands of times. What’s amazing is, it’s true! It’s always been true. The thing is, we’ve forgotten how powerful we are because we’ve forgotten who we are.

In Genesis 1:26 and 28 scripture says God says, “Let us give humans dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over the cattle and wild animals, and over every creeping thing upon the earth. 28. And God blessed humans and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and have dominion over all that moves on the face of the earth.”

Here’s a Spiritual perspective of that passage:

• the earth always represents our physical body or the consciousness of our physicality.
• fish represent ideas;
• birds stand for our higher thoughts;
• cattle  equates to compliant, herd consciousness (camels weren’t mentioned because they hadn’t gotten over the evolutionary hump yet — sorry, we couldn’t help it!);
• wild animals are our untamed or undisciplined instincts;
• creeping things symbolize our limited or destructive perspectives

So, we have complete dominion over our ideas, higher thoughts, compliant attitudes, undisciplined instincts, and even our destructive inclinations. We have control over the earth – our physical body — the consciousness of our physicality! Take a moment to absorb the power of this awareness!

In Daniel  4:3 we are promised that our dominion is to “endure from generation to generation.” Romans 6:14 affirms that our error thoughts will have no dominion over us.

To “Retreat  Forward” means going into the Silence – which means connecting with our Christ Nature – which means becoming one with the Truth of us – which means claiming our power through prayer and meditation, affirmations and visualizations. It means we’ve got star dust in our DNA.

If we don’t retreat forward it’s difficult to have dominion because we’re coming from  coma consciousness instead of Christ Consciousness. Coma consciousness is the worship of outer appearances. It’s giving dominion to material things. It’s denying our divinity or taking it for granted. It’s looking for hamburger when we have steak at home (the hamburger being worldly appetites, the steak being Spirit).

And dessert! What about dessert? How many of you eat dessert with every meal? How many of you eat a couple of desserts? How many of you have ever eaten dessert first? How many of you have used dessert as your meal? My favorite desserts are home made cherry pie and corn bread in milk. And all of the above apply! Here’s a dessert story for you:

 After a three year battle with cancer an 84 year old woman was told she had stage four cancer. This courageous woman called her minister and told him she wasn’t giving up, she was just giving out. She was a faithful truth student and was ready for her next assignment. She explained how she wanted to make her transition.

She told him what songs she wanted sung, what scriptures she wanted read, and what pictures she wanted displayed of her family, accomplishments, and interests.

Then she said a very strange thing, “Pastor, I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

“What?” he countered. “A fork?”

“Yes,” she chorused. “Let me explain. Whenever I went to potluck dinners at church I always kept my fork when they bused the tables because I knew that the best was yet to come. The best I’m talking about is dessert, things like apple pie, chocolate cake, and ice-cream. So, when my relatives and friends see me lying in state with a fork in my hand I want you to tell them I’m doing that because the best is yet to come.”

We believe that when you:

• Choose goodwill over ill will, the best is yet to come.
• Forgive others and even yourself, no matter what they’ve done or you’ve done, the best is yet to come.
• Do not confuse your self-worth with your net worth, the best is yet to come.
• Are willing to give up a lackluster career, an unfulfilling relationship, or possessive wealth, the best is yet to come.
• Do the right thing, the best is yet to come.
• Move from won’t power to will power, the best is yet to come.
• Retreat forward into your greatness, the best is yet to come.

So, keep the faith and keep your forks because when you truly embrace your Divinity, when you behold the Christ in others – and yourself, when you thoughtfully and enthusiastically retreat into your greatness, the best is yet to come. Retreat Forward as you walk the spiritual path on practical feet!

About the Authors: Combine a flair for the dramatic, a deep understanding of metaphysics combined with the teachings of Jesus, and a zest for ministry, and you have defined Revs. Bil & Cher Holton, the dynamic duo who serve as co-ministers for Unity Spiritual Life Center, Durham, NC. They are prolific authors, and share their metaphysical and spiritual principles through their website: http://www.TheMetaphysicalWebsite.com

Read more at Spirituality… Enlightenment on the Edge