Today I am celebrating the journey.  I am celebrating all the journeys I’ve been on to get me to where I am today, and I’m celebrating your journey too.  I sit here this morning having spent a couple of hours working on my talk for Easter Sunday.  

A bit of background:  in Centers for Spiritual Living land, where we teach this thing called New Thought (not New Age) we go back to the original languages that were used to express the wisdom of the day, and we also take into account the culture of the time and the fact that words meant something different back then than they do today. Did you know, for example, that sin originally meant “miss the mark?”  It was referring to archery, when you shot your arrow, you missed your target.  You made a mistake.  That’s it.  I once tried to explain this to a farrier who then asked me, “if that’s the case, then where is the accountability and the responsibility?”  I tried to explain that it was within each and every one of us, and wasn’t about being worthy, it was about recognizing our mistakes, taking action to correct them without blame and shame, then moving on and trying again.  He was having none of that and he was beginning to get angry, so we dropped the topic and he finished up working on my horse’s feet in silence.  We never spoke of it again although that guy continued to do my horse’s feet for several years.  

What does all of this have to do with celebrating the journey?  Well!  We all have journeys.  And we all have had, at times, very bumpy rides.  And we all are at choice.  We can choose to fight the journey every step of the way and stay stuck, or we can choose to embrace it, learn from it and move to ever greater heights.  

I got the opportunity to visit yesterday with some folks I’ve known for 35 years.  They showed me photos of myself way back then.  And I remembered the ride back then was pretty bumpy.  I had met a group of people who had already taken that bumpy journey, and they were smiling and happy and their lives were filled with laughter and positive activities.  I didn’t know that was possible back then but they showed me. They would drag me along to social things like potlucks and picnics and I would maneuver  myself so that I was still there, sort of, but removed enough to not feel threatened by anyone.  Because back then people were a threat to me.  I couldn’t talk much back then.  I know, I know.  I’m making up for it now.  All part of the journey.  The point is, I refused to blame and shame.  I went in desperate to learn a new way to live, and those people showed me by example, and today I get to talk and be with people and enjoy them and experience all the wonder and joy that life has to offer.  

So yeah, I’m celebrating the journey.  And the only way we get to celebrate our journeys, instead of regretting them and blaming others for them and shaming ourselves because of them, is to go within and examine ourselves and learn.  And correct our course, and begin again.  In this way we get to celebrate. So yeah, today I’m celebrating.  

I’m working on a talk about new beginnings, the metaphor of Easter.  I’m once again exploring what others have to say about this, folks like Ernest Holmes and Joseph Campbell and a few others.  And I’m hoping to weave a nice little story about journeys, although what downloaded this morning described the journey as a climb up a ladder.  That’s a journey too!  And with each rung up the ladder, we get to stop and celebrate our willingness to embrace the change presented to us, to not blame and shame but instead to see change for what it is:  a call or a catalyst that wants us to move ever higher in consciousness.  It never stops, this journey.  Oh, we can stop it anytime we want.  All we have to do is resist the call.  And then we get to stay stuck.  Today I’m celebrating that I didn’t resist the call back then, and I haven’t resisted it since.  I hope it’s been the same for you.  I hope you are not stuck, but instead rising ever higher in consciousness, continuing to enjoy life more and more.

Your affirmation for today: Today I embrace the changes in life, knowing that they are always a call for me to rise ever higher in consciousness, and I celebrate the journey.