Rev Charli Tupper

It feels as if it has been a long time since I have written anything, my journal, this blog…  I sit and question myself, why?  The answer that comes back to me is that there is a belief that if I write, it has to be earth shaking, mind blowing, the most inspirational writing or teaching that has come along.  No ego here.  At the same time, however, there is an awareness that there is something moving deeper within that is guiding me.  The thought comes that maybe being silent has been important.  If I am always speaking, I cannot hear the voice of my own soul.

My study of the women who supported Jesus has continued to be with me.  Mother Mary is the first support.  She represents willingness and the power of saying yes.  Willingness is more than an attitude.  Willingness is the energy that opens the doorway of consciousness.  To be willing means surrendering to a power beyond us that expresses through us.  To be willing means moving beyond the thinking process.  We hear about a challenge that someone is facing and willingness is the energy that gets us off the couch to take action.

As with all expressions of individuality, there are varying degrees of willingness.  On one end of the spectrum subservience is doing what we think others want us to do just to keep the peace.  On the other end of the spectrum there is the need to be in control at all times, not only of ourselves, but everyone and everything.  Willingness is the energy that moves us into the varying degrees of these two polarities in appropriate ways.  To engage in life willingly, we must listen deeply within ourselves to the inner voice that is always guiding us.  This takes practice, courage, and faith and is not as much work as one might suspect.

In New Thought, we are taught that we are creators of our experience.  This is not just a self-serving experience of me.  Our mind which is in the omnipresent omnipotent Mind of God, creates experience and since we are all one, we create this world the way it is.  When I first came to this understanding, I didn’t want to go there.  It’s too much responsibility.  I wanted to think of myself as an Island unto myself.  I create my experience, you create yours.  When we know there is One Presence, One Power, we understand that what we believe affects the whole. Jesus said, Let it be done unto you according to your faith.  In other words, according to what you believe to be true.  If I hold a resentment against someone else, I empower others to hold resentment.  The other is true also, if I forgive someone a perceived wrong, I empower others to forgive.

Willingness is the first step in any spiritual transformation.  We express that we are willing to see, hear, and/or experience life in a new way.  This is what Mother Mary brought to us: the possibility of birthing a new way of life.