Minister's Letter for April 2025
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A Call to Take Action
As I thought about what I might write in this month’s article and the theme for the month, I walked out into the garden in my backyard and my Red Bud is in full bloom with its pinkish colors lighting up the blue sky! Then I looked at the yellow of the daffodils and the bright blue of the Hyacinths. Wow, how amazing! Then I thought of the Persimmon Tree across the street that is in full bloom and the tulips jumping up out of the ground. The Colors of Spring are so amazing! For me they are a call to take action! To smell the flowers, to dig in the soil, to remove the weeds, to spread fertilizer and to cut the grass; well in my yard it is mostly Henbit, a weed. I am called to take action; first to figure out how to spell the word Ferocious! Because Henbit is a ferocious weed trying to take over my yard; but its red blossoms are so pretty, and it grows everywhere. In the process of trying to figure out how to spell that word, I discover it is a nutritious edible wild flower, native to Oklahoma!
What? First, I am typing about how the Colors of Life are so beautiful, and how they are for me a call to take action! Then I am typing about how Henbit is a ferocious beautiful nutritious edible wild flower native to Oklahoma. Talk about the spiraling nature of the mortal mind! What is it reminding me to do? To pause in this moment now and engage the Faculty of Spiritual Discernment! Spiritual Discernment is one of our Twelve Spiritual Faculties, and it is one of the themes for this month.
This scenario, reminds me of how God (Je-ho-vah, the breath of life), realized that the Garden of Eden needed someone to care and tend to it. So, the Infinite One created Adam (who represents humankind and the mortal mind), then escorted Adam around the Garden of Eden. At the center of the Garden of Eden were two trees, The Tree of Life, and that other tree that gets all the attention. According to ancient scriptures The Tree of Life has twelve fruits on it which will nourish our bodies and our souls. We are to eat freely of these nutritious fruits and according to those ancient scriptures, one of the first fruits we are to eat is the fruit of Spiritual Discernment.
So, what is this fruit of the Spiritual Discernment? Well, that is a very good question, cause it ain’t utilized very often! One reason is because this fruit, this spiritual faculty is also called Judgement and it is also called Wisdom, whose definitions got very confused over time. In the beginning the word Judgment, meant to pause in this moment now, to discern what we were to do, what action we were to take, and to seek to see and understand how the different pieces of a “puzzle” were to fit together and to seek a greater insight. The word wisdom originally meant the same thing, but over time the meanings were changed. Judgement was to judge someone good or bad, like when we bit into the fruits of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! And wisdom was a word utilized in the same way, and both words internally meant we were claiming to be better and smarter than those other guys. We were and are living in a State of Judgement, that I often call Nod, which means Place of Afflictions.
So, as you read through Unity’s Literature on the Faculty of Spiritual Discernment, you will often see these two words – Judgement and Wisdom – interchanged with the teachings of Spiritual Discernment. The faculty of Spiritual Discernment is located in the Solar Plexus – the Gut, which is directly underneath the rib cage. Ever have a gut feeling? As we are moving along on a spiritual journey it is one of the first four spiritual faculties to be engaged. Faith, Strength, Love and Discernment, when consciously engaged they will guide you in each step you take, pausing in this moment now and feeling the Life Force flowing through you. You will know what to do. Sometimes it will simply mean to be still and contemplate.
Namaste I see the light moving in You! RevDocPatrick
