Rev. Arlene’s Blog

Rev. Arlene Meyer, our Minister, posts mid-week messages on this blog. Come back often to read her inspiring and thought-provoking posts. Learn more about her.


The Power of Gratitude

During these times it might be easy to slide into fear, depression, frustration, etc. but those emotions are not life-affirming and do nothing to make things any better.  There is, however, something that is guaranteed to push away the blues and make you feel better, not just emotionally, but physically as well.  That something is gratitude!

Gratitude is one of the best tools we have to resolve whatever difficulties we are going through.  For most people, 90% of their life is good and yet so many people tend to focus on the 10% that is not.  It is a spiritual law that what we focus our attention on, we draw to us.

Therefore, when we focus on the negative, we attract the same.  That is why it seems some people seem to have “all the bad luck” and some “all the good”.  I personally know this is true because I used to be the kind of person who always saw the bad in my life and could not understand when more of the same came my way.

Then I began to study spiritual principles such as gratitude, positive outlook, the law of attraction, and the more I practiced these attitudes, especially gratitude, the more good seem to come my way.

This does not mean that we do not have times where we may feel down or stuff does happen to us, but we do not own it.  If I am facing financial challenges, I affirm that God is my Source.  I may not win the lottery, but I am not consumed with fear.

Try practicing gratitude on a daily basis.  When things look bleak, do not think about them but think about all the good in your life and see if your life doesn’t start reflecting back positive feelings into your life.

As someone once said, you have nothing to lose, if it does not work, your misery will be refunded to you!

Quote of the Week


 Douglas Wood


The Power of Order

What do you think of when you hear the word order?  

Order, one of the Twelve Powers that we all have within us, is not just about whether or not we have a neat or messy house, it is about how we internally harmonize, balance, and adjust to what life brings us.

It is interesting that humankind, the highest form of life, seems to have so much difficulty establishing harmony, right relationships, and orderly growth, while the animals, plants, and birds go right along living as they are intended to live – unless their world is changed by an outside source (humans).

The Monarch butterfly is a perfect example.  It has an amazing order within that ensures that it will not overpopulate or vanish.  However, as a result of people destroying the milkweeds the butterflies depend on for their existence, their population has decreased by 90% as the milkweed fields have also diminished by 90%.

As their outer world became in disorder, their inner sense of order was also threatened.  The same can happen to humans.

The times right now are in disorder and as a result, many people are feeling their inner sense of disorder threatened.  The harmony, balance, and ability to adjust is slowly giving way to fear, confusion, and uneasiness.

The solution is that now, more than ever, we need to take care of our inner selves.  We can do that through prayer, meditation, being physically active, connecting with others (from a social correct distance), and remembering that the things of the physical world are not permanent. Only the things of the spirit truly last.  Take time to be grateful for that which you can never lose.

Quote of the Week


Thomas Merton


The Power of Will

Have you ever noticed how you can have amazing willpower in one area of your life but in another, it can be really weak?  We all have the God-given faculty of will, and when we combine it with the faculty of power, we can do amazing things.

Why is that?  Why doesn’t God do it for us?  One of the things that separate humans from other animals is free will.  By having free will, we get to use our decision-making power (will) as the governing force of manifestation through choices we make every day, minute by minute.

With this choice of how we will use our will, we can accomplish many positive things in our lives – whether it is overcoming addiction, accomplishing a difficult physical task, or reaching for a dream of ours.

This combination of power and will, mixed with love, cannot only overcome challenges but can allow us to use our free will to align with God’s will for us. When we do this, we are truly living in the flow.

Quote of the Week

Victor Frankl


The Power of Understanding

Does Understanding mean the same thing as knowledge?   We often get understanding and knowledge confused.  Knowledge comes from learning things, but understanding is about comprehending something at a deeper level.

The dictionary defines it as: comprehension; personal interpretation; a superior power of discernment; enlightened intelligence.

So understanding is essentially about comprehension, it has to do with perspective. Our understanding is always dependent on our individual perspective and it has to do with compassion.

It seems to me that in our world today with all its challenges, we all need to be more understanding and to be more compassionate.  Understanding also means to “have a disposition of empathy and consideration for others.”   

Certainly, we need to become more aware of other people’s perspectives and feelings.  When we come from a place deep within, our God center, we can understand that we are all part of the same family – the human family. 

Understanding allows us to be tolerant and without judgment because we are coming from a higher consciousness.  If we all took the time to come from that space rather than our egos, we could change the injustices of this world.

Quote of the Week

 Understanding is a spiritual birth, a revelation of God within the heart of man.” H. Emilie Cady


The Power of Words

When you hear the word Power what do you think of immediately?  Often people visual physical power like superheroes like Superman or Spiderman or having the ability to do something.  There is however another kind of power, the kind that we look at when we study the Twelve Powers and that is the Power of the spoken word.

Anyone who has ever been called names as a child or an adult can attest to the fact that words can hurt as much as physical force.  Words have the ability for good and bad.  They can stir up people to do great things as well as horrific things.

How much attention do you to give the words you speak?  Every word we speak – not just to others – but also the ones we tell ourselves, can help to keep us down or to allow us to soar.

Here are three questions to ask yourself before you speak that are attributed to Socrates.

Is it true?

Is it necessary?

Is it kind?

Ask yourself these simple questions, not just about what you say to others, but also the words we say to ourselves.

Quote of the Week


Yehuda Berg