Prayer | Bonnie Barnard - Part 6

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Artist Julia Cameron’s Favorite Prayer by Dr. Ernest Holmes

Get this. It is mid-January and 80 degrees this morning at 9 am in Los Angeles. To a Seattle girl and a Phoenix woman, this time of year and that time of the morning is supose to be chilly. Not so. Not here. Despite the warmth, I still refuse to wear shorts and continue to wear a sweater on my morning walks. This morning I listened to an interview between Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith and Julia Cameron. It would be the sixth or seventh time I’ve heard it. Each time I listen, I focus in to Julia Cameron’s recitation of her favorite Ernest Holmes’ prayer. Today and every day I expect good. I anticipate meeting new friends. I joyously anticipate contacting new situations, which will increase my livingness. My life is an adventure. I know that wonderful things are going to happen to me. I know that everything I do shall turn into good for myself and for others. Amen. I lean into the energy of this...

Dismissing or Diminishing Prayer

I am a professional prayer. Yep, the primary way I make my living is praying for others. So it wasn’t too unusual when my hair stylist asked me to not tip her and instead pray for her husband throughout the holiday season. I did stop for a moment and wonder if she would have made the request to a lawyer to write a brief as her tip or request of a mechanic to change her oil; but prayer is often seen by people as something anyone can do (which they can) and so the request wasn’t too strange. I paused for a moment, knowing I would be saying yes and this yes would mean I would be actively praying until I knew the prayer was complete within me. “Yes, I’d be happy to pray for your husband, tell me more,” I said as the next foil scrunched in my hair. “My husband gets really depressed this time of year,” she whispered, looking around so no one would...

A Day Surrounded by Dr. Ernest Holmes

Yesterday I had the privilege of being at Founder’s Church. THE Founder’s Church where Dr. Ernest Holmes, founder of Science of Mind, blessed the church at its dedication, ministered in it for four short months and then was the focus of the first memorial service. Dr. Holmes’ writings have been influential to my spiritual growth and unfoldment. Here is a taste of his early writing from Creative Mind and Success (1919): From selfish motives alone, if from no loftier reason, we cannot afford to find fault or to hate or even to hold in mind anything against any living soul. The God who is out of love cannot hear the prayer of the man who is not love. Love and co-operation will yet be found to be the greatest business principle on earth. “God is Love.” I re-read this passage yesterday out of a book signed by Dr. Holmes and it along with several others passages felt as though it entered directly into my bloodstream. Within Founder’s Church...

If All is God…Then Why Beat Ourselves Up for How We Feel?

After my morning meditation, I turned on my computer to go through my emails. I found a blog I subscribe to where the writer felt much relief by admitting her relationship with her husband wasn’t going that well. She said the more friends she told, the more relief she felt and the more relief her friends experienced by admitting that marriage isn’t always perfect. I was struck by my perception that our culture does everything and anything, overall, to make certain emotions of ours unacceptable and wrong. Spiritual teachings tend to also do this. Many spiritual teachers suggest reaching for a higher emotion, as though the one we’re in is not holy. Others suggest certain emotions are not real, or are not of God. The small ‘t’ truth is the transitory nature of our being. As spiritual beings we are mind, emotions, body, and Spirit. Every intuitive teacher I have spoken with says they embraced all of their emotional registry as a way to access their intuition. Recovering addicts...

Faith, Faith and a Dose More of Faith

Today I am willing to let go of thinking I know everything. I see the Roller Derby of my mind, all of my opinions elbowing each other and jockeying for position. I see the ‘inner committee’ and laugh at its pushiness. I surrender to the space beyond the committee of opinions; the space that knows nothing and trusts everything. I make room for new discoveries — in the world, in myself and in others. Life is much better when I’m not a big smarty-pants. And so it is! Affirmation by Rev. Bonnie Rose, Ventura Center for Spiritual Living, November 6, 2013 One month ago today I woke up in my friend Heather’s home in Arizona, drove through three thunder and lightening storms with my car loaded from bottom to top with suitcases, clothes, salad dressings, photos, a few books, three overhead bags of toiletries, and three grocery bags of tea to land in West Hollywood, California on one of the hottest days of the year. The first thing...

The Spiritual Revival

I woke up this morning thinking about the Spiritual Revival, a two night event in the Los Angeles area. In three weeks, I, along with three powerful women, will facilitate stepping into the Field of Divine Love through prayer, meditation, chant, music, and dancing. My sister-friend Larisa Stow and the Shakti Tribe will weave music throughout the spiritual facilitation. Her music is known to create a vibration-raising revolution with their edgy blend of mantra-infused rock. My other sister-friend Gino Walker will be one of the three spiritual facilitators of the evening. She too is a powerful singer, singing from the consciousness of Oneness. Gino is also a Spiritual Teacher, teaching what she lives. Gino will close out the evening with her facilitation. I am the third spiritual facilitator for the evening and will open the Revival centering and grounding us in The Good of God. The first evening, Friday, October 18, will be held at the Ventura Center for Spiritual Living where Rev. Bonnie Rose will...