Sunday: Unexpected Abundance

Hola, All! In one of my meditation cd's, Kelly Howell says that abundance can come from expected places, like a paycheck, and also from unexpected places. I realized today that I have been blessed, with money, unexpectedly 3 times recently. One time was when I was picking up trash and found a $20 bill in the gutter. Another time was when Ed and I drove our truck to Killeen to help clean up my mom's property. While there we took 2 big trailer loads of junk to the dump, unloading it ourselves (that was a stinky job). Later, my sister, Carol, sent us a check for $100 for gas and for the use of our truck! Today I received another unexpected blessing. I have been sporadically attending The Center for Spiritual Living in Addsion. Today the message (not sermon) was about the joy of giving. Rev. Petra Weldes gave an analogy using the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. She showed a picture of how the Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee from the north, flows out of the Sea of G from the south and miles later, emptys into the Dead Sea, which has no other outlet. She also showed us pictures of the lush, beautiful areas where the Jordan River enters and leaves the Sea of G. Then, she showed a picture of what the mouth of the Dead Sea looks like where the river enters it; what a difference! Because it has such a high salt content of 33%, The Dead Sea does not sustain any life such as fish and aquatic plants. The area looked more like a desert, not anything like the lush, green land surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Rev Petra talked about how abundance in our lives works the same way. When we receive abundance and practice blessing others with it, our lives are 'lush and green'; but when we only use our abundance on ourselves, our lives are like the desert. Since part of the money that The Center receives goes to support the surrounding community, and the congregation is part of that community, Rev Petra wanted to bless us by giving back to us. Bowls of envelopes were passed around, with each person taking an envelope. I put mine in my purse and didn't look inside until I was in the car. As I peeked in the envelope, there was a $20 bill looking back at me! Have you ever heard of a church sharing its blessings with its congregation in this way!! Me, neither! What a great lesson Rev Petra taught about keeping the flow of abundance going in each of our lives.
Chao for now!
Dawnie