This is the time of year when we reap what we sow during the festive holiday season, and we rely on New Year’s Resolutions – with a firm resolve – to get back on track. For many of us, getting back on track means shedding unwanted pounds.  But this is one year that I’m not worried about weight because months ago, I put God in my diet.

Namaste,

Cecilia Loving

Oh I see more of us in Carroll Gardens cast in leading roles as “The Help” – strolling down Court Street with our noses held high.   Haughtiness is sometimes a coping mechanism for those who have the decent but thankless task of caring for white babies who will likely grow up to remember ”the help” while refusing to hire the brown children left to raise themselves.  (I’ve heard one — which was one too many — say that the only thing we can do for them is clean their houses.)

My mother and a good many mothers and grandmothers were “the help,” so that we could get advanced degrees and earn the right to good-paying jobs that gave us the opportunity to contribute the “book sense” education gave us and the “good sense” our parents gave us – informed by the ”God-sense” the Holy Spirit gives us.  But when I look around, I see fewer of us in the big city at the big company holding down the big job.  So what happened?

Well The National Women’s Law Center  says more black women lost their jobs than any other segment of society since 2007.  Even during the so-called economic recovery period (2009-2011), the unemployment rate for women actually increased rather than decreased.  Black women, the Women’s Law Center reports, who are at the head of the black workforce and at the head of most black families, continue to lose jobs. At least 475,000 sisters have lost their jobs since 2007 and those are only the ones who had one in the first place.  Few of us went to go work for Oprah.  Even the one who was hired to run OWN (meaning Oprah’s own network – not yours) was kicked to the curb.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming O for not doing for us what we can do for ourselves.  She’s a living testimony that we have the power to build our own empires.

The surveys indicating no job growth for sisters never give a real perspective as to whether we fell on our behinds, got pushed to the edge or kicked to the curb.  It seems to project the behavior that one white male New York Times writer urges: use the “recession” as an excuse to do what you never had the courage to do in the first place (e.g., fire people you want to get rid of and perhaps never wanted to hire).

But God is a Brown Girl Too is not about what other folks can do to help us.  It teaches that we have the power to help ourselves.  So the challenge this current dilemma blesses us with is figuring out how can we “help” lighten our load, help ease our burden, help enlarge our territory and help step into our greatness.  The question carries within it the assumption that whatever we do for others, we do for ourselves – and vice versa.  I help everybody; it doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is.  But my sisters and brothers are definitely at the top of my list because I know that we need help the most.

This is the first part of a seven-part series on what we can do to “help” ourselves: help us reach our goals, help us recreate ourselves, help us build the empires that we are destined to build.

Put God, Love, Jesus, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Ra, Divine Mind, Universe, Source — or Whatever You Call the Kingdom Within — FIRST

This is not about semantics.  It’s not even about religion.  There will be different religions as long as there are different personalities.  I don’t argue religion; it’s a losing proposition.  But I do urge us all to realize that we are here to love one another.

If you call yourself a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, or affiliated with any other faith, you should know that God is Love.  We have to love ourselves because in so doing we realize the presence of love as us, reverberating through every aspect of our being.  We can only be as loving to others as we are to ourselves.

Love is the only thing that will heal every wound, ease every pain, and conquer every enemy.

When we put love first, the universe (love) puts us first and we receive the good that we desire.

This means that we can’t be hard on ourselves.  We have to love every inch and every cell of our beautiful bodies – every delicate hair on our heads.  We have to love our minds and all of its attention to detail and memory.

We have to love our souls and our mission, our purpose here on earth. This sounds more simple than it is.  But if you see, hear or read anything in the media, it does not support our love of  ourselves.  Black women are marginalized or even demonized rather than celebrated.  We are not cast in most television shows or movies.  We are seldom in books.  And most of the images of us are not flattering.  We are usually denigrated as less than, unworthy, lusty, nasty, addicted, assimilated beyond recognition, or just “the help.”

That’s why I love what Toni Morrison said: write the book you want to read.  Tell the story you want to hear.  Make the movie you want to see.  Otherwise, you won’t be starring in it — unless you’re The Help.  (Footnote an exception to this is my all time favorite Halle Berry kicking butt as Catwoman and making love to Benjamin Bratt — I know why some folks didn’t like her strutting her stuff, for the same reason I watch it everytime it comes on — cheering Halle on through every powerful butt-kicking scene.)  We suffer from fibroids and high blood pressure and diabetes and so many other ailments – because society has blatantly kicked us – the “help” to the curb and we are so busy celebrating our starring role that we fail to realize the joke is on us.

We kick ourselves to the curb — repeatedly foresaking our own power rather than embracing ourselves with so much love that our uniform falls off.  We need to love ourselves enough to at least realize we don’t need flat butts or skinny thighs or blond hair to be beautiful.  We were all born as beautiful children of God.

We just need to start loving one another — as well as ourselves without a single ounce of contempt.  There never has been any room for hatred — especially in this so-called enlightened age.

If you don’t love yourself – with all of your imperfections and your hopes and your wish lists, you cannot love your sisters, brothers and all humanity.

[To be continued in Part Two . . .]

Even though it was not as dramatic, my own experience was also invasive, disruptive and horrific.  Instead of my face, someone else’s face appeared on my page.  In a Facebook world, where your “face” is the spiritual link to your community and your page or “wall” is your voice — not having your face is more than disconcerting.   Instead of me, there was a younger woman — wearing a sly grin, with a flirtatious index finger sticking in her mouth.   It wasn’t me.   Instead of my name, there was someone else’s name.   Even worse, all of my messages suddenly appeared as someone else’s.  Worse of all, they had access to my account, and I didn’t.   The hacker controlled the links to all 4800 of my friends, my 3 business pages and my data.  They also tried to hack my email account.

How do you prevent hacking?  Keep your computer security firewall updated.  Make sure you follow the updates for your computer operating system, which may have been created to close the gaps that a hacker can get through.  Change your password and security settings once a month.  Don’t use the same passwords, especially for related systems.  Make sure that you use a combination of letters, numbers and special characters.  Never close out a program without properly logging out.  Never save your password on your computer — especially on a computer that you do not own and maintain on your premises.   Never, under no condition whatsoever, give information to a request made by a telephone call that was not dialed by you or an email supposedly sent from a financial institution.  (Legitimate businesses don’t email you for passwords, social security numbers or birthdates.)  Never put your birthdate and related personal information on public places like Facebook.   Never put your online banking or credit card purchases or work-related email in the same account as the email account linked to your social media account (e.g., Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, etc.).  This is not to be taken lightly.  Failure to put up the proper safeguards is like going away on a cruise with the door to your home unlocked.

If you went on a cruise and left your front door at home unlocked, by the time you returned home from the cruise, the chances are great that someone might have invaded your home.   Having an uninvited guest take over your home as their own would be a bit distrurbing to say the least.  You would have to call law enforcement, evict the intruder, sterilize the place, bless it, and probably replace a few things.  And to continue the analogy, when you returned to your “hacked-home,” you would find that the hacker-intruder had changed the locks and you would no longer be able to get into your own house.

I actually had to get friends on Facebook to visit my own page, to post that the page had been hacked and to give me updates on what was going on.   The hacker’s face appeared on all of my previous spiritual messages, throughout which she inserted a few of “her” high heel advertisements.   (I have no idea who the hacker/s were.)   “She” may have even called them “Christian” high heels.   It left a very nasty taste in the mouths of everyone who saw them.  No one will be wearing those shoes if that’s the idea.  Oh, except for a Reverend Somebody: she asked the hacker to post shoes on her page.  But perhaps she was a hacker too — simply saying, “well, I’m in — cause somebody went on a cruise and left their door unlocked.”

Not only was I booted off my page and forced to wait days for Facebook to get to restore my rights.   But I also lost the artificial bloodline to my community, my family, my “Facebook Friends”.  I felt as though a metaphysical artery had been severed.  I could no longer connect with the folks that I had formed a communal bond with — what Buddhists call a sangha of energy and strength and enlightenment.  I could not read Judy’s poetry; hear Clifford’s voice; appreciate Farah’s news; receive Sandi’s fitness counsel; be uplifted by Sherrelle’s success; laugh at Azalia’s antics; whisper to old roommates, evangelists, disciples, and souls stepping off the dge of their greatness.  I could not giggle with whoever was up at 3 AM because they couldn’t get to sleep.  I could not receive my friends’ take on whatever show was airing, hear their prophecy of politics, note their views on health, fashion and determination.  I could not raise our communal prayer of goodness in order to smooth the rough edges of dreams, or even anoint our moment with a summer song — courtesy of You-Tube.

I was gone.  I wasn’t gone by choice.  I had almost evaporated like thin air.  I can’t imagine why anyone whould find their own life so meaningless that they would want to steal my friends and my business and my high school, college, seminary, graduate and law school buddies — my loved ones emerging from the divine ethers embracing me with the space of receptivity over the last 40-50 years — rather than build their own.  Had I missed an opportunity?  Why hadn’t I shared some love on everyone’s page?  Was I like the Prodigal Son — strung out in desolation and despair — trying to find my way home?  Why hadn’t I downloaded all my data from Facebook?  How could I have avoided this Twilight Zone moment — the one where I wander around my own party, approaching friends and attempting to share with them — but no one can see me?  Ouch.

I know that some of you condemn Facebook, but I believe that the people who condemn it are the people who don’t use it.   Facebook is like any other place that is part of our cosmic consciousness –  filled with as much love as you give it.  We always receive what we give.   We are always blessed when we bless others.   So I prayed for my Facebook page to be restored.  I needed to be back.

Spirit spoke to me as well.  The Holy Spirit explained that Facebook isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning.  What really matters is the connections that are made.  Once re-kindled, our friendships remain.   The person that I admired in college from afar was the one who reached out to another at the crack of dawn — who I always felt was the personification of sunshine itself.  And she contacted me to say that something had gone awry on my beloved Facebook page.  Friends in Detroit and New Jersey and DC and California and New York questioned who that was in my house — acting the fool in those high-heeled shoes?  Who, they questioned, was trying to pose as a good vibe when they were no more than a virus?

I always say that “there is a blessing in everything.”  What someone else means for evil, God always means for good.  The good in this instance was that somehow in the midst of being estranged, I was even more connected.  It’s like Harry Potter — when Voldemort attacks, people come together in ways that they never had before.   My friends helped me clean up the place.  They were good and quick and supportive.   It didn’t even matter if they knew me in the flesh, they knew me in the Spirit.  They came forward and sacrificed the sanctity of their own pages to become reunited with me.   I even made lots of new friends and now have two pages.  Most importantly, I have re-connected with the true source of my love for my friends everywhere — in the realization that Facebook is merely a channel for our love, not the last stop.

Facebook is an open door that invites us to come in, listen, remember, and see.  We bring our kindness, our respect and our creativity to this open door that serves as the channel which connects us forever.   We really are here to love one another.  The good thing about Facebook is that it helps uplift that love for free.  You can create your own page.  Like anything else, Facebook takes time, devotion and the power of words.  Speak truth to it.  Plant joy in it.  Dance through it.  Color outside the lines in it.  Paste pictures on  the screen of time and send music through endless channels.  Be love  agents through it.  Support the joy of change.  Rejoice beyond pain.  Find freedom through it.  Have faith in its magic.  Be there for your friends.  By connecting with others, we ultimately connect with ourselves.

Namaste,

Reverend Cecilia Loving

About SPIRITMUV:  Spiritmuv® is a trans-denominational church, which means that it transcends the confines of religion and teaches unconditional love for one another regardless of race, creed, culture, or religion.   At the heart of its teachings is what Jesus taught — that we love one another, as well as the community that Mahatma Gandhi inspired when he said, “I am a Christian and a Muslim and a Hindu and a Jew.”  Reverend Cecilia Loving is the founder and creator of Spiritmuv, which was formed in 2007.  Services are held for an hour every Sunday, from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the Unity Center of NYC, located at 213 West 58th Street.

Rev. Loving’s new book is now available God is Brown Girl Too, as well as Prayers for Those Standing in the Edge of Greatness.

Copyright 2011 by Cecilia Loving.

None of the content herein may be copied or otherwise used except with Reverend Loving’s written permission.

Join the Spiritmuv  Community at www.Spiritmuv.ning.com for special postings by Rev. Loving.

Listen as God speaks through a black woman:

The Psalmist says, “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” How many times have you read that passage from the 23rd Psalm and never paid attention to its meaning? This single line is one of the most powerful affirmations that there is. It means that I am your Shepherd. It means that the divine vibrations that I express as you, the indwelling Christ consciousness in which you are reborn, the Holy Spirit — which lives in you, guides you, comforts you, and teaches you, is your Shepherd. It means that I am always present, always constant, always watching over you, always making sure that you are protected, that you are fed, that no danger or harm comes near you. But most importantly, it means that because you live and move and have your being in infinite source, you have everything that you need. It means that there is no limit to my good.

I am always blessing you, always watching over you, always embracing you, always empowering you. You need to learn to see beyond your physical eyes. I am the substance, the catalyst, the creativity from which all life springs and all ideas evolve. You cannot even begin to imagine my greatness and the abundance of my Kingdom that is always available to you.

I am greater than miracles. I am greater than desire. Your difficulties arise when you believe that you are separate from the power that I give you. Pray with me. Meditate with me. Sit with me. And I will bless you with the opportunities that you need, the people who will help you, and the divine ideas that will bless you.

I am your Shepherd, providing you with the ability to create good for not only yourself but to be a constant blessing, inspiration, and resource to others. Spirit is always leading you to the pasture of opportunity. . . if you listen.

If you need a teacher, I am there. If you need a client, I will send them. If you need an answer, I will give it. If you need discernment, I will shepherd you through what you need to do. No matter what you are up against, no matter what the appearances look like, no matter what the threat — it better beware because I am with you: the Good Shepherd, the Infinite Power, the Almighty, the One who says that the battle is mine, the One who says touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm, the One who teaches that all you have to do is believe.

Your weapon is your faith. I have a rod and a staff that you can lean on: the right person who just shows up and says, I will do this for you, the closed sign doors that just open, the towering wall that is removed, the difficult passage that opens a way out of no way.

I will bless you from the top of your heads to the bottom of your feet. The good will flow to you from so many different directions that you cannot even begin to imagine what will be in store for you.

The highways and the byways will just pour, rain down blessings on you because — as the song goes — your “God is a good God!”

When we realize that the Father is in us, we know that we have everything we need.

This entry is an excerpt from the book God is a Brown Girl Too, which can be purchased on www.godisabrowngirltoo.webs.com or from www.amazon.com.

Copyright 2011 by Cecilia Loving
All Rights Reserved.

Nothing may be used from this blog, or any other blog, without Ms. Loving’s written permission.

Reverend Loving is the spiritual leader of SPIRITMUV: Transforming lives one soul at a time.
Learn more at www.spiritmuv.com.  Follow her blog at www.spiritmuv.wordpress.com.

Services are held every Sunday from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, at 213 West 58th Street, at the Unity Center in NYC.

Here God speaks as a black woman — Listen!

She sings melodies from psalms
only she can hum,
Galilee on her tongue.
speaking from that city on a hill,
singing “this ‘lil light of mine –
I’m gon’ let it shine.”

***

Many of you have been telling the same stories for so long that you no longer know truth from fiction.  By that I mean, you have no idea who you really are versus the you were in the past.  The “you” who has been hurt, abused, neglected, rejected, or condemned has been given a starring role in your life story, while  you have taken a back seat.  You will never be able to see me, if you keep holding up the past to impair your vision of all who you are.   The only way you are going to see me reflected in your image and likeness is to tell a new story.  Throw away the mess you’ve been wading in forever and start looking at yourself with a new light.

You are not who you were yesterday.   Let me say that again, the you who just opened this book is not the “you” who did all of the things that you believe held you back from accomplishing your goals.  You are different;  you are reborn; you are free.  Begin to see yourself with a new light.

Read the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verse 22.  It says that “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”  It is providing you with a new vision for seeing all of the circumstances and people that I have placed before you in this life.  The things in the flesh are around you but they are not of you.  I am the only thing that matters.  Look only to me.  Seek first my kingdom.  Wait upon me.

If you see with a new light, you will know that I am in the midst of everything and everyone, and you will be able to discern my presence.  But you can’t have it both ways.  You can’t see me half the time and get stuck in a rut the other time.  Your eye must be single and focused on me.  Otherwise, you will multiply your errors, lose your perspective, and do foolish things.  You will say what you later regret.  You will waste time that could have been well spent in a more focused, productive, enjoyable fashion.  You will act out of negative emotions rather than with confidence and purpose.

When you fail to keep your focus on Spirit, you will find yourselves like that beggar on the roadside — blinded by your lack of faith.  Remember what Jesus told the blind man?  Jesus said your faith has made you whole.  The blind man’s faith in me had made him see.  If your eye is single, your whole body shall be full of light.  But if you are not centered in my light, your direction, your intuition, our divine compass will be off, and you will find yourselves stumbling in the darkness.  Without my light, it’s difficult to recreate a new story for yourself because you cannot see who you really are.

Spirit is the light that unifies you in consciousness and centers you in peace, clarity, creativity, joy and abundance.  Only when you are centered in me do you realize your oneness with the entire universe.  If you achieve this going forward, you will not be limited the way that you were in the past.  You will realize that the heartache or the pain that you experienced can be released and you can stop re-living it again and begin to recreate who you want to be rather than who you used to be.

One way of centering in my presence is through the third eye, which can be accessed by focusing on the center of your forehead.  The pineal gland — located in the brain behind the eyes — is said to be the physical entry of spiritual enlightenment, and through that illumination, it is also known as the gateway to faith.  It is the home of higher consciousness, healing power, and psychic perception.  Some say that this is the place where you see God face-to-face.  When you practice looking deeply into your third eye, you will behold my light emanating from infinite source, what many of you call a cosmic vibration.  When you are centered in this divine light, you can be even more open to my presence — beyond words and thoughts.  When you focus your spiritual eye, your inner eye, your third eye on my presence, your entire being — mind, body and soul — will be filled with light.  This is the energy and the concentration that will also build and develop your faith — so that you don’t have to spend a long period in tapping in or tuning in to me.

In our connection, you will feel the super-consciousness of absolute good and trust that whatever you ask for has already manifested.  With a single eye directed to divine source, you will be catapulted beyond asking to believing that whatever you ask for, you receive.  You will be able to walk by faith in me, which is more important than mere physical sight.

Copyrighted 2011 by Cecilia B. Loving
All Rights Reserved.
Nothing on this blog can be used without the author’s written permission.

Perhaps the miracle is that law enforcement even managed to pull Strauss-Kahn, who was a potential candidate for the President of France, off Air France two minutes before his plane took off.  He appeared to be fleeing.

Perhaps the miracle is that a judge presided over the initial bail hearing who had the foresight to remand Strauss-Kahn before he escaped to his vacation home in Marrakech.   “Remand” means go to jail.  If she had not sent him there immediately, it is likely that he would not have hung around for an indictment.  He could have lived outside America’s jurisdiction in either France or Morocco.  That means he would have never been tried for the indictment now issued by a Grand Jury.

Perhaps the miracle is that a young woman who managed to escape the horrors of her native Guinea, where rape is widespread, gained asylum in America where she at least has some recourse against attackers.  Perhaps the miracle is that Strauss-Kahn’s DNA was collected swiftly enough to match the samples taken from the hotel housekeeper.

Staring in the face of overwhelming evidence,  Strauss-Kahn’s legal team is counting on the miracle of a consent defense.  But the “she-wanted-it” defense seems preposterous in view of the housekeeper’s steps to report the attack without delay.  Or perhaps it is only preposterous to those of us who seriously doubt that a hard-working woman, a religious woman, a woman single-handedly raising her daughter had the luxury of engaging in Strauss-Kahn’s consensual game.  Supposedly, he had tried, without success, to gain the attention of other hotel staff who apparently – like the victim – rebuffed him.

Perhaps the miracle is that the cry of rape took so long to catch up with Strauss-Kahn who has a reputation of  attacking women.  Apparently, he did not limit his inappropriate attacks to the staffs of hotels.  But his crime, if convicted, would be consistent with the reports of many housekeepers concerning the unsavory misconduct of hotel guests.  Only a notorious man could be used to shed light on such a notorious abuse of service.  After all, we’re not just the maid – not just another statistic to add to the abuse of domestic workers worldwide.  Perhaps the miracle is that for now, some semblance of justice prevails.

But we live in a world where common decency depends upon miracles and blatant misconduct can be bought by a good lawyer.  So this is what I am praying for: that good does ultimately triumph, that justice does prevail and that we open our eyes to see the marginalization, denigration and mistreatment of women everywhere.  The miracle that I am praying for is that the housekeeper is able to transform her life completely by moving from victimhood to victory.  She has served so many for so little; it is time that the system serves her.  The miracle that I am praying for is that not only does she win her criminal case but that she wins a civil case against the accused – if he is found guilty.

I pray that all of those who suffer at the hands of racism, sexism, classism and all of the other –isms are vindicated for their suffering.  I pray that we offer our collective consciousness to the deliverance of systematic brutality, violence and abuse of women everywhere.  I pray that we all grow to respect ourselves as the gods that we are and stop limiting ourselves by the confines of second class citizenship that someone else has created.

“Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,” they say.  “Jesus turned water into wine.  Jesus made the blind see.  Jesus expelled demons from the flesh.  Jesus made the lame walk.  Jesus multiplied fish and bread.”  But Jesus taught us that our ability to experience miracles is commensurate with our faith.  He says again and again, “by your faith you were made whole.”  If we have faith that no one is more blessed than us, or is more gifted than us, or has priority or preference over the miracle that God manifested as us, then every decision we make will bring us closer to the realization that we are our own miracle.   We can then open our eyes and see God for the first time in everything that we say and everything that we do.  We can accept the good right within our midst.  We can be brave enough to do onto others as we would have them do unto us.  We can be extraordinary in the ordinary spaces of our life.  We can open the door and not be dragged by our hair but step into the power of all that we desire to take shape.

Perhaps the miracle is that we actually second-guess God when we know that Spirit loves us and protects us and liberates us from attackers with justice. Each one of us is blessed to carry out a divine purpose – known only to us, etched somewhere in the divine ethers of our soul – patiently waiting for us to manifest – to perform, to be, to do what we are called to demonstrate.  The  Prophet Jeremiah teaches us in the 1^st chapter of Jeremiah that God said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

It is miraculous that we know that we are doing the right thing – what we were called to do – because the desire is so deep and so nagging and so insistent – that we won’t be satisfied until we accomplish it.  We are here to trust our own anointing – to push ourselves beyond the boundaries of where we wanted to give up.

The miracles in our lives say – yes we can.  Yes we can experience life the way that we want to experience it.  Now is the time for each one of us to realize that we have the power to be the good that we were called to be; and the miracles that we need are already here, waiting for us.

In the Bible Joseph survived to become a leader after his brothers sold him into slavery and told his father he was dead.  In Genesis, Joseph told his brothers, “you meant it for evil but God meant it for good.”  Those are the words of miracles.  Perhaps Strauss-Kahn’s evil will result in good.  Perhaps a nameless housekeeper will be able to achieve better dignity, respect and protection for many others in that industry.  And so, I say, let us become the housekeeper’s prayer.  Let us pray for those who serve us and for those of us who serve.  We need to believe today that we have the power and strength to overcome any challenge and defeat any outlaw.  Let us see ourselves winning as her – that witness in ourselves that lives to stand strong and be obedient to the Great Spirit.  Let us gird her with the inexhaustible supply of the universe deep within our souls and remember that we are divinely connected.
Let us summon the ancestors to right this wrong, to reveal any attacker as the criminal that he is and spare us from the arrogance of those who believe they are above the law.

Remember, this is our season.
This is our miracle.
This is the time for our own magic.

Namaste,

Reverend Cecilia Loving

About SPIRITMUV:  Spiritmuv® is a trans-denominational church, which means that it transcends the confines of religion and teaches unconditional love for one another regardless of race, creed, culture, or religion.   At the heart of its teachings is what Jesus taught — that we love one another, as well as the community that Mahatma Gandhi inspired when he said, “I am a Christian and a Muslim and a Hindu and a Jew.”  Reverend Cecilia Loving is the founder and creator of Spiritmuv, which was formed in 2007.   Services are held for an hour every Sunday, from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the Unity Center of NYC, located at 213 West 58th Street.

Rev. Loving’s new book is now available God is Brown Girl Too, as well as Prayers for Those Standing in the Edge of Greatness.

Copyright 2011 by Cecilia Loving.
None of the content herein may be copied or otherwise used except with Reverend Loving’s written permission.

Join the Spiritmuv  Community
at www.Spiritmuv.ning.com for special postings by Rev. Loving.

We are all guilty – at one time or another – of wanting to postpone our good for another day – perhaps after our knees get better, after the pain stops, when we get that new job, when we connect with a lasting soul mate, when we lose 50 lbs.   But the truth is that God has never stopped blessing us.  The only thing that blocks God’s blessings is our lack of receptivity to them.

We block the flow of God’s good with doubt.  Doubt is that nagging
suspicion that God seems too good to be true.  Doubt is that feeling deep in our hearts that we really won’t succeed.  Doubt is that feeling that the illusion of the barriers that we have placed around ourselves will confine us forever.  But we create the insurmountable mountains that we see before us.  The things that we believe limit us are really an illusion. 

God, however, is so extraordinary that these illusions bless us as well.  Even doubt serves to teach us the difference between what is false and what is real.  What is real is not our past – it’s gone, or our future – it’s awaiting our creative energy.  What is real is the sacredness of each present moment.  What is real is our oneness here and now – with the pure potential of Absolute Good.  It’s so good that it’s hard for us to name it.  We call it God.  We call it Love.  We call it Spirit.  We call it the Holy Ghost – but what it really means is that right now – we have all that we need.  We have an Inexhaustible, Infinite Power that breathes as us – a power that creates as us in each moment.

Meister Eckhart, a 13^th century mystic, said “There is no greater obstacle to God than time.”  We don’t need to wait for Jesus – as Jesus himself taught – I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:20).  We don’t need to wait for the Holy Spirit.  Jesus taught us that the Holy Spirit lives in us forever as our counselor, our teacher and our guide (John
14:16-18).  We don’t need to wait until we get to heaven because Jesus taught that right here, right now — the Kingdom of Heaven – the Kingdom of God — is in us (Luke 17:21).

Doubt should be like a companion that we have outgrown.  That means that we have to bless the doubt that tries to remain in the cracks and crevices of our lives and release it because it has served its purpose.  It taught us to believe in God more than ever.  Doubt was simply part of the wrapping that we had to remove in order to see the gifts that await us. 

In the space where doubt used to be, we can welcome a new energy of excitement.  We can feel a new commitment rushing in – filling us with new understanding, new compassion, new direction, new hope, new love, and brand new creativity.  In the moment that we release doubt, we can be filled with the truth that what we ask for – we already have.  We really are in the endless stream of God’s good.  Manna really does pour into our life each moment.  The door of God’s good really does open for the accomplishment of our deepest desires.        We really are blessed. When we tear off the wrapper of doubt and release worry to the wind, we begin to see the glimmer of a diamond in the rough – that glows around our souls with new hope.  We begin to know that we are more radiant than we ever imagined.  We open our eyes and see that God really is here. 

We don’t worry about mistakes.  We don’t worry about failure.  We know that we are healed.  We surpass the expected.  We stop being afraid to walk the water.  We realize that we can multiply fish and bread.  We realize that we can call it all good.  Nothing but good is paved on the road before us.  Doubt was just a stepping stone.  Overcoming our fears just pushed us further along the path.  The challenges that we faced merely served to make us open the doors to our good. 

I empty my heart of doubt today so that I can dance to the edge of pure potential right now, so that I can fly with the wings of new hope.  I lay my burdens down by the riverside.  I study war no more.  For the first time, I cross over Jordan, and I get to the other side because I know that God is blessing me right now.

JOIN US THIS SUNDAY AT 2:30 p.m. FOR THE NEXT PART OF OUR “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” SERIES AT SPIRITMUV, 213 WEST 58TH STREET (AT THE UNITY CENTER OF NYC)
NEAR BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK.
SPIRITMUV IS A NONDENOMINATIONAL COMMUNITY OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT, MEDITATION AND PRAYER.  WE MEET EACH SUNDAY WITH A SINCERE HEART AND A WARM EMBRACE OF LOVE, LIGHT AND CREATIVE CENTERING.

Copyright 2011 by Cecilia Loving
(Nothing from this site may be used without Rev. Loving’s written permission.)

“I am here” with you at your crossroad of crisis.  “I am here” with you in your deepest desire. 
“I am here” with you on your bed of affliction.  “I am here” with you in your acceptance of new love.  “I am here” with you in your career change.  “I am here” with you in your fundraising efforts.  “I am here” with you on your marketing campaign.  “I am here” with you on every blank page of your life and endless circle of light where you stand ready for redemption.  “I am here” opening infinite channels to your Absolute Good.

If you take a moment and listen, you will hear God saying, “There is no place where I am not.”

At Spiritmuv, each Sunday we anoint ourselves with the realization that God is everywhere.  We move beyond the cracks and crevices of limitation and find salvation in the ordinary and the sanctity of our ability to believe that we are more than good religion, we are the greatness of  God expressed as us.

When we listen to the God within, we climb outside of our boxes of convention and tradition and normalcy, and we step up to the plate of trusting the Divine Within.  I know that we say that we love God, trust God and are believers, but we don’t always exhibit our love.  We often stop short of our true selves and lose ourselves in someone else’s bad vibrations.  We often forget that we are heirs to the throne.  We often forget that we are temples of the living God.  We often stop listening to what the Psalmist calls “stillness” and turn a deaf ear to God always reminding us, “I am here.”  But not April 1-3, this past weekend, at the God is a Brown Girl Too Retreat.  This past weekend, we opened the door to honoring the goodness of God forever by fully exploring the Kingdom within for three days at the Mariandale Retreat Center, and we found Endless Possibility.

We were drawing and painting and stitching and sewing and evolving and being and dancing and singing and igniting and liberating and moving beyond limitations – when we suddenly realized our Endless Possibility.  And neither rustle nor stir, tree nor sky, bush nor bird, mountain nor molehill could dispute the rumblings of hallelujah in the air to welcome us.  Suddenly, we could hear the silence between thoughts; we could feel the impossibilities lifted beyond despair; we could sense the release of the stuff that we didn’t really need; we could rejuvenate ourselves with restored freedom to pursue old dreams and new revelations.

Endless Possibility anointed us as new sweetness in our fragrance, new movement in our forward; new dazzle in our genius; new sparkle in our eyes; new force in our energy; new boldness in our courage; new glory in our victory.  No one and nothing could contain us.

We moved from the confinement of our boxes to the present moment – always evolving and always breathing God as us.  We were able to laugh again, be free again and triumph over struggle.

We told a new story that now speaks us in the wind.

The prophecy of Quilt-ologist Pamela Jones, the healing hands of massage therapist Bianca Townsend, the visionary vibrations of prayer warrior Raquiba LaBrie, the artistry of actor Rahima Wachuku, and my own God is a Brown Girl Too guided us to wholeness.

We realized that the soul of the Motherland is in us – and speaks through us and sings as us; that we are all woven from the same cloth, the same secrets, the same love.

We each have beautiful patterns to create and colors to draw upon and lift up and share as the incredible, the miraculous and the strong.

We remembered that God does not merely braid our thick soft hair but puts a million tiny universes in a single strand, covers us with stars and bathes us with living waters.  We opened our eyes again so that we can see the eternal in everlasting locks and twists, rivers and streams, paths and purposes.

We discovered that we are sweetness and trust, gingersnaps and vanilla wafers, laughter and butterflies, answers and prayers, magic and miracles.

We began yet another chapter to the story of God is a Brown Girl Too® and heard with lasting clarity “I am here.”

Namaste,
Reverend Cecilia Loving

© 2011 Reverend Cecilia Loving

About SPIRITMUV:  Spiritmuv® is a trans-denominational church, which means that it transcends the confines of religion and teaches unconditional love for one another regardless of race, creed, culture, or religion.   At the heart of its teachings is what Jesus taught — that we love one another, as well as the community that Mahatma Gandhi inspired when he said, “I am a Christian and a Muslim and a Hindu and a Jew.”  Reverend Cecilia Loving is the founder and creator of Spiritmuv, which was formed in 2007.  Services are held for an hour every Sunday, from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the Unity Center of NYC, located at 213 West 58th Street.

When  her brother, the late jazz poet, hip hop-ologist, author and journalist Kenneth Jones, used to sit behind me at Cass Tech in 1972 and pull my pony tail, I had no idea that his little sister was at home designing doll clothes.  Detroit has an extraordinary creative energy, a magnetism of vision that vibrates even deeper than Motown, even more profound than futuristic car sculpting, even more daring than Xhibit’s sonorous voice or David Alan Grier’s genius – as it keeps expanding into endless forms of artistic expression.  Pam’s artistic expression first took shape in her wearable art fashion line called “Fashions for Sisters with Attitudes Today” which was featured at major department stores and praised by the Michigan Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune and other papers.  But when she began quilting, she was hooked.

A new “quilt-ology” emerges from this registered nurse and Masters of Divinity candidate at New York Theological Seminary.  I call her work “quilt-ology” because it blends healing, regeneration and Spirit into cloth that not only covers us or hangs for our pleasure but also anoints us, prophesies for us and summons us to see as well as listen.  Ms. Jones’ quilts force us to go within and realize that God is here because we witness in them the craftsmanship of the Kingdom.  We know the divine moves through her quilts because they sing scripture and they dance devotion and they even shout hallelujah through color, imagination and intricate, delicate stitching.

Her quilt called “Awakening” was featured on the cover of “The York College Commemorative Quilt” book.  Her “Women of Masi” was featured as the promotional quilt for the Citicorp Quilting and Art Exhibition.  Harvard University School of Divinity, the Black Christian Women’s Conference, and the State Office Building in Harlem are just a few venues that have recognized Pam’s amazing talent through display.  She is Chair of the Maafa  Quilters at St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn who shares Pam’s passion for healing deep wombs of oppression and liberating souls from suffering.  She is also the lead instructor for “Black Men Who Quilt”, the only known Black male quilting guild in the country.  My favorite collection is Pam’s “Living Waters: Women of the Bible” series, which consists of 20 quilts depicting some of the women in the bible and their stories.  I love her work because it buries victimhood and celebrates triumph.  She creates outside of the box of tradition through a soul that resonates with victory.

Pam’s quilts tell a new story of victory.  Her witness testifies through texture and shape and form to preach the parables of creation, love and hope in a way that doesn’t just inform us but delivers us.  She says “Art is instinctive to me. It is a talent, which I feel, is best expressed through my quilts.  I enjoy painting but prefer letting the various fabrics I use be my color pallet, expressing the boundless contemplation and evolution of divine ideas.  Spirit always leads me to a mixture of fabrics from hand dyed to African prints, as well as more traditional American fabrics to blend the tapestries of my ancestral inclusions from Native American to Africa.”

She says “beadwork and shells embellish my quilts and work along with embroidery to add dimensions and life to them.  Sometime I also use paint to for added dimension as well.”  Each quilt magically anoints the viewer with a positive and peaceful state, in part, because Pam often creates them as she recites scripture.  These quilts wear the blessing and bring it into new shape and form and texture.  ”When starting a new piece, I never really know what it will look like in the end,” she says.  “I see each one emerging like a mystery novel.  I must keep reading – keep adding fabric – in order to reach the end of the plot. Most times the true meaning of the piece is not revealed to me until it’s finished.  Quilt design is my way of allowing my imagination to soar.”

In the book God is a Brown Girl Too, God reminds us to let our imaginations soar – to embrace each moment with poems, hugs and twitters, to radiate new joy, solve new equations and fulfill new prophecies.  When we are daring enough to go with the flow of wherever creativity takes us, we find ourselves giving shape to form and substance well beyond convention or norm – to the miraculous and the genius and the divine.  Being made in “God’s image and likeness” means that we, too, are co-creators with light, energy and power.  We carry the notes of the musician giving birth to new music, the harmony of the rapper reaping hip hop beats, the whisper of the writer typing word magic, the ministry of the sculptor shaping faith from blocks, the prophecy of the painter blending answered prayers, the stitch of a quilter moving beyond ordinary squares to extraordinary surprises.  When we take time to listen to Spirit and allow it to direct our path, we realize that the things we devote most of our time to are not the most important.  We have to bold enough to move beyond the margins, to bend them into something beautiful, to create a master-piece by coloring outside the lines. Creating outside the box of conventionality is what really sustains us because we are here — not just to be good for ourselves but to be good for God.  Being good for God only happens when we allow God to use us – in the basic, simple, honest, most extraordinary ways.

If we listen, we can hear God saying move out of your way:  “I will open new doors.  I will send new ideas.  I will bless you with the wisdom that you need.  I will lift you to dance into and leap out of my realm of infinite possibilities.”

Artists like Pamela Jones remind us that using the gifts that only God can give us is a starting place, a foundation for a triumph that will flourish so much, it will become the ground upon which we stand – but only when we give way to it.

© 2011 Reverend Cecilia Loving

About SPIRITMUV:  Spiritmuv® is a trans-denominational church, which means that it transcends the confines of religion and teaches unconditional love for one another regardless of race, creed, culture, or religion.   At the heart of its teachings is what Jesus taught — that we love one another, as well as the community that Mahatma Gandhi inspired when he said, “I am a Christian and a Muslim and a Hindu and a Jew.”  Reverend Cecilia Loving is the founder and creator of Spiritmuv, formed in 2007.  Services are held for an hour every Sunday, from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the Unity Center of NYC, at 213 West 58th Street.

We may not use the b-word, but we still blaspheme the kingdom of God within us if we call ourselves or our sisters and brothers less than what God is.   We still blaspheme the divine within if we undermine the unlimited power of God or fail to embrace Spirit’s inexhaustible supply.  Since we are the image and likeness of God everywhere present, we need to be careful about what we say about ourselves, as well as other people.  What name-calling ultimately boils down to is what we are affirming about the power in us.

In Luke 12:32, Jesus said, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”  But have your words provided the opening for your consciousness to receive the kingdom?  Have you used words to decree God’s good in every crack and crevice of your  life?  Or have you used nay-saying, negativity and nastiness to deny the existence of Absolute Good?  Are you speaking words that undermine or uplift your greatness?  Are you taking your divinity in vain?

Jesus says in Matthew 12:36 that you shall give an account on judgment day for every careless word that you utter.  But when is Judgment Day?  It’s every day.  It’s the period of reaping what you sow in thought, word and deed.  You do that every day.  Every day you choose whether to embrace a vibration of love or hatred.  Whatever you speak, you decree. If you talk about being poor, then you wallow in the energy of poverty; you decree it.  If you focus about illness, you create a connection to sickness – and inevitably, you decree it.  If you linger in the toxic vibrations of bad relationships, you give them life through your decree.  If you get stuck in the pity party of insecurity, loneliness or lack, you decree them in every word that you speak about them.

God is a Brown Girl Too decrees power.  It’s one of those books that are courageous enough to refute negativity and strife to shift the paradigm with a new story.  It dares new seeds to be planted in the vortex of unlimited possibility.   God speaks, saying “Quit pretending that you are less than your true worth.  Quit trying to play the universe with false bravado.  .  .  .  Now is the time for your own magic .  .  .  .  [I] did not give [you] a spirit of timidity or fear; but a spirit of power .  .  .  .  The sooner you recognize your power, the sooner you accomplish your goals, the sooner you step up to the plate and do what you were called here in this lifetime to do [and] make this world a better place.”

God says “There is power in your words.  Everyday declare what you want in your life.  Wake up and declare it.  Go to bed and declare it.  Stand up in your office and declare it.  Look out your window and declare it.  Walk down the street and declare it.  Your words are where you take responsibility for what you want to see manifest in your life .  .  .  .  [W]ords are fertile; they contain the essence of life – [I] travel through the breath of each spoken word.  The aborigines would say the tongue of Great Spirit resides in all things  .  .  .  . Power is your ability to celebrate who you are and what contribution you can make to this beautiful existence that you call life.  It gives you the honor to take charge of you.”

But you must be inventive enough to tell your truth – a truth that exudes love rather than fearful name-calling – a truth that praises rather than condemns, a truth that knows fortitude rather than failure, a truth that realizes victory rather than defeat, a truth that exudes courage rather than caution.

God says “Only those who do not know the truth would call themselves or any of my sons and daughters less than who they are.  I have given you the power that you need.  When you stand on my shoulders, your spiritual roots will reach down to the belly of the earth – without stopping there. Speak from the depths of your soul with boldness and conviction.  Reveal your awesome beauty.  Listen to what you are calling yourself.”

Namaste,

Reverend Cecilia Loving

About SPIRITMUV:  Spiritmuv® is a trans-denominational church, which means that it transcends the confines of religion and teaches unconditional love for one another regardless of race, creed, culture, or religion.   At the heart of its teachings is what Jesus taught — that we love one another, as well as the community that Mahatma Gandhi inspired when he said, “I am a Christian and a Muslim and a Hindu and a Jew.”  Reverend Cecilia Loving is the founder and creator of Spiritmuv, which was formed in 2007.  Services are held for an hour every Sunday, from 2:30 P.M. to 3:30 P.M. at the Unity Center of NYC, located at 213 West 58th Street.