John Cali
A few weeks ago, my good friend Jim and I were discussing money. Jim (not his real name) soon started talking about his investments.
He was complaining about his investments fluctuating so much over the years. And he started focusing on several times when they had plummeted — like September 11, 2001. Jim said he lost many thousands of dollars that fateful day.
“But,” I replied, “look at all the money you’ve made over the years. You started out with virtually nothing, and now you’re a millionaire!”
Jim, however, wasn’t seeing the big picture. He was focusing only on the “down” times or the “bad” days. As the cliché goes, he couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
Isn’t that the way we often look at our lives? And then we get lost among the trees. We focus on the times when things appeared not to be going our way. And yet, ultimately, things always go our way because well-being is our natural state.
Here’s Spirit.
Spirit
Many humans spend many of their waking hours “lost among the trees.” We love that title John picked for this week’s message.
We realize it’s very easy for you — as individuals, as groups, as governments, etc. — to get lost in the trees. There is nothing wrong with focusing on the present moment, on the trees right there in front of you. In fact, that is the only way you can fully live your lives. You only live now. Now is all you have. Now is all you ever will have.
But your current now is the result of all the “past nows” you’ve lived. Every experience you’ve ever had — in this lifetime or in any other, perhaps hundreds and thousands of other lifetimes — is part of this present moment.
You would not be where you are today had it not been for those past experiences. They are a part of you, no matter how negatively or positively you view them — a necessary part of your “now experience.”
And they’re all good. They are the trees that make up the your personal and spiritual forest. Some of those trees you probably wish had never grown in your forest. But they did. They are there. And they’re all good. All!
What this all comes down to, friends, is trust. Trust in the goodness of the Universe. Trust in the goodness of your higher selves. Trust in the goodness of your human selves.
When you follow your inner guidance, trusting completely, you cannot — cannot — ever go astray. Even when you don’t follow your inner guidance, you cannot ultimately go astray.
Every “tree” in your “forest” is a good tree. Once you’ve seen it from that perspective, you will never again be lost among the trees
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