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The Universal Source of All Visible Wealth and Apple
iPods
After a hike on an especially warm day in LA, I was sitting at my
computer in my shorts, which I hadn't worn for months. I was reading
about a benefit for an LA poet who is seriously ill and doesn't have
health insurance. The benefit cost $10 and I wanted to go, but was
in such a bad temporary financial state that I balked at the idea.
A few minutes later, I happened to reach in one of those long side
pockets of my shorts and found a $10 bill.
Well, I didn't need to be hit over the head. Here was the universe
handing me exactly what I needed. However, my sense of lack made
me think of keeping the money for my own necessities. The next day,
my financial situation got even worse due to an overdue bill that
was even larger than I'd remembered and an unresolved business situation
that was preventing me from collecting money from a client. It was
a stressful morning, and I went out that afternoon for a hike to
try to banish my worries and focus on abundance despite the appearance
of lack I was experiencing.
During my hike, I focused on writings my Wallace Wattles about poverty
being only an appearance and the reality being abundance. And I thought
of Charles Fillmore's quote saying, "The spiritual source of
all visible wealth is never depleted. It is right with you always
and
responds to your faith in it and your demands on it."
By the time I headed home, I was feeling a bit better, though not
exactly abundant. I happened to pass through the neighborhood of
the bookstore that was holding the benefit for the poet, and the
time happened to be about fifteen minutes before the benefit started,
so I immediately remembered. I was torn. The universe (or God, depending
on your beliefs) had given me $10 in no uncertain terms, but I was
in such financial need that I felt it was money I needed myself.
And I knew that if I was going to give, I needed to feel good about
it. It had to be giving out of a full heart; otherwise it would be
sacrifice, which leads to resentment. Then I remembered what is said
in The Secret, that when you feel that you don't have enough to give,
start giving. As I passed within a block of the bookstore, it took
all my strength to turn the wheel in the direction of the bookstore
and try to find a parking space. I knew this was a real test of my
faith, of my belief in the universal source providing for me and
it wasn't easy. I had trouble finding parking, but knew by this point
that if I didn't go to the benefit, I would be disappointed with
myself. I finally found a parking spot and went to the poetry benefit.
After I left the benefit, I walked to my car thinking, "Ok,
I did this in faith that the universe will provide." I stopped
by the grocery store on the way home. As I checked out with my paltry
$8 worth of groceries, the cashier told me, "You won a free
iPod!" I was rather startled. He sent me down to another checkout
lane and they gave me a free iPod, as part of a promotion which I
didn't even know about (they gave away 200 only at that store randomly
over the weekend). I walked out with my iPod feeling almost embarrassed.
If the $10 in my pocket wasn't clear enough, this was like cold water
in the face. It was a wonderful gift from the source of all abundance
that really strengthened my faith in a time when I needed it.
Financially things turned around in a major way soon thereafter.
Sometimes it's hard to believe in abundance when we see the appearance
of poverty around us, but what we believe about ourselves and the
world will eventually shape our reality.
More non-fiction soon...
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