Willa White's Blog

Spring has arrived early in Lily Dale! The crocuses and snowdrops are in full bloom.  Last week, we had three days of temperatures in the 60s and 70s.  The sunshine has been beautiful and the spring showers have been a welcome change from snowflakes. This winter has been a cakewalk compared to the prior years.  Not to sound dramatic, but Winter in Lily Dale is usually pretty brutal with DEEP snows, frigid temperatures , and almost unrelenting shoveling.  (It is not officially the Artic circle, but many days during the last two winters felt like it! *smile*)  It feels glorious to be outside walking the streets of Lily Dale, taking my children to the playground, and seeing geese and swans swimming on Cassadaga Lake again. Today, after raking our yard, my sons wanted to take a walk down to the lake to wade in the water and pick up litter (one of our 'good deeds' for the day).  Equipped with rainboots, long sticks, and a few small trash bags, we ventured down to the lake. 

Our lives are so busy in modern society.  Our appointment books are completely full and we're always running here and there.  We often complain there isn't enough time for cultivating the Spiritual Path.  However, whenever we have a spare moment, we work more or fill in the gap with other activities.  We have time for many other things, but we hardly ever have time to nourish ourselves spiritually by attending spiritual development classes and meditating.  This is a common refrain from my students, clients, and peers. As a wife and mother with a young family, I understand this.  Right now, I am in the child-rearing phase of life.  And my time is largely taken up with mundane living.  I must "chop wood and carry water."  Occasionally, in the midst of a task of drudgery, I sigh and look longingly at my book waiting for me on the table.  Or I will think about the church service or spiritual class I would like to attend but can't because my family needs m

The summer Season is flying by!  We have less than two weeks left.  It is incredible how fast the Time goes by.  Whether I am in readings with clients or snatching moments with family, Time seems to be rushing at warp speed.  I blink and hours have gone by.  A friend relayed a Sufi story to me recently about Time, so I am sharing what I recall with you.  Forgive me if I botch things in the retelling :) *** One day, a king asked a Sufi master, "What is Time?  Help me to understand it."   The master said, "Come over to this pool of water and I will show you."   As the king leaned over the water, the master grasped him by the neck and held him under water.  When the king surfaced, he was alone in an open sea.  Eventually, he spotted a fishing boat and swam to it.  The fishermen pulled him from the water.  When he tried to speak with them, he discovered they spoke another language. After a few weeks, he started to understand bits and pieces of the lan

Prepare yourself :  I am going to become philosophical about a teeny weeny peeble *smile*.  Tongue in cheek, I shall refer to it as the Philosopher's Pebble.  No, I am not talking about the legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals such as lead into gold or silver, commonly known as the Philosopher's Stone.  I am talking about the stone that came into my Life today and made me think about my Journey in a different way.   Have you ever had a stone in your shoe?  Wellll, a stone snuck into my sandal today.  It is amazing how a little itty bitty piece of stone can irritate.   Sometimes it feels like a nail being driven into a soft part of the foot with each step.  Other times it rattles into a place in the shoe where you can't feel it.  And still other times it bounces to various parts of the foot like a pinball game, bing bing bing.   As I walked along with this pebble, I pondered my options: stop and remove my foot apparel in o

For those of you who were unable to attend my lecture on Sunday January 13th in Lily Dale, you can access an audio recording of the lecture here at the Church of the Living Spirit website. Click on my name, turn up the volume, and have a good listen! The subject of my lecture is "Living a Life of Faith thru Prayer" and I focus on the life experiences and journals of George Müller, a 19th century Christian evangelist from England.  His life of prayer is an inspiration and I recommend reading his autobiography. He opened 5 orphanage houses in England and he was well known for providing an education to the children under his care, to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their natural station in life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them being orphans. Through all this, Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even though the five homes cost over £100,

Recently, I attended a beautiful wedding in a Christian church.  During the service, the officiating minister stated, "Other people may think we are 'weird' for our beliefs, but we feel we are following the dictates of God." This particular comment got me thinking about how people of EVERY religion out there feel that others think they are 'weird' for their religious and/or spiritual beliefs.  Sometimes this is expressed in statements of victimhood or defensiveness by the religious group or individual.  Sometimes these perceived 'weirdnesses' are made the subject of jokes.  Misunderstandings and generalities abound.  Whole groups get assigned a catch-phrase or pigeon-hole category that may or may not fit. Other times, there can be a 'spiritual superiority' that emerges... almost like children showing off, my 'religion' is better than yours.  Cases of "I've got it all figured out and you are clueless" emerge.  Through

In February, I will be speaking at the UU church and the theme for the month is Courage.  So I thought I would ask you my blogreaders for your personal thoughts and/or experiences with Courage.  Here are a few questions to generate discussion: What constitutes "courage" for you? How do you personally define courage? Are there different kinds of courage? Describe an experience where you have exhibited courage. In what way(s) have you been inspired by another person's courage? How do courageous moments shape us spiritually? How do courageous moments shape us as a society? I realize that these may be intensely personal questions, but I am seeking intensely personal answers.  Please share your thoughts .  I look forward to the discussion that emerges. Update:  I have further defined my title and subject material for this lecture - "Spiritual Courage: Living in Heaven's Net".   I shall focus on spiritual courage, grace, and the meaning of the words &quo