Midweek Faith Lift
April 29, 2026
“Beyond the Idea”
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
April 17, 2026
In Victor Hugo’s, "Les Misérables," Jean Valjean’s life is forever altered by a single act of mercy by the bishop, and the rest of the story is about love. Valjean embodies gratitude, a sense of justice, and love. He chooses honesty when deception would be easier. He chooses compassion when bitterness would be justified. He chooses sacrifice, protection, and care again and again, across years of hardship and risk. His life becomes a testimony that love is not proven in a moment of inspiration or intimacy, but in a lifetime of consciously choosing. Valjean's life is reflected by his words, “To love another is to see the face of God.”
When we pause and truly reflect, we acknowledge the truth that
separation is a crack in the mirror—appearing to divide what was never truly apart.
And for some humor:
Every morning, I begin the day choosing love. Then reality shows up and asks if I meant it.
I have an approach/avoidance relationship with that question which seems to show up each and every day with alarming regularity! When I choose love, do I mean it? The events in our world, in our state and even in my own life challenge me every day: when I choose love, do I mean it? It is not an easy question and it takes a lot of emotional and spiritual resilience to sit with the question and then say yes, and mean it. I can say yes in theory, in the abstract, but what happens on the ground, when I am really challenged and I have to choose how I show up and then really do it? I approach with love and then get lost in the weeds of power and control, frustration and irritation….judgment and on and on and on…
I spent time recently at a retreat entitled “Resilience and Renewal” which was wonderful. They offered us a definition of resilience which goes like this:
Resilience is not a fixed trait, but a pattern of regulatory flexibility-the ability to choose between different strategies depending on the context. It is an acquired ability to reframe stressful events and to recover, adapt and grow. It is not just the grit to endure and keep going and push through anything that arises in your life.
Then we had a powerful object lesson which involved tying a knot in the rope for each challenge that is holding you back from resilience! Each challenge that you are still holding. Somehow, that made it very real, tying the knots and then just being with them. My rope started with several additional knots and a loop that looked like a noose, but gratefully, by the end of the retreat, I could let go of that one!! I was left with this configuration, two significant knots which seem somehow connected. It took a while for me to understand what that was really all about. I tied purposeful, intentional knots, and then I just tied knots that turned out to have a lot of meaning after all! Just trust Spirit, Deb!
Then, as I listened to all the women in the circle speak of their knots, and I shared mine, I realized a powerful truth, we are not alone, we are truly in this knotty mess together and we have very similar knots! When you loosen your knot, it helps me to look at mine and shift my perspective. I could reframe it for myself as I listened to your journey. And others could do the same! There were tears in the circle, some of them mine, and they were the holy water of transformation and change, which is the essence of resilience. These questions of what has us knotted and who put the knots in our experience is at the core of our human/divine journey.
How do we hold the knots in our lives? Well, sometimes we hold our breath because the knots seem overwhelming and take our breath away! So many times, I have said to you, and to myself, pause and breathe and take a step back and observe. But I learned something about breathing at this retreat which was new to me and I want to share it with you. Since I believe and teach that it is the very breath of God, or Spirit that breathes us, it would be good to gain a bit of clarity about breath.
We learned about the Buteyko Breathing Method which is grounded in the reality that as humans we need a balance of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide, CO2 in our bodies. We tend to focus on the O2 more, but CO2 helps release oxygen from the blood to the cells and supports open airways and healthy circulation. Dr. Buteyko recommends a breathing pattern the helps support this balance. We did a count of inhales per minute…mine was 14. He recommends 6! And we need to inhale and exhale through the nose, not the mouth. So, we tried the Pause Breath method to check our CO2 tolerance. Breath naturally for 30 seconds and then inhale/exhale and hold your nose and count. See how long it takes to hunger for the next breath. Slowly extend the count which builds your tolerance for CO. Let’s try it!
One of the benefits of this kind of conscious breathing is that it slows you down, brings down your heart rate and brings you more fully present to this now moment. I got to try it right away! I had to practice breathing consciously because the next activity involved doing watercolor painting. Now, many of you know that I love watercolor, but I do it alone and I usually paint blackline drawings of flowers on an 8x10 sheet. She handed us this huge sheet, just the basic colors and gave us about 45 minutes to create something. Breathe Deb!! Intimidating? Oh my, yes!! I wanted to walk away from this….but don’t! Then Sister Ann led us through a beautiful meditation to not think about this, but let the energy of love flow through our hands and let the colors guide the way. Well, I could do that and let something begin to happen.
This is what flowed from my hands, and at first, I did not like it or understand what it was about. It is not a “picture” of anything, really. Breathe, Deb, don’t compare yourself or your painting to anyone else. (Hard to do, since I shared that I did watercolor and I love it!) And the person next to me was just filling the whole page, no problem! Breathe, Deb! I did not finish in the time allowed, but the art room was open later and I went back to complete it along with a number of other folks. We all had knots about our artwork!
The next day, we shared our watercolor paintings after another beautiful meditation which welcomed the love that was expressed and flowed through each one. Well, here is mine. Remember the knots? Well, this is an expression of those knots in color and in beauty. We have the red and blue and in a field of green “I’ll meet you there.” As I talked about my painting, I realized it was about how troubled I am by the division in our country right now…the red and the blue. But as I looked at my painting, I realized that they looked like gears that might actually mesh and work together if they got close enough…and they aren’t that far apart. It brought me a deep sense of hope.
We then looked at our ropes and knots again to check in to see if there were any changes in how we felt about them. A HA! It was a perfect reflection of my painting. There are knots at each end, but there is connection and it goes both ways. This is a both/and energy field that holds us together despite the knots. When we hold the knots in a field of color and beauty, we can actually meet in peace. There were a lot of stories of untied knots that were shared in the closing circle. Resilience builds in each one of us as we hold knots together and for each other. And as we grow in resilience, we create love and peace
Last week, I received a note from Ellen Webster, someone I do not know, but it came addressed to me and to you. It is a message I share with you to know that we make a difference and that how we show up matters.
She writes;
Dear Deb and wonderful board,
Unity, where lives are nourished, not measured. And love, the big Agape kind, runs deep. I’m thanking every Unity ministry for grounding us in the Truth that we’re born original blessings-both whole and divine. And if we forget? Then you and the beautiful principles call us back,
Such grace! Kindly, Ellen
My title today is from a Rumi poem called “A Great Wagon,” and the middle verse—my favorite—is below and I leave you with it:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb