I had a breakthrough recently. In reading Joel Goldsmith’s essay, The Secret of the Twenty-third Psalm, I realized that I have nothing. I am a blank canvas through which God expresses Itself as health, wealth, and love, among other things. As that canvas, I experience many things such as wellness, jobs, relationships, and possessions, but I don’t really have them. They come and go. Jobs end, people die, objects wear out or break. The good news is if I don’t really have them, then I can’t lose them. When Sterling Drug closed the plant I worked at in 1991, I didn’t lose my job. I just ended my experience as a manager there. It was time for Spirit to express in a bigger way on my canvas – and It did.
Likewise, I cannot lose my good health. If I’m open to it, I experience excellent health as the expression of the Divine Creator. There is no such thing as an incurable disease. There are just diseases for which humans have not yet discovered a cure. Our Creator knows only perfect health, which is what Anita Moorjani expressed after she realized God’s unconditional love during her near death experience. (You may recall that she had stage four cancer, and doctors declared she had just hours to live.)
Can you feel how freeing it is to have nothing? When have you felt the most free? For me, it’s when I’ve released something, such as a job, a possession, or a relationship. I feel it when I’ve had a garage sale or even cleaned out a closet. Similarly, it’s said the best time to take a vacation is between jobs, that period after we’ve ended one position and the new one hasn’t started yet. We have no responsibilities to think about from either job – we’re free. Isn’t this what the Scriptures mean when it says “the truth shall make you free”?
To grasp this freedom at a deeper level, let’s take having nothing but being open to receiving (experiencing) anything to an extreme for just a moment. If I have nothing, I don’t own anything. I can feel free to give anything in my possession away, because it isn’t mine anyway and I can always receive it again if I need it. I can be as “generous” as I want to be, knowing I can always express more wealth. If I had nothing, I’d have nothing to insure or to worry about being stolen or damaged. Now I’m not suggesting that we no longer carry insurance, become careless, or give everything we own away. After all, taking care of what we’re entrusted with at the moment is an expression of appreciation and gratitude. But this understanding frees us from worry about the decisions we’re called to make regarding giving, investing, carrying insurance, and taking precautions to maintain our safety.
I invite you to reflect on the idea that you truly have nothing. Oprah does not have more money than you and I have. She is having an experience of greater wealth than we are at the moment. She came into this lifetime without it and will leave without it, as well. While most of us don’t really desire that level of wealth, we would like to experience more financial abundance than we are right now. What if we were to visualize ourselves as completely empty-handed, a blank slate? Let’s see ourselves as having nothing, but being ready to experience anything, knowing that Spirit is always intending to express at a greater level and only as absolute Good. Please understand that it’s not our responsibility to make this happen. The canvas doesn’t do the painting; that’s the painter’s role.
I am adopting this mindset as I allow God to express a greater level of professional and personal fulfillment and prosperity in my life. I am guided clearly, and each step I take is natural and supported. I no longer cling to experiences that do not serve my greater good or grasp at opportunities that do not naturally and gently unfold for me. In remembering that I have nothing, I am ready and able to receive my heart’s deepest desires.