The Abundant Universe with Michelle Medrano

**Josh Reeves** (0:01)
This is Josh Reeves, and you're listening to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. Labor Day weekend, Samira, Jackie, and myself are facilitating a meditation and prayer retreat. It's about meditation and solitude, but it's just as much about connection and community. We'll be creating a space of healing, introspection, and inner joy and fun. So consider joining us, learn more about this and all sorts of stuff at milehichurch.org.

**Michelle Medrano** (0:27)
I love that today we're talking about abundance. We're continuing our conversation on abundance on a day, as Reverend Ramos said, that in this hemisphere is the longest day of the year, lots of daylight. So you have lots of time to reflect on what we're gonna talk about here today, which is good. The more light we can bring to this subject, the better. And of course, Father's Day, a day to honor dads. I'm very blessed. I got a new dad this year. My almost 80-year-old mother got married a few months ago. Yes. So I'm very honored to have a new father, Roland Tomczyk, a beautiful man, has wonderful children in his life. And my brother and I get to be counted amongst them. So it's a beautiful blessing. And I always like to remind us all that even if you're not a dad and you don't think there's anything to celebrate, we all have a dad somewhere. So here's what we get to celebrate. I think if we're wise, no matter what our relationship with our father has been or is, this is a day where every one of us as children of a father somewhere, get to reflect upon and deepen the healing journey of what it means to be that child of that person. That might mean it's a deeper time for reflection and forgiveness of letting go, of grieving if we need to grieve, of feeling the sadness of that loss, whatever it might be. But Father's Day has something for all of us, if we're willing to take it and receive it. As does this conversation about abundance. We started it last week. Last week, this is the second part of my series, An Abundant Universe. And we talked last week about the dance of abundance and about the moves of abundance being like a dance that we could take on. And today, we're talking about money specifically. One channel, one form of abundance. There are lots of forms of abundance, as I talked about last week. But we're leaning in specifically today to money. I want to say if you knew that and you came to church anyway, congratulations.
Sometimes people don't like to talk about money. We were resistant to it. And some of you might now, if you didn't know, that's what I was talking about, might be like wanting to run or thinking I'm going to ask you for money. I want you to say until to know until the offering, I'm not going to ask you for money.
I think that money is a very important topic and we don't talk about it much here from this platform on Sundays. We usually like to say about once a year, we want to pause and invite us all to evolve our relationship with our financial life. That this is important for us to do because of what we believe here and what we teach here. And because I know that just like that song, most of us do have a million dreams of the world we like to make. I know for me, the world I like to make is enough money for everyone. I'd like to make a world where there's more than enough of good. And we may not think that we have a part in that, but each one of us does because every time one of us cracks this nut if you will of choosing to rise above beliefs and ideas of lack and limitation into the true nature of abundance with regard to any topic and especially with regard to money, where we become less defended, less shameful, less fearful about money. We make the way for every other citizen on this planet to be able to rise up into it. What I know for sure is you and I are doing no good to anybody by continuing to practice practices and thoughts and energy of lack and limitation about any topic and especially about money. If we want a more abundant planet, if we want a more abundant country, if we want a more abundant family, if we want a more abundant life, we've got to confront ourselves around our limited ideas about money. And we've got to be willing to heal and evolve. My favorite quote from Ernest Holmes has to do with life moving through us and flowing through us, and looking at all of the factors that might be contributing to that. I mentioned, of course, as we've been talking all day, it's Father's Day and a lot of times I'm going to talk up the end of my talk about the influence that family can have on us, the old ideas that we bring forth, and ideas that fathers can give us. I heard this cute little story about Betsy and Billy, and Betsy was trying to teach Billy more about math. And so she says to Billy, okay, so now if you have $2 and your father, you ask your father for two more dollars, how much will you have? And Billy says, $2.