The Nature of the Invisible

“Listen to those who love.”—David Matsiko

So I’m here at a retreat center on the edge of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. So far, I’ve walked the entire perimeter of Lake Junaluska, bidding “good morning” (like Louis Armstrong sang, “I was really saying ‘I love you’”) to the other walkers, I’ve kayaked as far as the orange buoys (the allowable distance) AND I successfully gave that keynote address I mentioned a few blog posts ago.

But the best thing about this retreat is getting to hang out with a bunch of Unity ministers, the current director of Silent Unity (who, in a previous incarnation, was a roller derby queen known as Thunderlips) and the illustrious Martha Creek.

Martha has been a mentor of mine for forever and if you’ve never heard her speak or felt her love (it’s so palpable, you can feel it across the room), check out her website or her Youtube videos.

Today, in the morning session, she told a story she’d never shared with me.

She was traveling with three women from Wilmington, North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia. On a lark, she suggested they try one of the experiments from E-Squared.

“Let’s all pick something we want to manifest during the four-hour drive down the coast,” she said.

One woman was missing her deceased dad and requested a message from him.

Another said she’d like to see smoke that wasn’t related to a fire or that caused any damage.

Martha chose a giraffe. Since, obviously, there are SO MANY giraffes in the Carolinas.

The fourth passenger said, “I’m going for some bread and butter pickles.”

Four pretty diverse challenges for the universe.

Not 20 minutes into the trip they entered a North Carolina county that just happened to have dozens and dozens of political signs for a candidate named Lee. That was the first woman’s dad’s name.

An hour or so later, they noticed a 60’s-style van decorated with wild, psychedelic colors. Groovy man! No sooner did they pull next to the van than a window opened and out came a blast of smoke.

When they stopped for lunch, near the door of the restaurant was a…..even I was surprised..,giraffe. A real giraffe.

When they finally arrived in Savannah, the fourth request still seemed elusive. They figured three out of four wasn’t bad.

At dinner that night, the woman who hadn’t “manifested” her request excused herself to go to the bathroom. When she came down the stairs (the loos were on the second floor), her face was white.

“What happened?” they all asked, thinking perhaps of Savannah’s many historic ghosts.

“You’ve got to walk upstairs and see it for yourself,” she said.

At the top of the stairs, right next to the bathrooms, was a whole row of shelves filled with bread and butter pickles.

So I’ll ask once again. What exactly is it you’re looking for?

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 22 books including E-Squared, Thank & Grow Rich , The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)and her latest, The Ego’s Playbook.