All through the concert I kept seeing the image of that white dove on the darkened eaves and it continued to haunt me for weeks to come. Its message of finding inner peace also gnawed at me until finally, in February, I made a decision.
I was talking with a friend about being uncomfortable in my life. I’d just come back from a vacation in Florida and was already planning my April and October vacations. I lived for getting away from my life in New York, though I had a great job and salary, many friends and social activities, and I was singing in one of the top concert choirs in the city. But something was missing, and I couldn’t identify what that was.
My friend asked me to quickly tell her, without thinking about it, what I’d like to change or do in my life if work, my relationship and money weren’t a factor. My immediate response was, “I’d move to California,” to which she replied, “Then you must go.”
Two months later on April 8, 1991, I left New York City at 5:00 pm in my new Toyota Corolla wagon with my partner, two cats and all our plants. We arrived in Los Angeles on April 18th, found an apartment in Los Feliz and moved in within a week. We only knew three people in Los Angeles and neither of us was employed but … we were living in California!
In June, I was still unemployed and my money was running dangerously low. One day, while sitting parked in traffic on the 10 freeway, I began talking to God as I tend to do when I’m in my car. I asked, “God, was this move a big mistake because I don’t have a job and the money is almost gone?”
Out of nowhere a white dove appeared, circled my car three times and disappeared. It got my attention! I remembered that this year was about finding inner peace, and I was already where I wanted to be, so it was simply a matter of time before things turned around.
Within an hour, I was home and the phone rang. A woman who’d been a client of mine in New York was calling to find out if I was still looking for a job. She then directed me to call a friend of hers, a producer of an NBC show, who might be able to help me. Two hours later I was in his office and he was offering me a job.
White doves have mysteriously appeared nearly every time I’ve had a life crisis where great faith was called for. I saw one the day I found out I had cancer, and over the six-month treatment process they seemed to be everywhere. They’ve even shown up when I’ve needed to make smaller life decisions. When I couldn’t decide whether to take an apartment, a dove landed on the wire right over the apartment while I was talking to the landlord. A dove even appeared over my head at a Dodger’s Game when I was field producing a segment for a TV show. I couldn’t find the camera crew two minutes before the event started, and was getting worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get the footage I needed to complete the segment. Within seconds of seeing the dove, I heard a man ask if anyone had seen the NBC field producer; the crew I’d been expecting had been replaced by two freelancers I’d never worked with before, so I had been looking for the wrong camera crew. Once we got to work I was able to land and shoot more interviews than the person who normally covered celebrity events.
Over the years I’ve had a few naysayers tell me that white doves are everywhere, that they are used for release at weddings and at Dodger games and often don’t find their way home. That doesn’t matter; they can be everywhere for everyone to see, and still they hold a special meaning for me. Whenever a white dove appears to me it’s a visual reminder that God is ever present. It’s as if God is speaking to me and saying, I am here and all is well.
A Blessed Meeting
By Joan Doyle
A penny on a lunch table on a Saturday in June, I didn’t know then how significant that was. I was lunching with a man, a casual acquaintance, nothing romantic, though I was single and looking for Mr. Right. We had met on Match.com a year before, had decided the other was not the one and opted to stay in touch since we had similar interests.
“Oh look, a penny,” he remarked with a delight that I found unwarranted. “We are on our perfect path!” He went on to explain what a penny meant to him and I liked the idea. We had just visited a spiritual center he frequented which I had been curious about, and I thought the penny sounded like a lovely sign of affirmation. Like a signpost saying “YES, KEEP GOING THIS WAY.” Our lunch came to an end, and as we began to shift focus to our separate day’s plans and prepared to part like we had done on our three or four meetings over the previous year, I said, “I’m going to an art fair, just for an hour. I’m thinking of taking part in it next year; do you think you’d like to come along?” He hesitated a moment and then said, “Yes!”
Well, the Fair led to a visit to a park and then to dinner under a full moon, and later to flowers and other dinners, to a ring and a romance like I’d never imagined. It led to a relationship like no other I have experienced, so how could I possibly have imagined it? Out of the blue I found what I was looking for right under my nose! What prompted me that day to invite him to the fair? What prompted us both to say yes to all that followed? Being open, right timing, having done the work of our separate pasts, letting go of judgments or preconceived notions, listening to the angels whispering in our ears?
Daily we make decisions, sometimes the decision not to decide. So many factors affect that decision, and subsequently, the outcome of that decision. If we are to make instant decisions that enhance our lives, I believe we have to cultivate the more conscious decisions and actions we take in the spirit of love–love of ourselves and of others. In the same way that meditating daily can affect the quality of our thoughts during the day, being conscious in our decisions, making choices based on love and not fear, means we lay down the thought patterns that serve our automatic responses. Our habits, consciously developed or otherwise, inform those split-second choices. It’s why we do the work of self-development–to enhance our lives.
I asked Justin to join me at an art fair and he said yes. Both our life experiences came into play; but there was a third component, in my opinion, for we would both agree that our small selves are not so wise. Our Spirit selves guided in that moment and brought us the best gift we have ever experienced: each other. Making room for Spirit as we let go of control only enhances life. And pennies to affirm our direction–how perfect!
The Divine Speaks to Me in Songs
By Kristina Kiefer
When I got it into my head that I was going to India to participate in a spiritual course, I did not know exactly why, or what I was searching for. That was the year I was supposed to go to Australia, not India. The previous six months I had been planning to travel to Australia at Christmas with my brother and parents to visit my younger brother and his family that had moved to Australia last year. So I did not expect to wake up one morning just knowing that I was going to India, as if I had always known that and it had always been a part of my being.
So there I was at the Oneness University in India wearing all white clothing, most of it bought in a quick shopping trip to Macy’s in October, grabbing whatever I could find in white, even if it was one or two sizes too big. I thought I had a relationship with the Divine. I was in for a big surprise, because I was to see this in a whole new way as a result of this trip. It happened during one of our first visits to the Oneness Temple; we were doing a process that is intended to strengthen the relationship with one’s Divine, whatever the Divine is for each person.
We were at the end of the process and I lay down on the cool marble floor, with my head on