Spiritual Principles: The Sharpest Tools in My Toolbox

When I found myself in one of the biggest hot messes of my life, I instinctively turned to the wisdom, truth, and steadfastness of the spiritual principles I had learned in Unity. Even though I was hundreds of miles away from my home church and support group, the teachings I had absorbed over the years did not let me down.

Having been born and raised in Dallas, Texas, I was no stranger to heat, traffic, and noise. When Covid restrictions were put into place in March 2020, the strangling isolation on top of the noise and heat was almost more than I could bear. I had lost all my piano students and therefore my income. Even my beloved Unity on Greenville closed its doors to live services. No more holding hands with my buddies and singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” to get me through the week.  

Seeking Peace and Quiet

I desperately wanted out of the city, to almost anywhere that had more peace and quiet, space, animals, and cooler temperatures. I had lost the house I used to own in upstate New York. Squatters had taken it over after I returned to Dallas for what I thought would be a brief sojourn. Instead, while paying rent in Dallas and struggling to maintain the property in New York, I fell behind on mortgage payments. The house was placed in foreclosure with the squatters still in it.

I began to look at property listings in North Carolina, Virginia, Vermont, Costa Rica, you name it, but found nothing I could afford, especially with a dinged-up credit rating. I felt stuck, but I continued with affirmations and meditation.

One day in October, I received an email from a former New York neighbor informing me that my house stunk. I told him the house had long been foreclosed upon, so I was not its owner anymore. I couldn’t imagine why the bank hadn’t cleaned up the property, evicted the squatters, and sold the place. I said I would call the bank and inquire.  

Imagine how Mary and Martha must have felt when Jesus raised their brother Lazarus from the dead, and you might understand how I felt when the bank told me it hadn’t foreclosed, and I still owned my house.  

I did a whole lot of soul-searching. Could I really leave my Unity friends in Dallas to return to New York? Could I gather enough money and helpers to rehab a house in terrible shape? Granted, I had been praying and meditating for a long time to live somewhere with cooler weather, more peace and quiet, and animals, but was this it? I decided to go see.  

I had to find an attorney and undertake the convoluted eviction process I had failed to negotiate in the past. This time I was successful. Then I packed up my Chihuahua, coffee pot, laptop, and a box of books and hit the road.  

Restoring the House

The house was in even worse shape than I had imagined. I didn’t know whether to cry, get sick, or go to bed, so I did all three. Fortunately, some friends from my prior time in New York gave me a clean little cabin to stay in for two months while I figured out what to do. I still have from those days a heavily underlined copy of Complete Works of H. Emilie Cady, who helped establish Unity teachings alongside its founders at the beginning of the 20th century.

Of particular help was Cady’s manner of expressing truth principles clearly and firmly. She taught that after a treatment or prayer, one must totally relinquish the problem to the Supreme Power. That prompted me to recall the first Unity service I attended in 1982 and the day’s lesson about letting go and letting God. More than once, as I continued coping with a ruined house and ruined finances, I calmed my rambling and raging mind by following Cady’s advice to go alone into the stillness of the divine presence.

Over the following weeks, I became a 4-foot-11-inch, 74-year-old construction worker. I hung Sheetrock and installed a toilet all by myself. When the house was functional and clean enough for habitation, the Chihuahua and I moved in. I enjoyed seeing the return of the turkeys and deer, the woodpeckers and chipmunks. I took breaks from working on the house and hiked some of the nearby trails to beautiful ponds and lakes.  

I faced countless challenges before I could fully restore the house, which I now lovingly refer to as the Boomerang House. I called the Unity Prayer Ministry, Silent Unity, and prayed for companionship to ease the isolation I felt living in the center of the Adirondack Mountains. Soon after, my 19-year-old goddaughter, her parents, and two of my best girlfriends, all whom I had met at Unity on Greenville, came to visit.

The nearest Unity church now is two hours away, which makes my regular attendance impractical, especially in winter. But Daily Word, Silent Unity, Unity books, and especially the dear friends I met at Unity all help keep me on a spiritual path. I am indeed grateful.