Click HERE to view Rev. Dr. Michele Whittington’s guided meditation during the service.
I was thinking about — when I wanted to give this theme tonight and next week — that maybe talking about dreams is a little frivolous in today’s world. You know, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on in our world right now. We have a lot of chaos; we have a lot of fear; we have a lot of scary stuff. We have a lot of uncertainty. And I know how impacting that is on a lot of people.
And I really want to take a minute to applaud Rev. Stacy and Rev. Jimmy and Rev. Sandy for having the event this evening before this service to allow people with space to simply speak into a sacred circle to share whatever is on their hearts. Because I know there’s a lot of stuff on a lot of people’s hearts. So, thank you for doing that. [Congregants applaud] Yeah. Yeah.
So, I started thinking that maybe talking about dreams is a little frivolous. But I don’t think it is! And I want to give you a quick, quick, pre-sermon sermon. How’s that? [Laughs] Because living our dreams, I believe, is one of our New Thought spiritual principles, but I want to give you a couple other ones to ground us. Because I think when times are challenging and scary, and we see things that look out here like, “Oh my goodness; what is happening?”, we need to — we must! — deepen into what we say we believe. Do we believe what we say we believe?
So here are the four things that are going to lead us into talking about our dreams. And the first thing in New Thought, which is the umbrella for Unity and other … Religious Science and Divine Science and some other organizations and religions that fall under New Thought.
Here’s a fundamental principle: THERE IS ONLY ONE. There is only one. There is only God. There is not God and something else. There is not love and something else. There is not good and something else. There is only God, even when we can’t see it. Even when circumstances look like that cannot possibly be true. It is true.
Fundamental belief. Do we believe that or not?
And one of my favorite quotes out of the Science of Mind textbook … my spiritual lineage is Religious Science, which is a sister denomination of Unity. And the Science of Mind textbook is kind of our … not the Bible, but I’m going to put that in quotes. “Our Bible” — doesn’t replace the Bible, but it is our textbook that we use.
In it, Ernest Holmes wrote – and I have turned to this many times. I have turned to this quote many times! He says:
“Stay with the One …”
The One: that would be God …
“… and never deviate from it. Never leave it for a moment. Nothing else can equal this attitude.”
This next sentence is written in all caps to get your attention:
“TO DESERT THE TRUTH IN THE HOUR OF NEED IS TO PROVE THAT WE DO NOT KNOW THE TRUTH.”
Well, that’s kind of in your face, isn’t it? [Congregants laugh]
“When things look the worst, it is the supreme moment to demonstrate there are no obstructions to the operation of truth. When things look the worst, it is the best time to work; the most satisfying. The person who can throw himself [or herself] with a complete abandon into that limitless sea of receptivity, having cut loose from all apparent moorings, is the one who will always receive the greatest reward.”
Fundamental principle number one: There is only One. Don’t abandon that belief when times get tough.
Number two … Take a breath on this one. Okay, take a breath before I say it. ALL IS UNFOLDING IN DIVINE RIGHT ORDER. [Congregants murmur] And hallelujah, sisters and brothers: all is unfolding in divine right order, even when it does not look like it.
Number three: WE ARE GOD’S VEHICLE HERE ON EARTH. Every single person! Not everybody knows that, but it’s still the truth. But we, in Unity, know that. So, in times like now, we’ve got to step up to that.
And that takes me to the fourth one — which takes me to our dreams: that WHAT IS PLANTED IN OUR HEARTS IS OURS TO DO HERE ON EARTH. Just like that song said: we all have a mission. That was the word in the song. We have things to do here. And the things that are planted on our hearts — which we might call our dreams — are there because it is ours to do. Does that make sense? Are you with me on that? All right. I couldn’t hear that …? [Congregants: “Yes!”] Thank you! All right. I do. I do appreciate that. I appreciate that.
So, that’s why I think this topic is important. And I love the words of Howard Thurman, who said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
When we express our dreams, we come alive. When we express our dreams, we express the God of our Being. And that, my friends, is what the world needs right now.
So tonight and next week, we’re going to get to the heart of our dreams. And to set the tone, I want to share with you a story. Not a joke, by the way … [Congregants laugh] Just don’t be looking for a punchline, because it isn’t a joke. It’s actually a true story!
It was 1959. Jean Harper was in third grade, and her teacher gave her class an assignment. And that assignment was to write a report on what you want to do when you grow up. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do when she grew up. Her father was a crop duster, and she was completely captivated by airplanes and by flying.
And so, she poured her heart out in this report. She said things like, “My dream is to be a crop duster like my dad.” “My dream is making parachute jumps.” “My dream is to seed clouds,” because she’d seen a TV episode of Sky King. Who remembers Sky King? You’re going to date yourself if you say yes … but yeah, um hmm. I do! And most of all, she dreamed of being an airline pilot. So, she wrote those dreams out in her third grade report, and was so excited to turn it into her teacher.
The next day, her paper came back with an “F” on it — a big red “F.”
And on the words were written, “You’ll poke your eye out!” Oh, no, wait; that’s a different story. [Congregants laugh] Who knows what that’s from? [Congregant shouts out: “A Christmas Story!”] Thank you! A Christmas Story! All right; anyway.
No, it didn’t say that. What it said was: “Impossible. You have written a fairy tale. None of those dreams are for a girl.”
Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh. I know; it was 1952, just bear in mind. Or ’59.
So, she was crushed. She was humiliated and she was crushed.
So, years went by. She was beaten down by negativity and criticism every time she mentioned her dream. And she heard things like, “Girls can’t become airline pilots. They never have and they never will.” “You’re not smart enough.” “You’re just plain crazy, and that’s impossible!”
And so, at the ripe old age of 11, she let go of those dreams.
I want to pause the story here for just a minute and ask — this is a rhetorical question, by the way. Do not have to answer it out loud! But does any of that sound familiar to you? Well, I see some heads shaking. That, you know, you had some dreams at some point — maybe in third grade, maybe yesterday — but you got a message that, “You can’t live your dream because of fill in the blank. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. No, you can’t do that because ….” and you believed it. And so you let your dreams go.
Well, let’s fast forward in our story to Jean being a senior in high school. And her senior English teacher gave her class an assignment: a writing assignment. And the assignment was: What do you think you’ll be doing in 10 years? So, Jean thought about that. She thought about her old dreams. “Pilot?” she thought. “Mmmm. No way; that will never happen. Flight attendant? Oh no, I’m not really attractive enough to do that. Well, how about wife? Yeah; no, I don’t think anybody’s really gonna want me.” [Sighs] “Well, how about waitress? Yeah; I could probably do that.”
So, that’s what she wrote: waitress. The teacher collected all the papers and then, the next class, handed them back out. She had turned them all over, so that gives it a blank side on everyone’s desk. And she then asked this question of all the students: If you had unlimited finances; access to the finest schools; and limitless talents and abilities, what would you be doing in 10 years?
Well, not surprisingly, Jean felt a rush of enthusiasm and excitement for her old dreams. And so, she just began to write them down. The other students wrote whatever they wrote. And when they had all stopped, the teacher said to this class, “How many of you wrote the same thing on both sides of your paper?” Not a one raised their hands.
So, the next thing this very, very wise teacher said changed the course of Jean’s life forever … and probably the lives of many of those students. But this is not their story; this is Jean’s story. [Laughs] So, I don’t know about them.
She looked at the students one at a time in the eye and said, “I have a little secret for you all. You do have limitless abilities and talents. You do have access to the finest schools. And you can arrange unlimited finances if you want something badly enough. That is it. When you leave high school, if you don’t go for your dreams, no one will do it for you. You can have what you want if you want it enough.”
And in that moment — in the face of that truth — the years of hurt and fear and discouragement kind of crumbled for Jean. She felt exhilarated and, not surprisingly, a little bit scared. But she decided to go for her dreams. Now, it took a while. It didn’t happen overnight. More than 10 years before much movement happened.
But the first thing that happened for her was: she became a private pilot. Then she got the necessary ratings to fly aircraft and even commuter planes … but was always the co-pilot. Her employers were hesitant and sometimes even openly hostile about her wanting to be a captain, because “Girls can’t be captains.” But she did not stop, because she wanted it enough. Because it was planted on her heart. Because the God of her Being said, “This is what is yours to do!”
And so, she went on to accomplish every single dream that third grade little girl had. For a time, she was a crop duster, just like her dad. She made a few hundred parachute jumps. That would not be on my bucket list, by the way … [Congregants laugh] I know some of you have done that, but not on mine, thank you very much! She even spent a summer as a weather modification pilot seeding clouds. And in 1978, she was in the first group of female pilot trainees ever accepted by United Airlines. [Congregants whoop] And ultimately … hold on; one more … ultimately, she became the captain — not the co-pilot — the captain of a Boeing 737. Now you can clap. [Congregants applaud]
This is a story, by the way, that appears in one of the Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul is where the story is. And I want to read you the final paragraph:
It was the power of a few well-placed positive words — one spark of encouragement from a woman Jean respected — that gave that uncertain young woman the strength and faith to pursue her dreams. Jean said, “I chose to believe her …”
The teacher …
“I chose to believe her, and then I committed myself to the dream.”
[Repeats] I chose to believe her and then I committed myself to the dream. When you get to the heart of your dream — we all have them! Some of them, again, like I said a minute ago, were planted a long time ago, but they’re still sitting there. Others bubbled up yesterday. Because it doesn’t matter where we are in our journey in life; we have things planted in us that the God of our Being says, “This is yours to be, to do, to have, to experience. This is a gift that you have to give to the world.”
So, my question for you tonight — and we’re going to now dig into it a bit – is: Who have you chosen to believe about those? And what are you committed to?
So, I’m going to do that — explore those two questions tonight and next week – by looking at them within the framework of an acronym. I love acronyms! I just think they’re a great way to remember things and anchor it. And our acronym — it’s a very creative acronym — is DREAM. There you go. We’re going to use DREAM: the word DREAM as our acronym. D -R -E -A -M. Each of those stands for something.
We’re going to explore those right now.
So the first one: D. The D stands for DESERVE YOUR DREAMS. Now let me be clear; you already deserve them. That’s a given. But do you know that? [Laughs] Do you accept that? So maybe I ought to tweak that a bit and say: Accept that you deserve your dreams. But I wanted to start it with a D, so that’s why we went that way. [Congregants laugh]
So we’re going to expand our opening affirmation that we said. And I’m going to say it once and then — I think it’s not too long; I think we can all say it together. But here it is:
“When I express my dreams, I express the God of my Being.”
We said that one already two times, so one more time. I’ll say it:
“When I express my dreams, I express the God of my Being, and I deserve to express the God of my Being.”
All right; we got it? [With congregants:] “When I express my dreams …”
Let me hear you! [With congregants]: “When I express my dreams, I express the God of my Being, and I deserve to express the God of my Being.”
That is a fact. That is a Truth statement. And whatever you have been told by whomever … they were misinformed. And if you’re telling yourself that, you are misinformed.
Alan Cohen — in his great book, A Deep Breath of Life – wrote:
“When we make a stand for our goal …”
And I’m just going to change that to, “When we make a stand for our dreams …”:
“… We affirm that we are worthy to live in a loving and abundant universe.”
[Repeats] We are worthy to live in a loving and abundant universe.
So, here’s a question I want to ask you again — rhetorical, don’t have to answer it, but I do hope you think about it: Is there a dream on your heart right now?
Actually, I don’t need to ask that question. Yes! I know there is a dream on your heart right now! Maybe it’s been buried so deep you’re not sure what it is. Go find it. Go find it!
And: Do you believe you deserve it?
And if, more importantly, if you believed you deserved it, what would you do?
If you believed you deserved to have that dream come into fruition — into manifestation — what would you do? Take a breath.
Does everybody have something in mind? Yeah; I’m seeing some heads. Okay. So, what I want you to do: in your minds, I want you to see that dream. See it! See it done. In your mind’s eye, see it done. And this I do want you to say out loud. Look at it and say, “I deserve you.”
[Congregants:] “I deserve you!”
Say it with some feeling! [With congregants:] “I deserve you!”
One more time: [with congregants] “I deserve you!”
Yes, you do, my friends. You absolutely deserve it.
Which takes us to the next two letters. We’re going to put them together: the R and the E.
The R is reach for them. Reach for them with an expectancy — so R: reach; expectancy: E — of the best. REACH FOR THEM EXPECTING THE BEST. See, the song just has been played out here in my talk! [Laughs]
I love this couplet from German poet and philosopher Goethe. He says, “Are you in earnest? Then seize this very minute. What you can do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage and the mind grows heated; begin, and then the work will be completed.”
Reach for them and expect the best.
So, again, are you committed to reaching for your dreams? That, my friend, is … There’s a difference between having a dream … You’ve got to have one to begin with. You’ve got to have one! That’s important. But that’s not it. That’s not … we’re not done. We must be committed to taking the steps –that’s the reaching! — to taking the steps required to get there.
Did you hear me? [Congregants laugh] Do you like that or not? I’m seeing like, “No, I don’t think so. No, thank you. I just like to have my dream and have it go poof!” [Congregants laugh]
I have said so many times, “I wish I had a magic wand; I could just wave it over you and all that issue would be solved. Boom!” That is not how it works on this plane of existence.
So, if you are truly committed to your dream, you will reach for it through action. And you will keep reaching for it through action, expecting the best, until you achieve it or — as I often like to say — something better. You won’t be discouraged if there’s a slip or a setback. Well, you might be discouraged for a minute; that’s okay. But you won’t let it stop you. You will continue to take that action, moving forward, expecting the best.
I love this quote from Abraham Lincoln, who, if you know … I mean, we all know how … I was going to say how his story ends; we all know that. But really what I meant is that he ultimately became, you know, one of the best presidents the United States has ever had. But he did not have a positive experience in his journey to the presidency. He lost — I can’t tell you how many elections he lost, one after another. And business failures. And mental health issues and physical health issues. He just … he had a rough road. He had a rough road!
And on that journey — kind of far into that journey — he lost yet another; it was a Senate race this time. And he is quoted as having said, “The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped underneath me, knocking the other one out of its way. But I recovered and said to myself, ‘It’s a slip; only a slip. Not a fall.'”
And then we know what he went on to do. Lost, lost, lost, lost, lost; became the president.
So. recall that dream that you thought of just a second ago. And I ask now: How can you reach for it? What committed action step can you take? And take it with an expectancy of good. Just think about that for a moment.
That takes us to the A. And the A is such a gigantically big topic that it needs a whole month just on it, so I’m not going to give it a whole month just on it! So, I’m not going to give it a whole month, but I’m also not going to talk about it tonight! [Congregants laugh] Because I don’t have time! But I’ll tell you what it is, and then that’s going to be your little invitation to come back next week, because that’s what we will explore next week.
So the A in our DREAM stands for ALIGN WITH SOURCE. Align with God; align with the Divine; align with the Universe; whatever term you want to put in there. Whatever works for you works for me. Align with that Power and Presence which is greater than you are, but that also works as you and through you.
Align with it. We’ll explore that next week at a whole rich and full and juicy level. So put that one on hold for now.
And then we’ll get to the M. The M, our final letter in DREAM, stands for MANIFESTATION. Now, here is the good news for some of you; the bad news for others. Depends on where you fall in the controller spectrum. [Congregants laugh] If you’re a big controller, you’re not going to like this. If you’re good with letting go of control, you’re going to go, “Oh, thank you.”
This one is out of your hands. This one is out of your … You do not get to say about the manifestation. You do not get to control the outcome of the work that you do with D-R-E-A. The M is in much bigger hands than yours. The M is in the hands of the Infinite.
I find that to be very good news, even though I am a recovering controller. [Congregants laugh] And I haven’t always fully recovered. It does want to sneak its way back in now and again. But I kind of like the idea that, when I have done my work — when I’ve done the things we’ve talked about tonight in depth –I’m honored that the Universe/Source/God/Life itself is going to rush in. Rush in to support me. Rush in to bring opportunities and resources and all sorts of things that I couldn’t have even thought of. Boom! There they are; there they come!
I know every one of us has had some experience of that; some experience. And if you haven’t yet, well, do what we’re talking about tonight. Strap in; because it’ll happen.
There’s a book called The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. Some of you may be familiar with it. It was written by H … excuse me, W.H. Murray. And it was written in the ’50s. And it was about a group of mountain climbers who were going to take an expedition to Garhwal — Garhwal; I think I’m saying that correctly — Himalayas in northern India. So, they were going to do this; it was a group of them. And they were spinning their wheels and they weren’t getting anywhere. And they were really kind of … They felt stuck. They felt stuck. Nothing was happening.
And so, in this book, W.H. Murray — who was a key person to get this expedition off the ground — was writing about all the ways that they were just stuck. And then he wrote … Now, you may not recognize the beginning of this, but you might recognize when I get a little further into it. We don’t often hear this part. And I think the part I want to share with you at the beginning is key to the meaning of the whole thing.
So, he’s describing how it’s not going well. And then he says:
“When I said that nothing had been done, I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were, therefore, halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money — booked a sailing to Bombay.
This may sound too simple, but it is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy: the chance to draw back, always in effectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative …”
And I’ll add dreams!
“… there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too.”
There comes our manifestation piece!
“… A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no one could have dreamt would have come their way.
I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets …”
We heard it a minute ago. Here it is again:
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
So tonight, I invite you to engage the genius, the power, the boldness and the magic that Goethe is speaking of by recognizing that you do ‘D’ — Deserve to have/experience your dreams. By making the commitment to Reach for them through committed action while Expecting – E — the best. And then by aligning with Source — more on that later! — so that the Universe can bring about the manifestation.
I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes about dream building. It’s from Henry David Thoreau. He wrote this in Walden:
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will pass an invisible boundary; new universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws will be expanded and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of being.”
I say let’s all live with a license of a higher order of being. Can I get an amen on that? [Congregation: “Amen!”] Amen. And so it is.
Copyright 2025 Unity of Phoenix Spiritual Center/Rev. Dr. Michele Whittington