One Thing, by Rev. Katherine McKinney

One Power, One Thing, One Infinite Intelligence that we can use for good. It provides everything that we need or want.

I am inspired by a story I read this week about an Indian man, Jadav Payeng, who has planted one tree a day for 40 years. In 1979, he chooses land which has been devasted by erosion. Today, it is a dense forest, home to elephants, rhinoceros, wild boars, birds, and more. One Thing that one man does which transforms a barren piece of land into a dense forest, teeming with life.

Perhaps Jadav lives a simpler life, but he sticks with his one thing for 40 years without wavering, and that is impressive. For many of us, commitment seems more like a process: After a few months or less, the commitment may waver.

Choosing to do one thing for our good, is a key to our spiritual unfoldment. Ernest Holmes says, “Until we awake to the fact that we are One in nature with God…until we realize that our own word has the power of life, we will not see clearly.” If we create the barriers to our own success, we cannot see clearly.

A book-reading class on The Art of Life shows Ernest writing of Life and Its limitless capacity to create for us; he often follows with affirmations. Recently, after the affirmations, I paused the reading. One affirmation, in particular, stimulated spirited discussion: “If we always are kind, we shall not know hate.” One student says, “There is hate in life; it is all around us. How can we not see it?”

I note that Ernest does not say that there is no hate, but that “If we are always kind, we shall never know hate.” What is the difference? I remind the class of earlier passages that remind us that we must, “realize that our own word has the power of life…,” and realize that ALL of our thoughts and words and feelings have power of life.

How many of us are always kind? Perhaps, that is One Thing we can choose. The Dalai Lama has said, “My religion is kindness.” One Thing might be to follow Ernest Holmes’ words and “realize our own words have the power of life,” and choose to be more aware of how often we say words and think thoughts that are barriers to our good, in spite of our best intentions.

Having a commitment to One Thing doesn’t mean we only do one thing. Jadav Payeng has a family and a farm; he makes his living selling milk from his cows. He manages his life. Yet, by staying true to his One Thing, he draws inspiration from the forest he has created. Moreover, he grows his consciousness by being in integrity with the commitment he has made; he says that he will plant trees as long as he draws breath.

I further believe that if we do choose One Thing, and make a commitment to an important idea, we can know that any resources or opportunities we require for it to happen appear as we need them. We open to Spirit’s inspiration and stay awake. Spirit provides everything that we need or want.

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Katherine McKinney very recently has been appointed as Interim Senior Minister at Redondo Beach for Spiritual Living. She is the Dean of the Los Angeles School for Spiritual Leadership, located at Redondo Beach Center for Spiritual Living, since 2014.