Is Your Greatness in Your Way? by Rev. Tara Steele

Decades ago, my grandmother and I were chatting on her living room couch. At some point, she looked at me and said, “You’re so smart, you could be president.” Though she meant well, that statement set up roadblocks of self-judgment and not-enoughness around what I was doing with my life. Perhaps you’ve had similar experiences?

If I could be President of the United States, anything less than that is a failure. “You’re only a [fill in the blank], you could be so much more!” Now and then, when I look back at my life, I still question whether I lived up to my potential.

“Whole, perfect, and complete.” “This life is God’s life, this life is perfect, this life is my life now.“ I remember shaking my head at the naivete of those statements when I first heard them in a church of religious science. Aware of my limitations, my failures, my regrets, how could I be perfect? There was some unconscious template, a hidden belief, about what wholeness, perfection, “greatness” meant. Whatever it was, it was always a bit beyond my reach.

A couple of antidotes work for me. The first is recognizing what I have accomplished. After getting by the voices in my head, I smile in gratitude for my daughter, for my ministry, for my friends. Those aren’t entirely my accomplishments; they are signs of a life well lived, just the way it is. That’s the second antidote, remembering I am perfect, just the way I am.

What if I am perfect, from the moment I gasped for breath and cried? How does that idea impact me? The first thing I notice is a feeling of relief that I don’t have to keep working at doing better, striving for that goal of greatness just out of reach? Then there’s a smile that starts deep within, that leans into a sense of okayness, of acceptance, of ease. There is also surrender or alignment, opening to accept there is no need for fixing. Spirit’s got me and adores me, just the way I am. Of course, that is so, for I am one with That.

Full circle, into the greatness, the possibility, the aliveness – without having to change anything, fix anything, figure anything out. Being present, letting go, smiling – all is well. I am free to allow the unique beauty within to unfold, just the way I am. Glory hallelujah, it’s great!

Rev. Tara Steele is a minister at the Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa. Since beginning her service, she has been Staff Minister, Community Minister, and now Education Minister. Whatever her label, she delights in circles where participants connect and share their experiences, their knowledge, and their questions. It may be a class on wholeness, a book study, or a weekly gathering of mystics.

The oldest of five children, she is finally learning it’s way more fun to collaborate on projects than it is to tell everyone what they should do. It’s time for more play.

Here, There, Everywhere, by Rev. Tara Steele

The phrase “here, there, everywhere” recalls images of my grandchildren scampering around the garden hunting for Easter eggs. There’s excitement, fun, competition between them, and a moment’s triumph when a treat is found.

Perhaps that was what the teacher Jesus observed as how the Jews searched for heaven in his day. When asked where heaven was, he told the Pharisees the kingdom of God was not here or there, rather it was within.

I’ve been reflecting on heaven and our focus on its being within us. I settle into my inner sanctuary, listen to the still small voice, sit in prayer and communion. Then I “return” to my everyday life renewed and refreshed, getting back to work. At times, heaven is my refuge from the messiness of daily life. I wonder if that’s my more acceptable version of spiritual bypass?

When asked, “where do you experience the Divine?” students often mention nature, sometimes music, children, being with beloveds. Doing the dishes, driving to work, checking emails – those activities rarely show up on the lists. Perhaps it’s because the Divine needs a setting appropriate to Its spectacularness? Or we only notice God when we are in awe and wonder? Or, as when we go to prayer, we choose not to bother Spirit, or notice Spirit, in the little things?

Here's where I’m landing. Heaven is clearly experienced within. We have carved a path to the sacred, with practices, candles, stillness, mantras. And there is much good in that!

What I’m suggesting is that’s heaven is not limited to “within.” It is here, there, everywhere. Though Holmes calls it “spirituality”, for me he offers a beautiful description of heaven in the textbook:

Spirituality may be defined as an atmosphere of good, a realization of God…It springs from within, coming from that never-failing fountain of life, which quenches every thirst, whose Source is in Eternity; the well-spring of self-existence. It is a revelation of the self to the self, putting one back on the track of his own self-dependence on Spirit, his own at-one-ment with Reality. 

 [Ernest Holmes, Science of Mind, 446:2]

The invitation is to bask in heaven, then trail those clouds of glory back into the Allness of our lives. In Science of Mind, we believe, with Eric Butterworth, “there is no spot where God is not.” Let’s extend that understanding of God’s omnipresence to bring heaven, the state of Being that Ernest Holmes describes, into every moment of our lives. Here, there, everywhere!






Rev. Tara has been at home at the Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa since driving by on her way to her daughter’s home. There’s been a lot of serendipity in her life though sometimes, it has taken decades to follow up on Spirit’s leading. Education Minister at the Santa Rosa center, Tara’s passion is to welcome students into exploring the teachings of Science of Mind, in learning circles of connection, curiosity, growth, and inclusion.

Wearing her “Oma” hat, now a grandma living in a granny unit, she reads dragon fantasies with her 9-year-old grandson and encourages her 4-year- old granddaughter’s recording videos, all of which are cute, some of which are rather good. Life is amazing, challenging, delightful, and always worth savoring.

That was a revolutionary idea 2000 years ago. It’s at the heart of Science of Mind’s understanding of heaven. From the Science of Mind’s glossary, heaven “is a real state of Being,” “the result of that atmosphere of conviction which our thought awakens in us.”