A message channeled during a group session on January 11, 2026, by Rev. Jeff Munnis to help us understand the place of potential that we sit in and the importance of how we make choices and nourish ourselves spiritually.

Transcript

All of us sit in a spiritual place that’s a place of potential. And the meaning of that potential comes from knowing that we’ve all reached a stage of our lives where we’ve learned the powerful, big things to learn. We’ve learned some of the small little things to learn that sort of carry us day by day. We know the direction of our lives. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t difficult moments, but there’s a sense of movement on a path toward God, toward a connectedness and a union with God. And part of this special stage—we might call it being initiated or baptized or engaged in a ritual that recognizes this new state of being in which we exist—this state of being of potential is a little bit different than the rest of our journey in that we may have followed certain rules or felt like there were certain universal laws that helped us go forward, where by following those rules or those laws that somehow that purified us or felt burn off any karmic residue that might have been obscuring our vision or holding us back. And so, we’re in a place of invitation where we have some choices and some freedom around us, and instead of there being a rule about our actions, there’s a different kind of understanding that we act according to the path that is within us, a path that we follow internally that then manifests externally in the world around us. We might say that we have reached the stage of being ripe, meaning that we are the fertile ground ourselves, and that any seeds that are planted within us that have to do with love or compassion sort of grow into a deeper, rooted part of us. We’re like fertile ground.

And so, that’s why that potential, being in that state of anticipation and potential is important because so much depends on what we feed ourselves with in the sense of our spiritual nourishment and the things that we find ourselves doing and following. And so, if we happen to be overly engaged with anger at someone or something or if we’re overly stimulated by some kind of self-indulgence or kind of feeding ourselves for a reason other than our true nourishment, than that gets in the way of our own ripeness, our own potential for things to be growing inside of us, growing along with us, strengthening us, strengthening our souls. And this is in part what we hear in things like the Beatitudes where there is a blessedness or a ripeness for those who mourn or those who are peacemakers. The act of being peaceful, the fact that we can be present in the role of being a peacemaker is a possibility for us wherever we are—that we can simply, by our presence, that can be our action of movement toward God—and in a sense, when we witness any situation outside of us, within that situation is the possibility of witnessing God, so that what we take in from our effort or from our surroundings is what nourishes us. So, we don’t want the angry or the violent side of ourselves becoming our nourishment. We want a different kind of nourishment for ourselves so that when we go back out into the world, and we encounter anger or when we encounter violence, that we can meet that with love; that we can meet that context and see through a lens of love.

But there's also a bit of tension that comes with knowing that we are in this state of potential, the state of becoming. And that tension comes about in part because what we feel is almost as if there are no rules, and things instead of feeling ordered or predictable, they're a little bit chaotic and a little bit random. And so, our orientation sometimes is not easy to establish. That's where our spiritual practice helps us, but also just to know that we're in this higher stage of growth. When we understand that the rules don't always apply in the same way, we find that our authentic expression of our desires, our willingness to make choice—all of these things take on a greater energy, a greater consequence for us. And, just like the prayer we just said, the burden is not so heavy. It's actually lighter. It's surprising to us in a certain way, and it might feel hard to get our bearings. You might feel lightheaded or just ungrounded. And when that happens, we know that we're entering into a special phase of our soul work because we realize that we have the capacity to effect that. That we're not just responding to the effects all around us. We're actually having an impact in a different way where our choices and our freedom help bring to us the experiences, not only that we want, but the experiences that nourish us. If you were to sit back and try to explain this to someone without taking more than a few words, it would be quite difficult because in a material world, a rules-based system seems to have such a stronghold on people's understanding on how and why you do certain things. There's not always a lens of love. There's a lens of what is practical or what is beneficial in a material way, not always a sense of what is beneficial in a spiritual way.

So, in this state of ambiguity, we actually make a lot of progress, we actually learn a different kind of patience because we're in a very ambiguous state where we're learning to choose our direction. So, it feels strange, but at the same time, the response within us is much quicker. We feel the positive so much sooner. We feel the depth of something right away. We're able to anticipate not only our own actions, but the actions of others. Not that we get in the way or impose on their freedom, but simply that we sense intuitively what is happening, and why, and we have our own way of learning how to engage the world, but also, how to engage that part of ourselves that's all that potential, so that we don't shut off all the good that is coming through.

Knowing what has just been said, our choices become more evident, in part because we can choose what we want. We don't have to always choose from the menu of choices that appears to be offered to us by the world. We can ask for more. And even in our asking, we know that when we have more, that more is required of us. But these capacities and these needs and these purpose-filled actions are enough for each other. We don’t require more than we have on hand. That's not to say that the tests that reach us through the world aren’t difficult tests. But we meet the world in ways that we sometimes meet the power of God. And even those problems that are too much for us or bigger than we can handle, those too have their important things to teach us and tell us about ourselves. Seldom do we not have the capacity to do good in the moment. It's rare that we don't have that capacity. So we learn to trust that, and at the same time, we are not naive enough to think that some silly formula that God never tests us beyond our capacity, we know that that also is not true. But there are many different ways to measure our spiritual capacity, our readiness. And some of those tests, and some of those encounters are meant to carry us into a different realm or into a different world. So, our ability to judge what are the big spiritual lessons versus the smaller spiritual lessons is really not that accurate, but it's not that important that it's not accurate. We just do the simple step in front of us, try to be patient with how that step unfolds, and then be willing to add to that movement that was started. We're adding to a movement or a setup that is part of our existence in this world. It's there to serve us, to help us, to move us on our journey. And some of the most fun diversions can come along and be a part of that journey, and these diversions usually happen when we need them, when we need a lighter touch. When we need to change the focus in our lives or in our effort.

An important thing to remember is that we’re not beyond being tested by our own thoughts and our own actions. That we're not privileged in the sense that we are above error, so even though we are in this higher state of potential, there is still the possibility or the capacity for us to do harm or to accumulate karma. So, we offer that not to induce any fear, there is some value in making choices that are a little harder or little more difficult, but that is the stage that each of us here fits in with that greater potential.