Best of Motley Mystic - 2024

The year of the reset

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

2024 was my first full year as a retired pastor, and now, I get it.

Nearly every Sunday (I did take a few vacations) for 14 years, I got up and took myself to Jubilee! Circle. Most often, I was the first one there. I opened up the building, set up the chairs (before we had a space we didn’t have to share), made the coffee, put out the pastries I had bought on the way and waited. First, the band would show up, and we’d rehearse and get ready. Others would trickle in - usually board members or other diehards. We always joked about the 11:15 bus, bringing in the stragglers.

Still, there were some Sundays that had sparse attendance and I would feel a bit hurt that people chose not to show up. (“I don’t have that luxury!” my ego would protest.)

Now, though, in my first full year of retirement, I get it. Going to church or a spiritual community on Sunday sucks up a lot of precious weekend time. I have options that I could attend if I choose to, but where will you find me on most Sunday mornings? Either in bed or on my back porch sipping coffee and reading A Course in Miracles with my spouse, Beth, and having our own “church on the deck” experience. No change of clothing needed.

I heartily apologize to anyone I may have judged over the past 14 years.

I have needed this year of respite and reset, and many of my writings over the past 12 months have reflected that. Some of these have hit home with readers, too.

Here are the top six Motley Mystics you may have missed (or want to reread) over the past year:

1. I’m tired of manifesting: Getting off the ego’s “seek but do not find” merry-go-round

Can't we find meaning in the stopping of pursuing our goals and dreams – in not even having goals and dreams, at least for a little while? Can't we find meaning in a season of rest – a season of NOT co-creating shit with God or anyone else? Can't we slow down enough to "manifest" the only thing that truly matters? Peace. Joy. Love.

2. There is no easy button: We are the ones we’re waiting for

The truth is this: I don't care who you voted for in this past election – you thought your vote would make life easier for you. We all did. We all thought our vote would give us that proverbial "Easy Button." We press it, and "poof," our candidate is elected and does what they said they'd do, and our lives will get easier. Here's another truth for you: There is no Easy Button.

3. What do you do when you don’t want to do anymore? Living a life of unfoldment

The only thing I truly want to "do" now is repair the world within – the depths of my soul that I have neglected while trying to attain some career goal or please someone who has power or influence over my life.

4. It was just my imagination: Ending the foolishness of our belief in separation

If you think you’re separated from God at any moment, that’s just your ego lying to you. Your Source is always there, ever available, waiting for you to notice and grab hold of your true power as a blessed Child of God.

5. Being normal in a weird world: Why we’re not strangers in a strange land

The longer I live and the more people I meet, the more I realize that feeling like an alien in this world is fairly common. If that's true, then maybe those of us who can't feel at home here are not weirdos. Maybe we're actually the normal people lost in a weird world.

6. We the people: FOR the people

This is the time for those of us working for the good of all of us to take back center stage. To do that, we must study our lines. We must use our tools and double down on the absolute truth that Love will always overcome Fear.

I suspect that 2025 will be the year I get back into the spiritual business one way or the other. We will need as many voices for love as we can get, and I plan to be among them. I hope you’ll join us. We need as many of us working for the good of all of us that we can get.

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Music for the journey

Peter Mayer - “One More Circle”

We have raised our fists in anger and we’ve tried
To work it out, work it out
That we need each other, we cannot deny
There is no doubt, there is no doubt

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About the Motley Mystic:

The Motley Mystic is an online community for people who have realized that the truth speaks with many voices. There is no one religion, philosophy, institution, or dogma that captures the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. No one needs to swear allegiance to one line of thought or belief to discern Truth because Love is the only thing that’s real. That’s what we explore at the Motley Mystic - all the tools and strategies we need to remove our barriers to Love and live fully as our true Divine Self.

Candace Chellew is the founder of Motley Mystic as well as Jubilee! Circle, an interfaith spiritual community in Columbia, S.C., which existed from 2010-2024. She is also the author of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians, published in 2008 by Jossey-Bass, and the founder and senior editor emeritus of Whosoever: An Online Magazine for LGBTQ People of Faith. She is also a musician and avid animal lover.