The Circle of Life, Coming Full Circle, and Change • Lecture by Reva Stewart

Lecture by Reva Stewart • Sunday, March 22, 2026

Read the lecture transcript below, or watch the video on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRAZJiA-CZM

Lecture transcript:

Good morning! Lord, look at all of these bright, beautiful faces in here this morning.

I will start with Scripture this morning. Ecclesiastes 1, Verses 4 through 7.

Generations come and go, but the Earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south, and turns to the north. Round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

And my talk this morning is about full circle.

It's interesting… if we sit and think about it, the nature of this earth journey is about circles in our lives. It's a circular journey, you know, from the breath that we take in and breathe out. And we think about it little… until we sit quietly in meditation and focus on that breath.

The rhythm of the heartbeat. It beats… continuously. On and on.

There are so many examples in nature. For instance, the growth of a tree. You plant it. It grows. It gets leaves. It sheds leaves. It goes into dormancy. And in the spring, it comes back again. That circular nature. The circular nature of life itself.

And even those who believe in reincarnation — death to the physical, a return to spirit. And if you believe in reincarnation, a return to this plain as well.

The moon, the sun, the planets — they orbit. Always returning to their course. And we are even affected by the placement and the movement of the moon and planets and the stars as well.

You think about numerology, and the 9 cycles there. Each year we go through the cycles 1 through 9. And I will not give the meaning at this point, but I will say that the interesting thing about it is this year is a one year — we are in the very beginnings of a new cycle. And this new cycle… it's the beginning of a transformation from an old paradigm to a new paradigm.

And some of us may feel a little edgy at times, not knowing what to expect. And what I will say is that for those who are ready — expect an elevation in your vibration. And how that elevation in your vibration affects the world around you as well.

But some things remain the same. We'll still be eating, we'll still seek shelter, and in many ways, things will feel just as they did before. But there is an inner awareness that takes us to a greater understanding of life — of what it is to be connected to our own inner God power. God is power. And how it is that we can draw on that. And not so much attached to the ego self.

And as we go through these years and cycles of life — mentioning ego — if we pay attention, and if we are diligent in our studies, in our inner work (and it does require inner work), you will feel a letting go. And a diminishing of the effect of the ego on your life. We become less reactionary, and we begin to respond more appropriately in our life.

And we talk about circles... a few years back, Spirit gave me this quote:

When you have come full circle, life begins anew. Life begins anew. When you have come full circle.

And I even saw the circular nature of that message from Spirit.

And I even think about my journey here at the chapel. As Sharon said, I started in the early 90s. I was pretty broken at that time. And this was like an oasis for me. At the end of the 90s, because of my job, I moved to Baltimore, and I kind of pulled away from the chapel — I just wasn't connected anymore.

Early 2000s, my job brought me back to Virginia. To Richmond. And I kind of sat out for a while, but something kept pulling me back. I made that circle back to the chapel in the early 2000s. And I've even contemplated maybe just leaving altogether, you know — the distance, and maybe there was a community closer by. But something kept drawing me back.

To circle back here… and what I realized in that aha moment is that in my circling back, and in my time spent doing various things here at the chapel, I've grown from a broken person when I first started here… to one who feels full. At peace. And that's circling back.

Even though, as I said, I contemplated leaving at times — this is home. I've circled back to home here. And that brokenness that I started with has given me an opportunity to serve in ways that I never thought possible. Or never expected that I would.

So, the circle… continues. Who knows where it'll take me...

In our youth, we are captured by the things that we're taught by others. And that becomes our reality, and our understanding of the nature of life itself. We have a desire to be met by something outside of ourselves — something that we think that we need, and yet we never feel fulfilled. There's always an emptiness, always a search to find something that really feels like you belong.

So, as we journey on this circle of life, we have many circles, many experiences.

But it's once we come into that place of stillness and quietness and listening to that still inner voice within us — and realizing that there is nothing outside of us that can fill us up like that connection with the inner God Source, that inner space within us — that brings us to a greater understanding of who we are. Why we're here.

And also, one of the great benefits of that is the gifts that we have to share. It's all there. It's within us. And it's been there all along. We had to go through those stages of foolishness and messing up things, and forgiveness. And then into a cycle of openness. And peace, and inner peace.

And learning to live in a way that we do no harm, that we bring no harm to anybody or anything. We become more heart-centered. And less in need of being filled up with the things and the noise and the chaos of the outer world.

And then there's that spiritual awakening. Spiritual experiences that we may have had, or are having. Or moving into… sometimes it can feel like a spiritual emergency. And sometimes it can feel like an ease, like a soft landing into something greater than the human self.

The spiritual experiences are not always about emergencies. But whether the experience is gentle or not, we experience that awakening. And we are forever profoundly changed.

You may find that the things that you were taught no longer hold meaning for you. Once we have tapped into that inner knowing, that inner understanding — that divine self, the holy self — we will know peace like we've never experienced before. We're able to let go. And we are able to surrender to the calling of our own souls.

I talked a little bit about reincarnation and the Circle of Life. And I will say to each of us here: do not say no to change. Change is inevitable. It's a part of the cycle and the circle of life. It is evidence that we have been here, that we are here, that we are growing, and we are getting a greater understanding of the nature of life and the circles that we encounter as well.

The old will die away. And a new beginning will take you to where you have been before — or a new adventure. Growth and expansion. And just know that growth and expansion is continuous. It doesn't stop. And the nature of the circle of life is continuous flow. Continuous change. And continuous opportunities to expand in consciousness.

Adyashanti.

And so, when we come full circle, like breathing in and breathing out — no separation between our absolute nature and our human nature. It's all a part of God. It is all a part of us having the opportunity to experience what the circles of life are for us.

And the interesting thing is… there comes a time, usually after we get a little bit older and a little less reactionary, that we tend to listen to that calling that is within us. We honor that part of us — that divine nature of our being. It's always been calling to us, just waiting for us to open the door and walk through.

And I always have a poem. So I did bring one today. Some of you who are in the class have heard it before, but I think it's worth hearing again.

Instructions Before Visiting Earth — by James McCrae

In the event that you wake up and find your soul separated from Source and manifest into material form — don't panic. Your condition is only temporary. You have been selected for the opportunity of human incarnation. This 3D simulation is designed to break up the monotony of eternity, and give you a full, immersive experience as a distinct ego identity... (read the full poem on the author's blog here).

Blessings.