Beautiful People: She Towers Over Us All... Rev. Joy Wyler

I stand 5 feet 5.5-6 inches in height, so I've always felt I had an average height for a woman and never had any illusions about "towering" over others.


But I imagine that many people who stand above six feet, especially women,
certainly must feel they are "giants" among us.

I'm here to tell you: It's just an illusion!

For out steps Reverend Joy Wyler.


At three and a half feet tall, she
quickly puts you into the shadows of yourself!



Few people among us can reach the heights and measure UP to the
achievements and accomplishments of this beautiful spirit.

I feel privileged, truly, to have shared classes with Rev. Joy
at Unity Village in the late 1990s and am honored to know her!

Quite simply: she is a giant among us... both men and women!


Let's begin where her real story begins...with her fighting Spirit!

Of course, it all began with her receiving a Juris Doctorate from the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law. For many years, Wyler vigorously worked as an attorney on behalf of juveniles and families and also represented those with disabilities.


Doing this work allowed Wyler to pursue her passion for civil rights and justice and "caring for children, creating an environment to nurture diversity," Rev. Wyler says.


"It's how I live my life. It's what I bring to my work and how I teach."

For more than 11 years, she also served as general counsel at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, leaving in 2001.


Wyler became an ordained Unity Minister in 2004 through a two-year,
non-degreed seminary program, and she sees herself overcoming all challenges because of an unwillingness to give in and give up.


"What are the options?" she asks. "It's either sink or swim. Mostly, I simply ignore every message that says I can't and just do what I want. When things get tough, I have to turn it over to God."


Wyler believes that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," yet does not think that there is a need for what she calls strength training. "There is no way to where we are but the path we have taken. So I try to use all the experiences and training I have in the NOW moment."


This ability to put the experiences of the past to good use in the NOW is what allowed Rev. Wyler to get beyond the death of her daugher, Sarah. At the age of four months, Sarah died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS) in 1985. Wyler was 29 years old at the time and had just graduated from Law School.


"This was the most devastating experience and how I found Unity. Healing from this was a profound healing of most of the wounds of my childhood."


With a "fairly dysfunctional childhood," Wyler had left home at age 18. But not before she 'd taken all the spiritual lessons she could from that past.

Her father, who died when Wyler was 12 years old, left spiritual imprints that have served her through now. He was influenced by the Cherokee Tribe in Northern Oklahoma and at age three began to teach Joy about God being "present everywhere and being part of me and everyone else. God was a real power within me, and a 'confidante,'" she says.



At age five, she became a spiritual rebel. She was attending a "Christian Church," where her grandmother had taken her. When she heard about a "judging, vindinctive God," she lashed out at the teachings, totally shocking her Sunday School teacher!

The family then moved on to a Baptist Church, where the music kept them going back for more. But it was the sermons of Rev. Thurman Kelly, whom they followed from church to church, that kept the family following Baptist teachings for several more years.


For years, Wyler stopped going to church. It was in 1985 when she was looking for a minister to do Sarah's Memorial Service that she found Unity. [This teaching focuses on the practical applications of Jesus' teachings in our lives; it is Unity School of Christianity and has been around for more than 100 years.]

Throughout her life, Joy Wyler has sought diversity in her experiences.


With a bachelor's degree in medical technology from Pittsburg State University, Wyler worked as a medical technician (laboratory scientist) for about 12 years, including several years at night while attending law school in the day time.

Since giving up the practice of law in 2001, Wyler has taught online for Ottawa University and at Unity Institute.


She is the mother of two children, both dwarfs, whom she adopted from India: Victor, now age 26, and Kari,
age 22. Both are thriving. Victor lives in a L'Arche community home in Overland Park, Kansas, and Kari is focused on finishing her education and working in early childhood care and teaching.


Earlier this year, Wyler put her life in Kansas City behind her and moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to become the senior minister of Unity of Lehigh Valley.




"It is a journey that only Spirit could lead me on. No career counselor would have helped me down this path," Wyler says.

Aside from desiring to lead "a thriving church," Wyler plans to publish a "couple" of books and "continue to make a difference."

She also plans to spend lots of time with her mother, "80 year young" and "clean and sober for 32 years," and who currently is making plans to move to Pennsylvania near Joy. Her step-dad already lives only three hours away from her.

This dynamic, larger-than-life lawyer, teacher, minister, shares some final thoughts:

"God is everything and in everything. God is creative energy, constantly creating through the power of our thoughts and actions. God is without duality. God is a force of life and love circulating throughout the Universe. God is simply beyond our understanding but most people have an urge to shape God in a way that is familiar and within their understanding. This limits God as a concept."

She urges us to:

"Do your best, let God do the rest. Everything is part of the tapestry. Thread by thread, it may seem meaningless, painful, joyous, silly. But when it gets woven together and you are far enough along to stand back and look, you can see the patterns, the shapes of your life in relationships and experiences. Then everything has meaning."

Here's our message to back you, Reverend Joy Wyler:

"When we look at you, we especially see God's handiwork. For only God could have put such dynamism, so much LIFE, into such a small and beautiful package. We applaud you for your fighting spirit, your dynamism, your wholeness and your beautiful way of being in the world. May God continue to be your 'confidante' and have his work actualized so wonderfully through you for many years to come!

Sarah would have been 24 years old today. We know she witnesses the strides you've made since 1985 and your continuing efforts."

Namaste',

Che'
NOTE: Send your messages of support to Reverend Joy Wyler for her "thriving" church and her ongoing work. You may do so through Unity of LeHigh Valley: http://www.unityoflehighvalley.org. Make sure you also manage to get on Reverend Wyler's e-mail distribution list for "Reflections from My Backyard," an email newsletter that offers great insights.