September 5, 2011

ACIM Lesson #248

“Whatever suffers is not part of me.

I have disowned the truth. Now let me be as faithful in disowning falsity. Whatever suffers is not part of me. What grieves is not myself. What is in pain is but illusion in my mind. What dies was never living in reality, and did but mock the truth about myself. Now I disown self-concepts and deceits and lies about the holy Son of God. Now am I ready to accept him back as God created him, and as he is.”

(ACIM prayer for today)

“Father, my ancient love for You returns, and lets me love Your Son again as well. Father, I am as You created me. Now is Your Love remembered, and my own. Now do I understand that they are one.”

(Marsha's thoughts)

I am reminded of a family friend from long ago. She was a wonderful, spiritually-aware person who proved the Truth of the above statements. During the course of a year, her husband passed on, her daughter was in a car wreck which left her in a coma for months before she died, and her house burned down. While I know she felt pangs of grief and despair, she continued to live a life of loving and giving to others. When she herself passed some 20 years later, I am told she went with a smile on her face. I often think of her. "Whatever suffers is not a part of me". This is not a heartless statement, denying the feelings we have in favor of a hardness which allows no emotion. On the contrary! It's a pure Love which allows us to pass through the hard times with a firm understanding of the beauty of Truth. I've always found it best to totally wallow in sadness, to feel everything there is to feel there, and then rise to new heights with the knowledge that nothing can touch my true Self or change the reality of Love.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A blundering dispatch, mistakenly announcing the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death would bring. You think that your anguish is occasioned by your loss. Another dispatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your suffering was merely the result of your belief. Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.”
Science & Health Page 386:16-25