December 30, 2013 - First Thoughts in the Morning

"Utah Morning"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #364

"This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, Certain that Your direction gives me peace."

The first thought we have in the morning can shape the way our day develops. Having spent years training myself to stay away from worry and busy-ness, its disheartening to find myself waking to wondering thoughts. For a few weeks, I've been having vivid dreams and I wake up thinking about what they mean. I've forgotten to bring thought to Spirit and rather I lay there wandering through a maze of odd events featuring people, animals, and places which are well-known to me. And this seems to be affecting the way I think about things all day long. It doesn't matter how much I try to push and pull my thoughts in other directions, they insist on making judgments, comparison, and searching for hidden meanings. I am very grateful for these closing lessons of the year, which urge us to go beyond thought and know that if we can only get out of our own way, God's thoughts are supplying us with direction and peace.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your lifework, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models. To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives.”

Science & Health Page 248:12-29

August 30, 2011

ACIM Lesson #242
“This day is God's. It is my gift to Him.
 
I will not lead my life alone today. I do not understand the world, and so to try to lead my life alone must be but foolishness. But there is One Who knows all that is best for me. And He is glad to make no choices for me but the ones that lead to God. I give this day to Him, for I would not delay my coming home, and it is He Who knows the way to God.
 
[ACIM prayer for the day]
And so we give today to You. We come with wholly open minds. We do not ask for anything that we may think we want. Give us what You would have received by us. You know all our desires and our wants. And You will give us everything we need in helping us to find the way to You.”</b>
 
[Marsha's comments]
What's the first thing you think in the morning? It's easy to immediately start making plans for the day, thinking of what to do first and how to do it. Obviously there are many things to be attended, but so often our plans must change due to many factors. To give this day to God means to listen for intuition to lead the way. Starting our day with clear, spiritual thought allows this intuition to be heard more easily, without that back-and-forth volley we fall into when weighing the possibilities of our actions. As a Christian Scientist, I begin each day with the study of our weekly Bible Lesson. This study is a compilation of citations from the Bible and Science & Health, focusing on a topic such as Life, or Substance, or Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force. But even with this centering of thought, there is still that first moment upon awakening and that last thought before falling asleep at night. Through our studies, we have many quotations on which to call to start and end our day. I have no ritual to these moments; no set prayers or by-rote actions. The practice of turning every thought away from worry and wonder supplies me with everything I need to walk this path. And it's exciting to see what will unfold!
 
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth.”
Science & Health Page 485:13-16