 |
| "Crossing a River in Mongolia" photo by Aaron Springston |
A Course in Miracles Lesson #214
Central theme:
"I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."
Specific review: (#194) "I place the future in the Hands of God."
Today's advice is to place the future in God. Some of us tend to rebel when asked to let anyone be in charge of our future, so this notion of putting the future in God's hands may seem rather presumptive! But there is no loss of individuality in this process. On the contrary, there is more freedom from allowing divine Mind to be in charge than there is with making decisions dictated by material belief and habit. I know someone who is involved in the messy settlement of her mom's estate. When she gets letters from the attorneys, she puts them in her bible and says she's giving it to God. This is not what we're talking about today! The willingness to radically rely on God opens the way for ideas and spiritual sense to lead us in ways we haven't known before. And things are allowed to "come up" from the depths of our emotional stores, allowing them to be acknowledged and released. That's what I call "giving it to God"! The past is gone. So why does it often seem to be with us?! Recently, I've had a shift in feeling toward my parents. They were beautiful, kind, generous people; this I've always acknowledged and appreciated. But those memories seemed to be dimmed by the stronger remembrances of their latter days. I had feelings of anger and betrayal, and guilt concerning my part in it all. I've realized that some things they did came from their love, colored by strong opinions about the way things should be. The things I did came from selfishness and fear. All these feelings fell out of me in a rush. Although I've never been into imagery, such as sending inharmonious thoughts into outer space, I thoroughly swept those feelings up off the floor and mentally dispelled them on the spot! With every release of well-rehearsed past events, or the quiet recognition of never-thought-of guilt or pain, peace becomes reality for me. And it doesn't matter if anyone was right or wrong, it doesn't make any difference what motives were involved, part of me has been emptied to be filled with the only reality: Love.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be emptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us.”
Science & Health Page 201:13-15
