The Gratitude Walk

photo from Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #195

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude.”

I am loving this workbook lesson today! Having had a prosthetic device for a couple of months which is enabling me to walk unaided, after a few months of not being able to do so, I am particularly grateful to be walking -- and especially to be walking in gratitude! Today's ACIM topic is not about being grateful to God, but because of God! God is Love. To experience and demonstrate this Love, nothing is required of us other than our awareness of it. When facing circumstances which feel difficult, I will look at them through the lens of Love, honestly wanting to know the Truth of the situation. In gratitude I open my eyes to whatever may be revealed!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are.”

Science & Health Pages 8:28-31

Am I Living in the Future?

"Bryce Canyon"
photo by Aaron Springston

A Course in Miracles Lesson #215

Central theme:

"I am not a body. I am free.

For I am still as God created me."

 Specific review: Lesson (#195): "Love is the way I walk in gratitude."

In yesterday's lesson, we released the past. In today's, we release the future. Although these two illusions of time and space are only that, we tend to live in one or the other most of the time.  For me, the future is even more difficult to release than the past.  Childhood fantasies of the way things could be, expectations projected onto loved ones, wondering what tomorrow will bring, all these thoughts can be haunting. But years of practicing the art of being open to Love with no expectations have brought interesting results! A big one that comes to mind is the evolution of a business I started called Eureka Thyme. At its inception, I imagined an herbal gift shop, hence its name. It quickly took on a life if its own and I chose to follow, by listening for inner knowing rather than sticking with what I had dreamed. Through this process, the business focus has shifted from locally-made herbal gifts to locally-created art and fine craft.  This happened through having no parameters for what I would sell there, other than it must be made with Love. And this flowing idea now blesses more than a hundred people who sell everything from handmade wooden toys to fine art! This eight-year process has shown me much in the way of listening and following. It takes practice to see the difference between pushing for what I want and being led by the Spirit that I am. Axioms such as "Let go and let God" may seem mundane, even ridiculous to some, but for me it's the only way. If I'd insisted on having what I wanted-- which was, I suppose, to be Martha Stewart of the Ozarks -- well. let's not go there! All I do know is it's wonderful just as it is, for which I'm most grateful.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality.”

Science & Health Page 298:13-14