Stay The Course of Love

Belladonna Cottage
photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #256

“God is the only goal I have today.”

My goal today is to return to Love. (Of course, we have never left this Source and, hence, there is nowhere to go!) It seems difficult to see the world without judgment, and I am reminded of this when finding fault with people or events. With Love as my only goal, I needn’t blame myself or anyone, as there is no fault to find. This doesn’t mean a denial of what I see manifested in thought and deed, but rather an inner examination and release of mindless choices based on illusion and lies. We have a choice with the words we use, and we’re learning that we have a choice in the thoughts we think, too. Let’s stay the course on Love today — and tomorrow, too!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.” Science & Health Page 560:11-16

Falling Into Divine Love

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #287

“You are my goal, my Father. Only You.”

In the early 1900s, people flocked to Eureka Springs for the healing waters. Thousands of people in need found their way here, as they still do today. People are drawn to our town, often without knowing why. I love watching the transformation as people's thought changes from focusing on the problem to relaxing into Truth. In varying degrees, we are all realizing that true healing comes when we release our beliefs in things and open ourselves to feeling the presence of Love. When this is our only desire, when there is no other need or want, new perceptions become visible and viable. Often it takes extreme conditions to cause us to seek the understanding of our unity with God. But isn't it sweet when we skip that step and fall straight into the Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The great miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and the grand necessity of existence is to gain the true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of heaven in man.” 

Science & Health Page 560:11-15

September 15, 2014 - Emptiness Filled

photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #258

“Let me remember that my goal is God.”

Many of us have gone through life feeling that something is missing; that there's an empty place which can never be filled. When we discover that it's not something lacking in us, we get very excited! This mind training, which is spoken of in today's lesson, is not a system of mind control, it's not hypnotism or cult-like obedience -- on the contrary! We train our mind to recognize and release all the "senseless aims ... and pointless little goals" which have become life practices and learned behaviors. The insights and answers which appear in our lives through spiritual awareness are often thought of as serendipitous, which implies an element of luck. This is yet again something we have made up to explain the inexplicable. But spiritual sense needs no explanation! A mere glimpse through the eye of Spirit is enough to convince us of our true Identity.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God. It shows the superiority of faith by works over faith in words. Its ideas are expressed only in ‘new tongues;’ and these are interpreted by the translation of the spiritual original into the language which human thought can comprehend.”

Science & Health Page 209:31-4

September 13, 2014 - One Goal

photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #256

“God is the only goal I have today.”

It may seem simplistic (and perhaps impossible) to state that I'm only going to think about God today. But when I analyze this thought, it's pretty inclusive! If it's true that God is All, that God is synonymous with Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love -- as Mary Baker Eddy declares -- then how can we do anything other than think of God?? When seeing ourselves as a reflection of God, embodying all these attributes of God, it becomes easier to see ourselves as the consciousness of all good, from which nothing need be added nor taken away. What effect can there be, what end result can occur, other than a realization that God is all there is? And so it will be easy to attain this goal today, because nothing else exists!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause.”

Science & Health Page 207:20-22

October 14, 2013 - One Goal

"Basin Spring Fantasy"
photo by Gerry Toler

ACIM Workbook Lesson #287

“You are my goal, my Father. Only You.”

In the early 1900s, people flocked to Eureka Springs for the healing waters. Thousands of people in need found their way here, as they still do today. People are drawn to our town, often without knowing why. I love watching transformation of circumstance as people's thought changes from focusing on the problem to relaxing into Truth. In varying degrees, we are all realizing that true healing comes when we release our beliefs in things and open ourselves to feeling the presence of Love. When this is our only desire, when there is no other need or want, new perceptions become visible and viable. Often it takes extreme conditions to cause us to seek the understanding of our unity with God. But isn't it sweet when we skip that step and fall straight into the Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“All nature teaches God's love to man, but man cannot love God supremely and set his whole affections on spiritual things, while loving the material or trusting in it more than in the spiritual.”

Science & Health Page 326:8-11

September 13, 2013 - One Goal

Bryce Canyon"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #256

“God is the only goal I have today.”

It seems simplistic and perhaps impossible to state that I'm only going to think about God today. But when I analyze this thought, it's pretty inclusive! If it's true that God is All, that God is synonymous with Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love -- as Mary Baker Eddy declares -- then how can we do anything other than think of God?? When seeing ourselves as a reflection of God, as embodying all these attributes of God, it becomes easier to see ourselves as the consciousness of all good, from which nothing need be added nor taken away. "God is the only goal I have today." "There is but one primal cause." What effect can there be, what end result can occur, other than a realization that God is all there is? And so it will be easy to attain this goal today, because nothing else exists!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause.”

Science & Health Page 207:20-22