Simply Love

Sandy Wythawai Starbird creations

ACIM Workbook Lesson #195

“Love is the way I walk in gratitude.”

A return to Love is a simpler way of living. There need be no battle within yourself as to which choice is better than the other, whatever those choices may be. Comparisons needn’t exist in the way of Love and, without them, an arena of conflict is dissolved. We are learning that Oneness is more than an airy-fairy concept; it is reality! The concepts brought forth from these realizations are unlike anything humanity has experienced to this point! Seeing everyone as reflections of Love, all from the same source,  frees us in ways we haven’t hitherto allowed. We then can experience Love in all of the harmonious paths which are so easily overlooked by mortal eyes — and I am grateful!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by following the example of our Master in the understanding of divine metaphysics.” 

Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Pages 192:27-29

What, Me Worry?

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #194

“I place the future in the Hands of God.”

I heard well-known author and speaker, Marianne Williamson, say that worry was a lot like praying for something horrible to happen. Holding thought to the best possible outcome, without outlining what that outcome is, feels right to me. Whatever I put my attention on grows! Years of trying to plan my life (and that that of those around me!) has taught me the futility of this. I now vow to listen for divine Mind’s ideas to lead me in the paths of Love. I don’t always hear this guidance above the cacophony of material existence, but I’m learning how to tune in to that still, small voice, and for this I am grateful.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 469:4-5

A New Earth

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #193

“All things are lessons God would have me learn.”

"A new species is arising on the planet. It is arising now, and you are it!" These lines end the Eckhart Tolle book, A New Earth. I wish it could be required reading for every person on this old earth! The beautifully clear way he explains how we cling to old belief, allowing ourselves to be influenced by fear, by the past, by illusion, is both inspiring and illuminating. We are told in today's workbook lesson,  "Forgive, and you will see this differently.” Mr. Tolle's book gives numerous examples of seeing differently. Every moment I will dedicate to seeing this new world, allowing the disappearance of old belief and hypnotic thought to provide a transparency for the arising of our new way of Living. What an exciting time for humanity!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “The Revelator tells us of “a new heaven and a new earth.” Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?”

Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures  Page 91:1-4

The Forms of Extended Love

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #192

“I have a function God would have me fill.”

We are created from Love and it is our function to extend this Love to the world. It may seem that our little offerings aren’t worth much, but I’ve recently heard of the effect of a small offering given in the form of $20 a month many years ago. My boys and I gave to an organization which helped children in Africa. We occasionally got notes from a boy named Paul Ndungu and we would send him letters back. I always wondered if our small gesture really made a difference. Recently this boy, now a young man, found me on Facebook and wrote asking if I was the same person who had helped him when he was a child. He tells me it did make a difference! He would not have been able to go to school without this gift and he is now in the Kenya Air Force and attended university, too! And so, whatever form your giving may take, never be afraid to follow through with your intuitive feelings, because we never know how far Love will extend!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth not error, Love not hate, Spirit not matter, governs man.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 419:3-4

Living the Law of Love

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #191

“I am the holy Son of God Himself.”

This topic is a tender affirmation of who we are. If we are thinking of our limited material body and brain as the child of God, we may begin to wonder why we are so unlike this Source which we supposedly reflect. Let's expand our mind beyond human assumptions of creation. Seeing ourselves as the spiritual idea of divine Mind, we are free to claim our birthright as the "holy Son of God". To accept that we are really, truly spiritual allows us to put aside limiting beliefs and see through the illusions which have been created for us. This new-old thought cleanses the murky lens of our sight and allows knowledge to replace beliefs, whereby we see our perfection as an idea of divine Mind, living the law of Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“God creates neither erring thought, mortal life, mutable truth, nor variable love.”

Science & Health Page 503:24-25

The Choice of a Lifetime!

photo credit: Heather Peters

ACIM Workbook Lesson #190

“I choose the joy of God instead of pain.”

The idea that we have a choice between joy and pain may not be easy to accept. It could seem that if this is so, then any pain we are suffering is our own fault — but let's not allow mortal mind, or ego, to lay a guilt trip on us! The only thing we are guilty of is a mistaken perception, and for that there is immediate remedy: Change your thought! Knowing we are Mind's/God's idea brings us through the material illusion into the spiritual Truth of our being. The world has no power to cause anything, but we have been living as though it does. We have been taught that we are helpless victims of life's circumstances, and it can come as quite a shock to find out this is not true. When we awaken to the joy which is ours as the children of God, these things we think of as miracles show themselves to be the normal, everyday occurrences of our Life.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony." 

Science & Health Page 323:32-4

Love Leads the Way!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #189

“I feel the Love of God within me now.”

Feeling the Love of God may seem a daunting task. To "feel the Love of God within me now" is to see everything as God, Love, sees. With these eyes of Love, we see a world of beauty and innocence, brimming with goodness, hope, charity, compassion. Every day we are called upon to support each other. When people recount their difficulties, we can listen with the spiritual sense of Soul, and through this listening we will hear how to respond -- or not! Feeling this Love within us, we know what to say to those who need words, we know when to say nothing, and we have the freedom to do either. I look forward to hearing and seeing everything which presents itself today, not with my material, judgmental ears and eyes, but with the spiritual sense which is mine as a reflection of God.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action. Love is priestess at the altar of Truth."

Science & Health Page 454:17-21

Being the Presence

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #188

“The peace of God is shining in me now.”

A cantankerous friend who insists he’s an atheist engaged me in a discussion about God. His diatribe consisted of stories from the news about people’s actions in the name of their church and beliefs. He told me of close friends who profess to be Christians, yet have become increasingly, vocally hateful in the last few years. I countered each of his stories with stories of my own which illustrated what I think of as God. I told him of a non-dualistic God, one which doesn’t sit up on a cloud granting favors and dispensing retribution, but which is found within. I endeavored to explain how this ever-presence wasn’t pantheism because God is not IN us, but God IS us in much the same way as a sunbeam is the expression of the sun. We are the experience of divine Love, Mind, Soul, Truth, Spirit, Life. “The peace of God is shining in me now.”

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’ and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.”

Science & Health Page 510:9-12

Love, Exponentially!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Lesson #187

“I bless the world because I bless myself.”

If I have something and give it away, my material belief is that I don't have it any longer. I am learning through these studies that giving will increase what I possess. I am also learning that things represent thoughts. I am discovering that when I give ideas away they become stronger in everyone's mind. The form is often changed in what we give and and what we receive, but it never leaves us lacking. Thoughts and ideas cannot be lost, whereas material form is constantly changing. By living consciously as the reflection of Love, with the wisdom of Mind, the freedom of Spirit, the creativity of Soul, the purity of Truth, we are blessing ourselves and we are blessing the world!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply, — to manifest His power. ”

Science & Health, Page 517:30-31

Humble or Arrogant?

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #186

“Salvation of the world depends on me.”

Would you feel uneasy, perhaps arrogant, if you were to say that the salvation of the world depended on you? I know I would have in the past, but that was before I realized that the opposite is true. The realization that we are united with All that Is is quite a humbling experience. It's easy to get this concept backwards, believing that if we recognize our oneness with God, we are displaying braggadocio. I have found boastful behavior comes about from thinking that my material, personal beliefs are more valid than the experience I share with divine Mind. The surrender which is necessary to allow myself to want nothing other than to know God is a yielding of my self-important intellectual sureness. The gratitude I feel from the realization of our unity is priceless!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God’s will must be universally done.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 201:3-5

The Freedom of Peace

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #185

“I want the peace of God.”

On this day of celebrating the independence of these United States, I'm reminded of something from Eckhart Tolle's book "A New Earth". He speaks of collective consciousness being more powerful than individual thought. He cites instances of groups of people doing things which one alone cannot. He also tells how some of the things countries do would be thought of as insanity if one person were committing the action. With this in mind, I  urge everyone to hold to our topic for the day: "I want the peace of God." With a tipping point of people in the world wanting the same thing, then everyone will join together in not only wanting this peace, but having it! Happy Independence Day indeed!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"A few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave market; but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon’s mouth. Love is the liberator."

Science & Health Page 225:16-22

It's All About That Name

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #184

“The Name of God is my inheritance.”

From the moment we come into this form, we are taught what things are called, what those names represent, and the meaning we should place on them. These names and meanings tend to separate us from each other: they de-unify us. We think of learning as knowing what these things are, and we study to find out everything about them. In this world we have made, we need these symbols, these names, in order to convey information, yet we keep getting glimpses of true communication -- and, if you're like me, you want more! Watching birds fly in formation is but one way we glimpse a higher form of knowing. Rather than learning more about the illusion of names and notions, I'd rather work toward understanding the reality of a shared unity, via divine Mind. The knowledge that the confusion we are faced with in daily life is not true creation is a key to the door of Truth, wherein we find peace.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A new name for an ailment affects people like a Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one hastens to get it.” 

Science & Health Page 196:31-5

Whatever It's Called is Fine!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #183

“I call upon God's Name and on my own.”

What is God's name? Perhaps, like me, you want to think of God as Love. Omnipresent Love. I also use the seven synonyms given for God by Mary Baker Eddy. These words build upon each other and totally define Deity. Each word alone does not do the job, but when you start to see the connection in these synonyms, there is an overwhelming All-ness which begins to be felt. Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love. These seven words combine to give us a gift, and this gift grows as it is accepted and practiced within ourselves. Through this material insight, we are able to see a bit of spiritual reality. Translate the word God in any way it feels correct within yourself. You can't go wrong!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Question: What is God?

Answer: God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

Question: Are these terms synonymous?

Answer: They are. They refer to one absolute God. They are also intended to express the nature, essence, and wholeness of Deity. The attributes of God are justice, mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.

Question: Is there more than one God or Principle?

Answer: There is not." Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 465: 8-17

Home Within

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Lesson #182

“I will be still an instant and go home.”

This lesson is asking us to quiet all the hubbub in our existence for just an instant, in order to feel the peace of Mind which is ours. Today I will pause for many instants. I will sink deeper into the wonder of Truth, knowing all else is but a made-up dream of existence. When I hear anything which might cause me to think in a defensive way, I'll remember what is true and what is imagined. If the world has decided to live in an attack mode, defending against everything which it deems to be harmful, I will do my part in bringing in the dawn of Truth by accepting spiritual reality and rejecting material myth. An instant is all it takes to feel the presence of divine Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence apart from God.”

Science & Health Page 282:30-32

One Life, Truth, and Love!

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #181

“I trust my brothers, who are one with me.”

I am so I'm very happy to have this beautiful ACIM lesson to guide my thought from defense mode to an understanding which affirms the goodness of all mankind -- and explains the reason why. There are so many disciplines which teach us how to deal with material circumstances. They are lovely reminders of how to improve what we call the human condition. Many tell us that we're humans having a spiritual experience, but very few tell us that we're actually spiritual. In divine metaphysics we learn that everything is an idea of God. I am a spiritual idea right here and now! And you are, too! And so are all those who don't realize their inherent goodness. I'm going to pick a person who seems to fall into this category and concentrate on their true Being as an expression of divine Love. This feels like a Science project, don't you think? I shall record the results!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind …one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood…will be established."

Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 467:9-13

Amazing Grace

ACIM Workbook Lesson #180

Central Theme: "God is but love and therefore so am I."

Review of: #169 "By grace I live. By grace I am released." #170 "There is no cruelty in God and none in me."

"By grace I live. By grace I am released." This spiritual truth was recently brought to worldwide attention by the president of the United States, Barack Obama. In giving the eulogy at a memorial service for nine people who were murdered by a lone gunman in a church in South Carolina, he twice repeated the words, Amazing Grace. Then he slowly started to sing the old hymn. The whole room began to sing along. In a lifetime of political rhetoric and drama, it was the most moving and heartfelt moment I have ever witnessed from a public figure. It is grace which allows us to embrace those who persistently speak words with which we disagree. It is grace which permits us to look past the actions of those whose lives run counter to the standard we have set for ourselves. It is grace which keeps us looking inward for peace while others shout for revenge. "Twas blind, but now I see."

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"As aforetime, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the ceremonies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the hearts of men are made ready for it."

Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 131:22-25

Graceful Living

photo credit: Judy Kavan

ACIM Workbook Lesson #179

Central Theme: "God is but love and therefore so am I."

Review of: #167 "There is one life, and that I share with God." #168 "Your grace is given me. I claim it now."

There are many definitions given in the dictionary for the word grace. It is a noun, a verb, and an adverb, so it covers a lot of ground. The definition which best suits our review today would be this: "Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people." This grace which is ours shows itself in many ways. Perhaps it is seen in our kindness to others, and in them to us. It is emerging in the synchronicities we see in daily life. It is active when everything works together to bring order to our activities. Perhaps it is demonstrated in an apology, or an act of benevolence, a charitable deed, or an acceptance of someone's opinion which is opposite of ours. Grace is mine today, simply for the knowing of it. To quote William Blake:

“To see the world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.”

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other means and methods.”

Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 67:23-24

Listening

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #178

Central Theme: "God is but love and therefore so am I."

Review of: #165 "Let not my mind deny the Thought of God." #166 "I am entrusted with the gifts of God."

How surprised would you be if your prayers were answered? I have a friend who tells me she's given up on God because she's never seen any proof. Upon questioning her, it turns out she has a laundry list of things she asks for regularly, and none of her wishes have come true. Once again, I feel we often confuse divine Love with Santa Claus. We may be asking some guy in the sky for special dispensation, rather than recognizing that this Principle is an eternal activity which we can plug into at any time. It's kind of like electricity: It's there, but it doesn't supply our needs unless we know how to utilize it. And the secret to plugging in is to not want anything! By not delineating what we think we need, but rather keeping our thoughts tuned to the divine Mind, all our needs are supplied. The nature of this Oneness insures that what we need comes to us, and goes out to others, and we needn't tell It what that need is!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“How empty are our conceptions of Deity! We admit theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind.”

Science & Health Page 3:17-22

Totally Committed

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #177

Central Theme: "God is but love and therefore so am I."

Review of: #163 "There is no death. The Son of God is free." #164 "Now are we one with Him Who is our Source."

As long as we believe that there is something more important than healing our mind, we will never find peace. This is an idea I heard on an ACIM video today. It goes hand-in-hand with the homily given today at the church where I provide musical accompaniment. Father Joseph, a young Nigerian priest who serves three congregations in our area, began his message by asking if we knew the difference between being involved and being committed. He then told us if we were having a breakfast of eggs and bacon, the chicken would be involved, but the pig would be committed. While getting a laugh from the congregation, it made his point clear: If you’re not giving 100%, you’re not committed, but merely involved. Giving wholeheartedly to learning the meaning of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love — I’m in!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“If men understood their real spiritual source to be all blessedness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual and be at peace.”

Science and Health Page 329:27-29

The Emperor Has No Clothes!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #176

Central Theme: "God is but love and therefore so am I."

Review of: #161 "Give me your blessing, holy Son of God." #162 "I am as God created me."

There’s an article making the rounds on social media concerning a public school in Tennessee which is forcing children to participate in Muslim practices. The comments to this article range from mildly ignorant to wildly speculative. Finally, someone named Doug calmly recited all the reasons this is not happening, stating that the article is a satirical joke, and nicely asking if all the responders feel silly for believing it. In other words, The Emperor has no clothes!!  We see this same scenario take place numerous times a day, in some form or fashion, and usually we look the other way — probably because it’s happening on the television news! We must speak truth to error of all sorts. With the ease of sending messages through emails and Facebook pages, I encourage everyone to refute lies which are “going viral”. May the calm voices of reason prevail!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real to this false belief, and the human consciousness rises higher.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 297:12-15