October 17, 2011

ACIM Lesson #290
“My present happiness is all I see.”

"Gathering of the Girls"
photo by Jerry Dupy

[Marsha's thoughts]

When my boys were little, I heard Wayne Dyer tell us something which we still practice to this day. He told the story of getting up in the morning, feeling wonderful, and saying, It's such a beautiful day, I think I'll call in sick! This made me smile at the time because I'd often get a cold when I needed a break from the routine, and had come to look forward to these events. Although his illustration talked of a person pretending to be sick, I find that this pretense often manifests itself in our existence. And so I started to advise my children to let me know when they needed some time for themselves, which we did with full disclosure to the school. Today has been such a day for me. After a minor obligation this morning, I chose to simply Be on this beautiful 75-degree fall day. It's easy to feel “my present happiness” while sitting in the sun watching squirrels gathering nuts. And tomorrow I will choose to feel this happiness shining through

whatever the day may bring.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Earth has little light or joy for mortals before Life is spiritually learned. Every agony of mortal error helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true ideas of God,

the spiritual sense of being.”

Science & Health Page 548:9-16

October 16, 2011

ACIM Lesson #289
“The past is over. It can touch me not.”

                                                        [Marsha's thoughts]

Friends

This is one of the reasons I love the business of selling art. Every day I meet lots of new people. Although knowing nothing about them when they walk in the door, when they leave we’ve made a mini-friendship based on what we have learned about each other in a few minutes. It’s pure and clean and nothing matters but the moment we’re together in this small area, with a divine atmosphere of Love emanating from the art of more than a hundred people. Wow! What could be better?! And through these daily meetings I’m seeing this now-ness being demonstrated time and again. It enables me to forget my past when I constantly live in the present. And when others try to take me to the past (whether it’s theirs or mine), I am learning ways of bypassing these trips. With this exercise happening so frequently, it seems I won’t allow myself to wander through memory land any more than I’ll let others bring it into our existence while in the realm of Eureka Thyme. I love the serene otherworld we create within these walls. It’s helping me see the now in every moment, and the nothingness of moments gone by.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“As the crude footprints of the past disappear from the dissolving paths of the present, we shall better understand the Science which governs these changes, and shall plant our feet on firmer ground. Every sensuous pleasure or pain is self-destroyed through suffering. There should be painless progress, attended by life and peace instead of discord and death.”
Science & Health Page 224: 4-10

October 15, 2011

ACIM Lesson #288
“Let me forget my brother's past today.”

"Apartheid 2"
Stoneware sculpture
by Ken Starbird

[Marsha's thoughts]
It's interesting that this lesson topic has come up, because today I've been in an email discussion in which my last note stated that I tend to not remember much of anything! And now here I am being told to forget my brother's past. I think I can do that!! While pondering these points, I'm listening to a person singing on the balcony of a nearby hotel/restaurant. The performer seems to me to be very unmelodious, and as if to rub it in, he's singing some of my favorite songs. I'm really trying not to blame him for this! And so I'm seeing him as innovative in the changes he's making to well-loved Beatles songs. I'm not attacking him, even though he's so loud I've had to turn off my jazzy piano music 'cause the decibels can't compete! Now this exercise is getting easier. He's playing something I've never heard of, and it doesn't sound so bad! And so I'm forgetting that I don't like him, and I'm not going to jump up on my high-horse with a holier-than-thou attitude (which crossed my mind to the point of envisioning what I would say to the manager of the hotel!), and I'm remembering that we are the same because our source is the same, and I'm not blaming him because he doesn't sing the way I'd like for him to. I'm now singing along with the Eagles song he's currently butchering and it's become a lovely, comedic parenthesis in eternity. I am not blaming myself for these thoughts any more than I'm blaming him for his actions. It is what it is. Whew ~~~~
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"One infinite God, good, unifies men and constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,--whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed."
Science & Health Page 340:23:30

October 14, 2011

ACIM Lesson #287
“You are my goal, my Father. Only You.”
 

"Dancing on Cosmic Jello"
from Sandy Wythawai Starbird

[Marsha's thoughts]

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 looking toward the solution. 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, wonderful avenues appear. Often it takes extreme conditions to cause us to seek the understanding of our unity with this Love. 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 326:3

October 13, 2011

ACIM Lesson #286
“The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.”

"Black Bass Spillway"
Carol Dickie

 [Marsha's thoughts]

We're doing less and accomplishing more;

soon we'll be doing nothing and accomplishing everything! I don't know where I first heard this, but I love it!! And I love the word "hush", as it's used in the sentence above. It sounds and feels like what it means! A quiet susserence which feels like nestling into a featherbed, or maybe the sound of a snowfall late at night -- the hush of something unspeakably cozy. These are the feelings I'll call to mind today while remembering there is nothing I need do, because it is already done.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also Christ."
Science & Health 467:13-16



October 12, 2011

ACIM Lesson #285
“My holiness shines bright and clear today.”

Aaron and Heather
Graduation Day

[Marsha's thoughts]

Today someone said something I hadn't heard in a long, long time: Misery loves company. Is that why so many of the conversations we hear daily center around disease and inclement weather? Yikes! I suppose it would be too rude to tell people why this way of existence is not conducive to happiness. But I can feel

joy -- and scatter it!! -- in the face of any suffering thought that is brought to me today. No, this won't be a laughing-in-the-face-of-sorrow type of joy. This will be a gentle joy, a quiet joy, sent out in true compassion while seeing divine reality. This will be my holiness shining today. We know that joy loves company, too!

Let's see how infectious happiness can be.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear”
Science & Health Page 248:25-32

October 11, 2011

ACIM Lesson #284
“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.”

[Marsha's thoughts]

This process of turning around all hurtful thoughts is an interesting study! Through years of striving to see through the eyes of Truth, Its realization now comes more frequently and with more ease. I could make a graph of the changing face of grief I've felt through the years surrounding the loss of friends and pets. As a 12-year-old, the loss of my dog was devastating. I wouldn't allow myself to love another pet for more than ten years. For the next 30 years these losses have seemed painful, but have always brought my thought closer to another realization concerning continuity. When looking in the eyes of a beloved pet, I see those I've loved in the past. Often when talking to a new friend, I may have deja-vu-ish feelings of being with someone departed long ago. All these experiences bring the realization of the Oneness of all being, and I relish each loss and gain in this embrace. Whatever the hurt or suffering seems to be, it can be perceived in other ways. Love (God) fills our being at its core and its edge. This unbroken reality allows us to feel a

gentle Presence in every experience.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“It is self-evident that we are harmonious only as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error,

and leads to the discernment of Truth”

Science & Health Page 346: 13-16