November 6, 2011

ACIM Lesson #310
“In fearlessness and love I spend today.”

[Marsha’s thoughts]

Cheering Life with Eggrolls!

The love we feel for friends is a foretaste of the possibilities of all-encompassing Love which we are left with when all else is gone from thought. Last night, two of my son’s friends from forever came by to visit. It was as though they’d been here every day and the time spent in our home was a sweet reminder of days gone by. At the time my children were growing up, I spent much more time every day in prayerful study and contemplation than I do now. Or so it seemed! But when I stop to think about it, every interaction is expressing this Love with a fearlessness that grows more complete every day. These seeds were planted and are still being nurtured through these moment-by-moment expressions of Love. Even if we are not in the public eye, this Love can be expressed in many ways – actually, in every way! And by loving yourself, you’re loving everyone. By living fearlessly, you’re spreading this confidence to all. I go forth with loving gratitude today and expect only Good.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“If we look to the body for pleasure, we find pain; for Life, we find death; for Truth, we find error; for Spirit, we find its opposite, matter. Now reverse this action. Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts”

Science & Health Page 260

November 5, 2011

ACIM Lesson #309
“I will not fear to look within today.”

[Marsha’s thoughts]

Loving Friends

The concept of fearing to look within seems foreign to me. Although I know there must be lots of reasons that we fear this inner Self, I really don't know why this is. Now that I've said this, something will probably come up tomorrow to bite me in the behind and show me what I'm missing! And I welcome that. The most profound growth noted in this past year or so has come about because of beloved friends leading or pushing me in a new direction, or perhaps rubbing my nose in some mess I've left behind, or flat out telling me to get a grip!! I relish these prompts to look within and past whatever erroneous beliefs or habits have been guiding my actions! Every moment of this weeding out of distracting and unnecessary emotions is leaving more room for flowers and sweet herbs to grow. What a delight to find these inside, rather than hideous imaginings! Knowing that the only Truth to be found is in this inner space, gladly I look there today.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.”
Science & Health Page 476-28-8

November 4, 2011

ACIM Lesson #308
"This instant is the only time there is."

[Marsha's thoughts]

Mark in Mongolia
photo by Aaron Springston

A quote from Kung Fu Panda came to mind when I saw today's lesson subject: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present.” And I'm reminded of something Deepak Chopra said, too: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen at the same time." Albert Einstein showed us that time is relative. Time spent in a dentist chair passes differently from time spent doing something we think of as pleasurable. Later in life, Mr. Einstein came to believe that time was not just relative, but unreal! Here is a quote from him, written in a letter to a friend: "To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one." So why do we limit ourselves so by time? We always think we're too young or too old, or this physical malady will pass with time, or that we simply don't have time to do the things we want to do. When I realize that I'm not a mortal living in what seems to be now, but an immortal living in eternity, then some major shifts in perception are taking place and only "time will tell" what happens then!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies. Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment. What a glorious inheritance is given to us through the understanding of omnipresent Love! More we cannot ask: more we do not want: more we cannot have. This sweet assurance is the ‘Peace, be still’ to all human fears, to suffering of every sort”

Miscellaneous Writings Page 307

November 3, 2011

ACIM Lesson #307
“Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.”

Hat for Mad Hatter Ball

[Marsha's thoughts]

To be wide open, with no expectations, frees us in many ways. This state of Being especially opens us to the demonstration of the One absolute will. Recently something happened where I really wanted to assert my own will. A month or so ago, I was minding my own business when the thought came to me, "Go to the Mad Hatter's Ball". Well, I didn't want to do this! I don't go to balls, I don't dress up in outrageous garb, and I most certainly don't pay cash money for doing what I don't want to do! A week or so later, (to my chagrin!) I'm given two tickets to the ball. What am I going to wear? A stop by the Doggie Thrift Shop answers this question, and I leave with a wonderful hat, in a style I love, with crazy red polyester curls. So it seems as though I'm going, and at this point I acquiesce. And then while talking to someone in the post office about the event, the postal worker behind the counter tells me she's been working on a hat for three years and asks if I want to wear it. Maybe, I tell her -- Because I'm already pretty attached to my hat with the red hair. This is a long story to tell of a concept so simple that it requires no thought. Do whatever you hear/feel is the thing to be doing. There's no right or wrong with this yielding to intuition. I don't know why I was at this event, but everything came together beautifully and I had a great time, and even won a prize in the wildest hat contest. Perhaps there was someone I needed to meet and this was the time to do so; maybe I just needed to stretch my so-called comfort zone a bit. The possibilities are endless, and I don't have to know anything other than this: Thy/My will be done. And It is done ~~~

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Science with the material senses.”
Science and Health Page 167:11-12

November 2, 2011

ACIM Lesson #306
“The gift of Christ is all I seek today.”

[Marsha's thoughts]

Recently I heard a definition of the word "repent". It had nothing to do with confessing sins in order to receive absolution, nothing to do with being sorry for actions, nothing to do with guilt, nothing to do with begging for forgiveness. Its definition was simply "return home". When we allow ourselves to see, hear, feel with the sense of God, we are returning to our original state of being, and remembering we never went away. So this idea of repenting, or returning home, is only a matter of letting loose anything which is unlike Love. We are the image and likeness of God. God is Love. We are Love. This is a state we cannot leave, but we can lose sight of this perfect peace. Today I look for the Love that is God, the Love that I am, in everything and everyone.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of ‘the mind of the Lord,’ as the Scripture says.”
 Science & Health Page 291:13-18

November 1, 2011

ACIM Lesson #305
“There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.”

St Elizabeth's from woodland trail
photo by Dale Johnson

[Marsha's thoughts]

Absolutely any situation can be filled with peace. There are accounts of people in the direst of situations facing them calmly, with a seeming other-worldly and detached sense of peace. The last time someone yelled obscenities at me in the street, I was very pleased to find myself witnessing the scene without emotion. When the day comes that I don't even remember this circumstance occurred, then I will be seeing with the Christ's vision. Today I visited with a couple who are in the midst of a life-changing disease. When I walked in their home, the first thing I felt was an all-encompassing peace. My dear friend related how amazed she was by the leaves falling from the trees this autumn. She stated that they took care of themselves; that she never raked, but they went where they needed to be and changed to whatever form is required of them -- soil, protection for seedlings, shelter for insects and small animals. She sees perfection in this plan and knows that same perfection is taking place in all existence. Deep and quiet peace is everywhere. I am grateful to have experienced this peace today.

Mary Baker Eddy poem:
“Satisfied”
It matters not what be thy lot,
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
Whate'er betide.


And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones,
God able is
To raise up seed — in thought and deed —
To faithful His.


Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
Our God is good.
False fears are foes — truth tatters those,
When understood.

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
Ayont hate's thrall:
There Life is light, and wisdom might,
And God is All.


The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God's glorified!
Who doth His will — His likeness still —
Is satisfied.
(Poems by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 79)

October 31, 2011

ACIM Lesson #304
“Let not my world obscure the sight of Christ.”

[Marsha's thoughts]

China
photo by Aaron Springston

Writings throughout the ages have given us hints as to the grand possibilities we might have as realities. As attested by powerful mythological characters and poetry which transforms our being, we have longed for the ability to change what seems to be the reality of situations in and around our personal existence. The world tells us that we are victims of circumstances, with life being experienced at the whim of chance meetings with luck, this being termed either good or bad. Every time we hear a story telling of something we think is impossible to us, but which contains outcomes so beautiful we wish it were within the realm of our world, let's accept the fact that there are no limits. Who knows what we're capable of doing? We seem to exceed expected outcomes in every avenue of existence. Wasn't it said that running a mile in less than 4 minutes was impossible? And it sure seems like the sun is going around the earth, don't you think? Today I set free any thought of limitation, any assumptions I may have as to what's what, and by doing so open the inner ways of sight.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Truth never destroys God's idea. Truth is spiritual, eternal substance, which cannot destroy the right reflection. Corporeal sense, or error, may seem to hide Truth, health, harmony, and Science, as the mist obscures the sun or the mountain; but Science, the sunshine of Truth, will melt away the shadow and reveal the celestial peaks.”

S&H 299:24-30