February 10, 2012 - Never Alone

ACIM workbook lesson #41 

“God goes with me wherever I go.”

Somewhere near the Great Wall of China
photo by Aaron Springston

[Marsha's thoughts]
The acceptance of today's lesson opens our existence to a world of joy and peace, even if situations seem less than loving. A Bible verse tells us: If I make my bed in hell, Thou art there. In many belief systems, this would be impossible because heaven is God's place and hell is the devil's, both entities battling for our attention. In the teachings we are studying, as in Jesus' words, we learn that the kingdom of heaven is within. In our reality as children of God, there is nothing other than heaven, harmony. Heaven on earth is our natural state. The hell we so often find ourselves experiencing, although unnatural, seems to be a part of this material existence. These are the situations we are learning to see as unreal, and through this we know that we are the reflection of the One good, God. By this understanding, we are always with God, and God with us, because we are One.

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Existence, separate from divinity, [Christian] Science explains as impossible.” 

Science & Health Page 522:10-11

February 9, 2012 - Blessed

ACIM workbook lesson #40:

“I am blessed as a Son of God."

Glacier National Park
photo by Aaron Springston

[Marsha's thoughts]

It may seem difficult to think of ourselves as a blessed child of God. There are as many reasons for this as there are individualized thoughts concerning it. So I choose to not look at it from why I am not this Idea of God, but from why I Am. For me, it's easiest to see myself as Love. This Love is a synonym for God, so when I see myself as this Love, I am seeing myself as I was created spiritually in the likeness of that Oneness. One of my friends finds it difficult to envision Love, so he uses Mind. Of course, we are using human concepts here, even if we put a capital letter on them! We intellectually know what we mean, but sometimes it's hard to feel the meaning. But I trust that through continued meditation, prayer, and quiet contemplation that I will feel more and more this Truth of All that Is. Seeing ourselves in this vast way opens doors to places of peace and joy. Anyone who has visited the depths of depression knows what a relief it is to regain peace, and how ecstatic to feel joy. And while we're remembering this to be true of ourselves, we will know it is true with everyone. Namaste ~~~

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.” Science & Health Page 516:9-13

February 8, 2012 - Spiritually Whole

ACIM workbook lesson #39:

"My holiness is my salvation."

For you who are occasional readers of the workbook lessons, today would be a good time !

http://acim.org/Lessons/lesson.html?lesson=39

As is stated in this day's lesson, "No one needs practice to gain what is already his." It seems difficult to forget the materialism that is so engrained in our daily lives. In remembering that those illusionary teachings are the only thing hiding our True Selves, we needn't concentrate on forgetting these beliefs, but on remembering our wholeness! An instance came up today where I had a chance to see something differently. One of the Catch-22s of life in our tourist town is that many shopkeepers are not open in the winter. We don't get enough tourists to stay open, is the logic. But perhaps we don't get enough tourists because not enough of us are open. My fill-in shopkeeper tells me that a woman called to ask if we'd be open on a certain day in March. When she was told that we would, she said that we were the first positive response she'd gotten from the few she had called. My by-rote response would have been a complaint against others. But I stopped and thought about how I could respond from my holiness. What I saw was the whole town as vibrant and joyful, whole and free. Seeing everything in its spiritual signification leaves no room for missing pieces or lack of any kind. Where there is no blame, there is no guilt. No guilt equals salvation!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Who would stand before a blackboard, and pray the principle of mathematics to solve the problem? The rule is already established, and it is our task to work out the solution. Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God's rule in order to receive His blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.”

Science & Health Page 3:4-11

February 7, 2012 - Reversal of thought

ACIM workbook lesson #38:

"There is nothing my holiness cannot do"

Butterfly World in St. Louis
photo by Heather Magnan

[Marsha's thoughts]

I love the first two sentences of today's lesson! "Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind." Haven't you always felt that to be true? Isn't this why Harry Potter plays in our head for hours via reading and movies? We know -- we just know! -- that there is more to all this than meets the mortal eye.  I get very excited when pondering these concepts! How grand it is that we have so many writings from people who know A Course in Miracles, and that we have more than a hundred year's worth of detailed writing from the Christian Science movement. Through these tomes we find encouragement and support when it seems the material world's pull is easier to bow down to than it is to walk through, to the Truth it is masking. And what a fine tool the internet is for this study! A simple search on either discipline puts information at your fingertips in an instant. Tapping into our inner knowing has much the same result. An interactive word game I play online is a great experiment in thought. For instance, imagine you have seven letters to choose in order to figure out what a word is, and this is what you begin with: _ O _ _. There are a great number of possibilities! But by opening up to intuition, I just know what letter to choose to move forward.  What a great experiment to prove the effectiveness of the demonstration of this way of looking at things! And that's how it is with everything we encounter when looked at through holiness, through wholeness. If we choose based on material evidence, everything may seem to be a matter of luck. When we allow our holiness to guide us, there is only the peaceful certainty of Good.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains."

 Science & Health Page 95:28-3

"Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit." Science & Health Page 96:4-5

February 6, 2012 - My Wholeness Blesses the World

ACIM workbook lesson #37

"My holiness blesses the world."

[Marsha's thoughts]

Heather in Glacier National Park
photo by Aaron Springston

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. What a lovely world it is when we love ourselves more, and then let that love flow out to our neighbors. And when we honor ourselves as reflections of God, we are able to do no harm to others, because we wouldn't do it unto ourselves. That is what this day's lesson asks us to accept. We are whole, as is everyone, because we are all reflections of Love. Our purpose is to see this ever-present Truth in everything. When I am interacting with someone who is living in fear, someone who turns every situation into a threat, I will turn it around in my thought by seeing the situation through holiness. And this allows me to release any thoughts of trying to change their attitude, any words of correction, all attack thoughts of any kind. I will live with Love and express this holiness in words and actions as I move through this day, knowing that wholeness enacted is my only purpose.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model?" "We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives." 

Science & Health Page 248:12-17 and 25-29

February 5, 2012 - What is holiness?

ACIM workbook lesson #36

"My holiness envelopes everything I see."

[Marsha's thoughts]

What does holiness mean to you? That's the question I will ponder today as I go about my activities. While "my holiness envelopes everything I see", I will think about what, exactly, that means. I feel that the question, Who Am I?, is an important one to ask when defining my holiness. Moses tells us that I Am is all that is: I Am that I Am. I take those words to mean that when I admit my true self, my spiritually-revealed Self, I am able to see and express my holiness enveloping everything, which includes me and my thoughts. Everything I see through a spiritual sense is seeing as I Am. This sight turns us to the presence of divine Love, God, and Its never-ending principle which guides and guards. To see as Love sees, to be as Love is, to relax into your True Self -- these things, and more, are both the principle and the practice of today's lesson.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth, nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us into all Truth. Such a desire has little need of audible expression. It is best expressed in thought and in life." Science & Health Page 11:22-32

February 4, 2012 - I Am

Glacier National Park
view from the mountaintop
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM workbook lesson #35
"My mind is part of God. I am very holy."


[Marsha's thoughts]
I've recently been working with someone who has been struggling with depression all her life. She feels her existence has been a series of horrible events, occasionally interrupted by happy times which inevitably end in pain. In an attempt to escape this existence, she has turned to alcohol, drugs, and God. But the judgmental God she sees makes deals with her, and this God never sees her as worthy of favor. The repetition of her hopeless life story seems to be in her thought constantly, affecting her every action. By accepting today's lesson which tells us that we are actually holy as a reflection of God, the feelings of hopelessness and sadness can disappear in the twinkling of an eye. By releasing our material history, we are free to learn the reality of our spiritual Truth, which is unending, uninterrupted good. It's a beautiful thing to see someone realize the nothingness of the thoughts they've been replaying in their mind, and to realize the wondrous peace which is their only true story. I think of God as defined by Mary Baker Eddy: Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love..Divine Mind flows through us all, is always available to us to replace the thoughts of our mind, and is an ever-presence which can be counted on to replace any feelings of sadness and depression which may seem to be real to us. To misquote a well-known Bible verse: Let this mind be you, which was also Christ Jesus. This Mind is you, and me, and everyone, because it is God, which is omnipresent, omniscient, always.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:
"Mortal thought transmits its own images, and forms its offspring after human illusions. God, Spirit, works spiritually, not materially. Brain or matter never formed a human concept. Vibration is not intelligence, hence it is not a creator. Immortal ideas, pure, perfect, and enduring, are transmitted by the divine Mind through divine Science, which corrects error with truth and demands spiritual thoughts, divine concepts, to the end that they may produce harmonious results."
Science & Health Page 259:22-31