October 14, 2012 - Love is My Only Goal

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #287

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

"Basin Spring Fantasy"
photo created by Gerry Toler

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 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 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

October 13, 2012 - Do Less, Accomplish More

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #286

"Black Bass Lake"
painting by Carol Dickie

“The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.”

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 -- "the hush of Heaven holds my heart today." 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 exquisitely 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 Page 467:13-16

October 12, 2012 - Joy Loves Company

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #285

"Sandy Wythawai Starbird and her mom"
photo by Judy Rhodes

“My holiness shines bright and clear today.”

Today someone said something which I hadn't heard in a long, long time: Misery loves company. Is that why so many of the conversations we hear center around disease and inclement weather? Yikes! I suppose it would be too rude and counterproductive to tell people why this way of existence is not conducive to happiness. But I can feel joy -- and scatter!! -- even in the face of any suffering thought that is brought to me today. And 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, 2012 - Turning Away from Hurtful Thoughts

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #284

“I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.”

"Harry and the Christmas Bears"

This process of turning around all hurtful thoughts is an interesting study! Through years of desiring 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 animal for more than ten years. After giving myself permission to love again, the process of loving freely has brought my thought closer to understanding continuity through Oneness. When looking in the eyes of a beloved pet, I see those whom 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. And I am grateful.

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

October 10, 2012 - Remembering True Identity

"Ozark Sunrise"
photo by John Rankine

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #283

“My true Identity abides in You.”

The meaning of today's topic springs to mind often. Already this morning there have been three instances where people have forgotten their true Identity and attempted to pull me into their forgotten state. By the remembering that these illusions are only that -- illusions -- and that the true essence of everything is Love, I have been able to look for answers to seeming personal conflicts without resorting to speculation and psychological nit-picking. When we get into a "he-said-she-said" playing of people against each other, there is no true resolution. So I've stepped back and said, inwardly, that I know there is only one solution, the Love-based One, and now I'm waiting to hear (see, feel, know) how these seeming conflicts will be resolved. I refuse to speculate on possible resolutions, or wonder who is going to "back down", because we are all in this together and there is only Good to be reflected by us all. I will not project my thoughts onto others, and I reject any that are thrown toward me from them. Divine Mind guides and governs us all, when recognized as our true identity.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Human thought never projected the least portion of true being. Human belief has sought and interpreted in its own way the echo of Spirit, and so seems to have reversed it and repeated it materially; but the human mind never produced a real tone nor sent forth a positive sound.”

Science & Health Page 126:8-14

October 9, 2012 - Living Love

Unknown source

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #282

“I will not be afraid of love today.”

I will live Love today. After reading an article about Steve Jobs' final days and his realizations of what is important, I am inspired to live with a single goal -- to reflect Love through the multitude of ways in which it is possible. Join with me in taking to heart this quote of Mr. Jobs: "Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love is priestess at the altar of Truth. Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.”

Science & Health Page 454:21-23

October 8, 2012 - Material Laws or Beliefs?

"The Gathering"
Ceramic Sculpture by Ken Starbird

A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #281

“I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.”

We all know of instances which demonstrate the supremacy of spirit to matter. We've heard of, or witnessed, or experienced events which cause us to examine our long-held beliefs concerning material so-called laws. The first one that always comes to my mind is of my older son falling 15 feet or so off of an embankment, landing in an area of rocks and boulders. When he was falling, he tells me he didn't think anything in specific, but because of his early teaching and his knowledge of God he simply knew that all was well. It never crossed his mind that he would be injured, because he knows the Truth of his existence. When he landed, he looked down and saw his foot and lower leg inside the boulder! As he walked away, he realized he wasn't particularly surprised, but he was certainly attentive. What was this which allows material laws to be put aside? Hum -- they must not be laws! His sureness in limitless Good has been shown in other instances, such as close encounters with a crevasse in Mongolia and a snow-covered boulder while skiing in Colorado. A moment-by-moment certainty of the Principle of Being assures us that all is well, and allows us to walk in the surety of that beautiful fact.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“You cause bodily sufferings and increase them by admitting their reality and continuance, as directly as you enhance your joys by believing them to be real and continuous. When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, "I am hurt!" Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All.”

Science & Health Page 397: 9-22