July 27, 2013 - Peace No Matter What

"Mongolia - Altai Mountains"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #208

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #188 “The peace of God is shining in me now."

It's comforting to know that peace is always waiting within, no matter how jarring outside circumstances may seem. Sometimes I fall into that disharmony, forgetting that I have a choice in the matter. Right now my dog is barking at something outside. I feel my muscles becoming tense as the noise reverberates in the house. Should I join in his tension and anxiety, or would I rather bring him along into my oasis of peace? It seems like a "no-brainer" there, huh? But how often have I let outside circumstances dictate my mood? I'm glad I don't need to relive all those moments! Today I will remember I have a choice, and not be swept along in a current of dis-ease.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,—is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal.”

Science & Health Page 306:25-28

July 26, 2013 - Love Life

"Morning Prayer in Mongolia"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #207

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #187 “I bless the world because I bless myself.”

What blesses one blesses all! When we open our hearts to the knowledge that God is Love, and that we are the image and likeness of that Love, we are reborn of that Love. I know some people who think it's selfish to pray for themselves. But the knowledge that you bless the world when you bless yourself sets you free to treat yourself as well as you would someone you love. Praying for ourselves: what a concept, huh? Acknowledging the reality of our Being, affirming our goodness as a child of God, knowing that everyone is created as a divine manifestation of Mind, these are some of the ways we bless ourselves and everyone else. Join me in falling in love today -- with Life!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“So-called mystery and miracle, which subserve the end of natural good, are explained by that Love for whose rest the weary ones sigh when needing something more native to their immortal cravings than the history of perpetual evil.

Science & Health Page 501:13-18

July 25, 2013 - Giving and Receiving

"Crystal Bridges Museum"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #206

Central theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #186 “Salvation of the world depends on me.”

Part of today's lesson tells us that we have the gifts of God and we must give them where they are intended to be given. This is why it's essential that we allow ourselves to receive. We cannot give what we do not have. This giving takes many forms. A documentary comes to mind about a group of people whose average age is 80. These delightful people sing in live performances all over the world. Their songs are surprising and joyous, bringing happiness to all who hear them. This ever-changing group of joyful givers call themselves "Young @ Heart", and the film bears the same name. They inspire me to give of what I have been given, to be willing to share the salvation which is ours. Whenever I forget my true Self, the memory of these resplendent people will remind me that we're all here for each other, and that with giving we receive, and with receiving we give.

Mary Baker Eddy quotes:

“Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood. Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding. Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate of understanding to note the proper guests. Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between Truth and error, between the material and spiritual,-- the unreal and the real.”

S&H 538:3-10

July 24, 2013 - Peace of God

Exhibit at Crystal Bridges Museum
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #205 Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #185 "I want the peace of God.”

"The peace of God is everything I want." What a lovely thought to hold to today! I just read a Facebook post by one of our social media mavens. She tells us that people seem volatile, jumping to conclusions and reacting in anger. Her advice to us all was to "Calm the f… down!"  I can translate that into wanting the peace of God and making a choice to have it. If you're having trouble slipping away from tension and letting peace be felt, try doing things which can facilitate this: float on a river, walk in the woods, have a massage, get a Oneness Blessing. There are so many avenues to this end. Mainly, I think it's the realization that we have a choice. That opens the door to peace.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.” Science & Health Page 96:12-20

July 23, 2013 - My Inheritance

Photo by Jim Young
www.CreationSpirit.net

ACIM Workbook Lesson #204

Central theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #184 “The Name of God is my inheritance.”

When hearing the word "inheritance", many material notions come to mind. Maybe we think of things given us by parents -- not just left to us upon their passing, but the way we look and act, perhaps diseases and other DNA-based traits. Through no plan of my own, I've shown in my life that these things are simply material illusions. Although my racial heritage is largely Mexican, I carry none of the physical characteristics associated with these wonderful people. The reason for this is based in thought. I was raised as a VERY white person. My parents were so determined that I not carry what they saw as the burden of being a Chicano in the United States, that they carried forth an elaborate plan to negate this. And it worked! I tell you this to illustrate that all material illusions are changeable. We are able to deny any mortal belief, not on the basis of our material manipulations of matter, but based on our understanding of the Truth of our Being as God’s reflection.  In the proverbial twinkling of an eye, perceptions can change and Life may be lived free of illusions, in our Oneness with God.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man's real existence as a child of God comes to light.”

Science and Health Page 288:31–1

July 22, 2013 - I Am Free

"Beijing, China"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #203

Central theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #183 “I call upon God's Name and on my own.”

Today's lesson reminds me of a youTube video from Eckhart Tolle called "The Flowering of Human Consciousness." This talk starts out with him asking us to pretend we have no name. He wants us to examine how this feels and see who we are without this part of our "story" in place. This is why I feel fortunate to have discovered that my personal history isn't exactly what I had been told it was. My parents had taken me shortly after my birth, moved to another state, and invented a history for their new baby.  Finding this out at the age of 37 enabled me to begin to see who I Am, in reality. My only parent is divine Mind. I have no birth date as I am eternal, without beginning or ending. Every single part of my material history is temporary illusion which can all be released in favor of Truth. This doesn't mean that I will lose my individuality. On the contrary! We are set free to be more of ourSelves when we release the limitations imposed by heredity, circumstance, and other material beliefs concerning our capabilities. We are also freed from the pain of guilt, blame, and other derogatory emotions. When we call on God's name, we are calling on ourSelf. Our sustenance, our comfort, are all found within. I am free!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Man's individuality is not material. This Science of being obtains not alone hereafter in what men call Paradise, but here and now; it is the great fact of being for time and eternity."

Science  & Health Page 285:2-6

July 21, 2013 - Likeness of God

"Germany 2006"
photo by Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson # 202 

Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #182 “I will be still an instant and go home.”

The spiritual sense we're developing enables us to interpret things without the material meanings we've attached to them. In line with our daily review, which instructs us to "be still an instant and go home", we are allowing ourselves to listen, rather than immediately thinking we know everything. To me, to "go home" means hearing the spiritual message which comes through loud and clear when we are able to quiet material sense. The freedom we experience when releasing beliefs about God also allows us to free ourselves from what we think we are. Knowing ourSelves as the likeness of God then becomes a present reality!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Man in the likeness of God, as revealed in Science, cannot help being immortal. Though the grass seemeth to wither and the flower to fade, they reappear. Erase the figures which express number, silence the tones of music, give to the worms the body called man, and yet the producing, governing, divine Principle lives on,--in the case of man as truly as in the case of numbers and of music,--despite the so-called laws of matter, which define man as mortal. Science & Health Page 81:17-24