December 13, 2013 - Slow Down

ACIM Workbook Lesson #347

Photo by Aaron Springston

"Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me."

It is easy to ignore signs that the brain has blocked out divine Mind. This morning I made a minor, yet glaring, error in a social media announcement concerning an upcoming featured artist at the gallery. If I hadn't rushed through the process, I would have seen it. A few other things happened throughout the day, but I justified them. Then I discovered that my notice to the local Chamber of Commerce, sent in for a blast to more than 500 people, contained a personal letter which I had written to the artists I represent. I'll leave out all the gory details which ensued, but during a rushed time a few days ago, I had inadvertently added the email of a new employee for publicity to my artist list, rather than to the Chamber list. So reading this ACIM lesson caused some major laughter as I realized there had been indicators to slow down and listen all day, but I'd chosen to rush past them. This is yet another lesson I pray to remember! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Material man is made up of involuntary and voluntary error, of a negative right and a positive wrong, the latter calling itself right. Man's spiritual individuality is never wrong."

Science & Health Page 491:7-10

December 12, 2013 - The Gift of Love

photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #346

"Today the peace of God envelops me,

And I forget all things except His Love."

Have you ever felt a moment when it seemed that time stood still? These sentences from today's ACIM lesson brought back a remembrance in me: "What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. I would forget all things except Your Love." A number of years ago I experienced a breach of time when I first saw a man who later became my very good friend. I was playing the organ at a Sunday morning service when he walked in and sat down. As I looked over at him, it was as though time didn't exist. Everything was still, and yet it felt like eons rushed through me. My material interpretation of this event was that I knew this man from forever; that he was the one I'd been waiting for. I see the event today as something different. Our meeting opened a portal, if you will. I became aware of a doorway I could step through where nothing existed other than the Love which is God. What a gift! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized."

Science & Health Page 468:26:30

December 11, 2013 - Giving and Receiving Miracles

"Eureka Springs B&B"
photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #345

"I offer only miracles today,

For I would have them be returned to me."

Today I received a phone call from a friend whose first words were, "Do you think we live in a police state?" Of course, said I. These are the types of conversations I walk away from face-to-face, but since he had just had this realization and was upset, I stayed with him on the subject. While I did express more strong opinions than I generally like to admit I have, the conversation was, for the most part, a cry for him to return to Love. I see our current mortal, mental state as a reflection of the fear we harbor; a fear which is fed by most everything in daily life. I talked to him of tipping points, and mass consciousness, and our true consciousness as an expression of God. We could banter back and forth for a very long time the material conditions, causes, solutions of this existence. But to get to the heart of it all takes spiritual sense, which cannot be gleaned from intellectual exercises. And that's where I see the miracle: the revelation which reveals the omnipresence of God, good. 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Christian marvels (and marvel is the simple meaning of the Greek word rendered miracle in the New Testament) will be misunderstood and misused by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is gained."

Science & Health Page 474:11-15

December 10, 2013 - The Gift of Love

"Harding Spring, Eureka Springs"
photo by Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #344

"Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me."

For the past few days, I've been navigating the maze involved in setting up an on-line shopping site for my gallery. It's a fun and exciting project, but those times I've needed to phone tech support have been challenging. For the most part, I've kept in mind the precepts related in today's lesson, that the love and kindness I express to my brother is a gift to me. Being open-hearted has made most seeming impasses a mere stepping stone. But today, after hours of trying to set up payment methods, the last step seemed simple but the form I was filling out wouldn't cooperate! I was stymied by entering my birthday on an application. It kept telling me I needed to correct it when I was typing it exactly as they asked. While talking to Ray at Pay Pal tech support, we ascertained that this was a glitch in their application process. This time it wasn't me being tempted to throw up my hands in frustration, but the tech guy. Rather than join in his tirade about his company, I made a suggestion about how he might help them fix these problems. I told him he was important and he shouldn't be silent when he had solutions. We ended our chat with him talking about his plans for the holidays. What a lovely gift this was -- and not just because I got my form submitted!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Finite mind manifests all sorts of errors, and thus proves the material theory of mind in matter to be the antipode of Mind. Who hath found finite life or love sufficient to meet the demands of human want and woe,--to still the desires, to satisfy the aspirations? Infinite Mind cannot be limited to a finite form, or Mind would lose its infinite character as inexhaustible Love, eternal Life, omnipotent Truth."

Science & Health Page 257:22-29

December 9, 2013 - No Sacrifice Necessary

ACIM Workbook Lesson #343

"I am not asked to make a sacrifice

To find the mercy and the peace of God."

What if all I need do to find the peace of God is to stop thinking habitual limiting thoughts? Let's say someone wants to change a personal relationship which we've had for some time. What comes to mind is when my son was 14 and woke up one morning and said he didn't belong here, in this town, going to this school. My first thoughts were ones of blame -- toward myself and him. Why would he want to leave? What have I done to cause him to feel this way? Now we're years past the time this happened, and it's easy to look back and see that his going away to school was the best thing that could have happened for both of us. But at the time it felt devastating. This is the type of feeling we so often bring to our lives when we look at a situation from an egotistical standpoint. But with an acceptance and the loving assurance that all is well, these relationships ebb and flow, yielding to the peace of God which is ever-present, and which is found with a release of personal sense. All we need give up are long-held beliefs in the way we want situations to be. What a joy to give up personal agendas, preconceived notions of how things should be, and to welcome the Love which is God! I feel no sense of sacrifice in this trade-off!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

" The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh universe — old to God, but new to His “little one.” It became evident that the divine Mind alone must answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle, of all being; and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would be at peace." Retrospection and Introspection Page 27:29-4

December 8, 2013 - No Secrets

"Winter"
photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #342

"I let forgiveness rest upon all things, For thus forgiveness will be given me."

"The world goes with us on our way to God." That statement in today's ACIM lesson is worth pondering. We believe we can hide our emotions and thoughts from others, simply by not saying anything. Where did we ever get that idea? I guess it's because we have spent so many years not listening inwardly. In an episode of the "Dog Whisperer" there was a dog fixated on attacking its own image in a mirror. This was not its only aggressive behavior, and the dog's person was afraid that it would attack someone or another animal any time it was outside. How did Cesar Milan stop this dog's aberrant behavior? By calming its owner. This woman was constantly in a state of fear and worry. The dog was mirroring her tense behavior. At first she had to pretend she was calm because she didn't know how to be that way! But as she watched the changes in her dog, she began to understand that her feelings and thoughts were being passed on to not only her dog, but to everyone around her. And so it is that "the world goes with us on our way to God."

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The spiritual reality is the scientific fact in all things. The spiritual fact, repeated in the action of man and the whole universe, is harmonious and is the ideal of Truth. Spiritual facts are not inverted; the opposite discord, which bears no resemblance to spirituality, is not real. The only evidence of this inversion is obtained from suppositional error, which affords no proof of God, Spirit, or of the spiritual creation. Material sense defines all things materially, and has a finite sense of the infinite."

Science & Health Page 207:27-4

December 7, 2013 - What is a Miracle?

"Cardinal Beauty"
photo by Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #341

"I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe."

Today's lesson begins the next to the last section which is entitled, What is a Miracle? There is such confusion surrounding this topic, I will simply copy this beautiful introduction here. May it help you to see the miracle of grace, the miracle of Life, the miracle of Love.

"A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.

A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is forgiveness seen as justified.

Forgiveness is the home of miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the light of perfect purity and endless joy.

The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there.

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never die, for what has life has immortality."

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love."

Science & Health Page 494:15