Blossoming Function

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #65:

“My only function is the one God gave me.”

A friend once said to me: “You can’t help what goes through your mind; it’s what you do with it that’s important.” As she always got upset when I talked about perception and how things are as we see them to be, I didn’t think I should tell her I disagreed with her statement. I do think we can keep rampant negative thoughts out of our head. I also think we can stop ourselves from flitting from one memory to another, flowing through a tangent of remembrances and idle repetitions. Through these studies, we are practicing training our mind away from blame and guilt, away from circular, meaningless thought, and hence allowing our function as the expression of divine Mind to flow through us, beautifully blossoming for others to share and experience. On this perfect day, I will work toward cleansing my thoughts of unnecessary chatter, opening myself to my function as the reflection of Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“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 261:4-7

Bullying a Wave

photo credit: Heather Peters

ACIM Workbook Lesson #64:

"Let me not forget my function"

“Have you ever tried to bully a wave in the ocean?” This is the question a 104-year-old Buddhist nun asks her great granddaughter in a beautiful novel I’m reading, A Tale For the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. They had just gone into a store to get food for a picnic on the beach. A group of gangster girls were hanging around outside the store and had harassed them as they went in. When they came out the old woman bowed deeply to the group of young women before walking away. When they got onto the train the nun wondered aloud if it was a holiday of some sort, mentioning that the girls were all dressed so brightly and seemed so happy. The granddaughter tried to explain that they were gang colors and that they were being derisive in their words and laughter. The grandmother didn’t see this as the fact and asked her young charge if she had ever tried to bully a wave, explaining that no matter how much you hit at it or yell into it, it stays what it is. That is its function, and that is our function. Namastè ~~~ 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Can we gather peaches from a pine-tree, or learn from discord the concord of being? Yet quite as rational are some of the leading illusions along the path which Science must tread in its reformatory mission among mortals. The very name, illusion, points to nothingness.”  Science & Health Page 129:24-29 

Facilitating Peace

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #63

“The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.”

It’s easy to feel peaceful when everything is going according to our plans, but what about those unexpected events such as loss of a job, breaking up of a marriage, illness and accidents? At such times, it can feel as though our peace has been disrupted, perhaps never to be felt again. In order to extend peace to others, we must accept it for ourselves. How grateful I am for this inkling of knowledge about the Science of Being! The unfolding reality which has replaced the shattering illusions around me have been facilitating a change in perception and an acceptance of peace. It’s sort of like Michelangelo chiseling away everything but the image he was seeing. We are working to release everything unlike Love, leaving behind pure peace! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear,--this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purification of sense and self is a proof of progress."

Science & Health Page 324:3-5

Forgiveness is My Function

photo credit: Chris Fischer

ACIM Workbook Lesson #62:

"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world."

First of all, let’s define forgiveness as letting go of illusions. When I let go of the meaning I have given to everything, I am able to hear something other than my own beliefs dictating my actions and expectations. A shining light of the world told a story on herself at a recent ACIM meeting. She recounted how she became upset over an inconvenience and ended up eating a cheeseburger. This violated many rules she has set for herself about eating meat, gluten, dairy, and not frequenting the place she bought this juicy forbidden food. That night, she woke up in much physical distress and (although she did not say it this way) she reached out to Holy Spirit. She heard a voice call her name and the distress disappeared. While she did not say this either, I feel part of this “miracle” was forgiving herself for breaking material rules and giving herself that one moment of clarity which allows us to BE the expression and experience of God. Whatever the case, it was a wonderful holy instant and a delightful moment for all of us hearing her tale! What a great reminder to look behind the illusion of separation and live our reality as One with divine Love!

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose ‘light shall we see light;’ and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.” Science & Health Page 510:9-12

What's Changed?

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #61:

“I am the light of the world”

A lot has changed in the last couple of millennia, don't you think? We could spend hours listing changes in thought and our understanding of our universe! Some things which have not changed much are our ideas about God. Religion has pretty well held us locked in to what has been thought of as truth. Many of us are fearlessly admitting that we are all the expression and experience of God. We're happily allowing our thought to embrace new concepts such as, "I am the light of the world"! This is not a self-important declaration, but an all-inclusive, divine-Love centered exclamation of the wonder we know as Life. Our expanding thought is bringing a joy we never dreamed would be possible on this earth plane. We're starting to understand that the kingdom of heaven is right here, within and without, waiting for us to embrace it. Let's go forth today and shine!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Light: Symbol of Truth; revelation and progress."

Science & Health Page 591:23-24

No Condemnation

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #60

Today we review Lessons 46-50. 

Often, people speak of forgiving but not forgetting. We are told in the first lesson review today that "God does not forgive because He has never condemned." And we are reminded that the forgiveness we are learning about, as human beings, is "the reflection of God's Love on earth." When looked at from this view, it seems senseless to say that we can forgive but not forget. If we truly are, in reality, the perfect reflection of divine Love, if this is the spiritual reality (hence, the only reality), it becomes easy to lay down the sword and go forward living from the heart rather than the brain. We can let go all thoughts of retaliation or revenge and live by the law of grace. I have thoughts bouncing around in my mind concerning someone severing contact with me because of my refusal to help him save the world. As ACIM teaches us, forgiveness is letting go of illusions because, in truth, no harm has occurred. If I have thoughts of blame cross my mind today, I will remember that lack of condemnation is true forgiveness!

Mary Baker Eddy correlative quote:

"Progress takes off human shackles. The finite must yield to the infinite. Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man."

Science & Health Page 256:1-8

Exponential Growth of Good

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #59: Today we review Lessons 41-45. 

I've never understood political conflict.  It seems to me that if everyone is for the good of all, what in the world is there to be conflicted about? I simply don't understand why we have these clashes and certainly don't want to talk about these disagreeable scenarios. Times of major elections in our fair country bring out interesting opinions from unexpected places. I try not to listen to any of it, holding to the knowledge of our true selves as the expression of Love, while looking past the rhetoric and seeming idiocy. If God is the Mind with which I think, and that thought is and can only be light, there is no fear nor condemnation necessary. With this realization, we could stop trying to change others' thought to what we think it should be, knowing that every thought based in divine Mind grows exponentially. Let's go forth and multiply -- Mind with a capital M, that is!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace."

Science & Health Page 265:10-15