Absolute Peace

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #255

“This day I choose to spend in perfect peace."

If you could do anything at all today, what would it be? To choose perfect peace as our reality is to reject fear and worry. To reject fear and worry is to have an absolute trust in the presence of divine Love. The word "absolute" has been showing up from many avenues, so I decided to see if I know what it means. According to Mr. Webster it is: complete, unadulterated, perfect, not mixed, free from restriction, unlimited. As I move through activities today, I will remember to live absolutely in the present, enjoying each perfect moment absolutely, with absolute trust that I am reflecting the One absolute Truth, knowing that peace is the only reality! 

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 with Key to the Scriptures Page 92:12-20

Time to Listen

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook Lesson #254

“Let every voice but God's be still in me.”

I met a young woman who told me that God was talking to all of us -- and it was time to listen! As we chatted briefly, she told a story of finding out her husband had a girlfriend, getting divorced, feeling hopeless. Then she left a job she didn't enjoy and followed her dream of starting a little antique store where she has lots of cool things, like freshly ground coffee and books she wants to share with others: a place where everyone feels welcome. She told me this happened because she listened to God. Now, this guidance may be called many things -- following your heart, listening for the still small voice, living your dream -- but whatever it's called, it can only be heard by shutting out ego thoughts, the material-based fears telling us we're not good enough. I was buoyed by her joy and new-found confidence, and happy that she started the conversation by telling me it was time to listen to God! She made me want to shout Hallelujah!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens,--all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light.” Science & Health Page 240:1-9

Yielding to Love

photo credit: Heather Peters

ACIM Workbook Lesson #253

“My Self is ruler of the universe.

For today’s topic to make sense, we must differentiate between self and Self. The self perceives things in an illusory way, colored by beliefs and propaganda left over from our education and mass media. It may be difficult for us to believe that we want the drama we sometimes seem to experience, but it’s part of the ego’s dream of specialness, and it’s something we don’t even realize we’re doing. The Self, with a capital S, is the One Self, of which we are an inseparable, even integral, reflection. I’m not sure the change from self to Self realization can be made by a simple decision. To live as a creation of divine Mind requires an overwhelming desire to do so, along with yielding to Love at every moment. I had a dear friend who insisted on believing that vehemently declaring spiritual truths, closing her eyes and almost yelling, was the way to change thought and live as the experience of God. Watching her was a wake-up call to me (one of many!) and this journey of realization is unfolding even as I write these words. What a trip!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“There is but one I, or Us, but one divine Principle, or Mind, governing all existence; man and woman unchanged forever in their individual characters, even as numbers which never blend with each other, though they are governed by one Principle." Science & Health Page 588:11-15

True Identity

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #252

“The Son of God is my Identity."

A well-known quote tells us we are not afraid of our inadequacies but, on the contrary, of our greatness. Looking at ourselves as a creation of divine Love may be frightening at first, but once our belief systems and histories -- which we have accepted as truth -- begin to fall away, our true identity as Spirit, as Love, as Mind, becomes more easily seen and accepted. Today, in my waking dream, I will nurture glimpses of this real identity, as it appears from within mySelf. I will listen with the calm of quiet certainty, allowing exalted thought to lead me in each loving action, from which I will catch sight of my true Identity and joyfully expect to see more!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love." Science & Health Page 472:20-22

Marianne Williamson: “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.”

Infinite Possibilities!

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIs Workbook Lesson #251

“I am in need of nothing but the truth."

Ask a group of people “What is truth?” and you will receive as many answers as there are people asked, don’t you think? You’ll hear talk of “my truth” and “your truth”, but hardly ever does Truth with a capital “T” come into the conversation. I’m beginning to understand that Truth is always unfolding as individual intuition and inspiration. This Truth doesn’t stand still in one spot and ask to be defined. It’s not opinion or belief, but rather the ideas heard within ourselves when listening for divine Mind which is the source of all. Leaving behind mortal mind’s ego definitions of the truth of our being opens the door to infinite possibilities! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.” Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures Page 453:12-13

Adventures Unlimited

"Mongolia" photo credit, Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #250

“Let me not see myself as limited." 

Thinking of ourselves as unlimited contradicts everything we've been taught. From our first steps, we're told to be careful or else something dire will happen. Quantum physics is helping us to understand that form isn't as solid as we've always believed. With that understanding, it becomes clear that many limitations we've placed upon ourselves are nothing more than beliefs in material laws. Limitations are set aside when an athlete breaks a record in the Olympics, or if someone performs a seemingly-impossible feat like lifting a car off of a trapped loved one. We've all heard people tell tales we think of as supernatural, such as falling great distances and feeling as though they landed on a cushion, or so-called incurable diseases disappearing. I'm not suggesting we exchange one human belief for yet another, but that we look to divine Mind to tell us the truth of our being and that we allow ourselves to be led in paths we wouldn't have considered otherwise. Thought is shifting so rapidly at this time! Let's not be afraid to listen.

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of limitless, incorporeal Life and Love. Hence the unsatisfied human craving for something better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a material belief in a physical God and man.” Science & Health Page 258: 1-6

Bathed in Beauty and Light

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #249

“Forgiveness ends all suffering and loss."

I remember a time when so-called new age thought was not often spoken of in the media or anywhere other than the privacy of our homes. Now these new-old ideas are seen and heard everywhere. Every day we are witness to more proof that this shift in consciousness is happening now -- and we're talking about it! Thanks, Oprah! Even when these ideas are fictionalized, as in best-selling novels such as "The Lost Symbol", the possibilities presented are easily translated into plausible realities. This shift in consciousness allows us to naturally embrace peace and harmony, and we each support this realization in our own individual way. Every instance of pure peace we feel, each yielding of our personal sense to spiritual sense, brings us closer to living Love, which is where we always have been, but we've forgotten. We are all needed at this time, to calm the tumultuous collective thought which fights the idea of such freedom!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light."

Science & Health Page 516:9-13