Angelic Exalted Thoughts

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #338

"I am affected only by my thoughts."

This evening I received a phone call from a relative I’d lost touch with following the passing of my dad almost 25 years ago. There were some very weird events and ugly words precipitating our split, and I can honestly say years have gone by without her crossing my mind. I was happy to hear from her, and when she mentioned some of the dissension between us, I was able to answer honestly that she had been very helpful in many ways and I was glad she had been here. After our call ended, I asked myself if I had meant what I said! And, yes, I did. Of course, upon examination, I could have said many other things which were not so complimentary, but I had felt no compulsion to do so and don’t feel as though they’re the defining element in our interactions. I’m grateful for these words in today’s lesson: “His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love.” I hope these beautiful words can influence my thoughts about our future president in the same way they have with my long-lost relative!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys.” Science & Health Page 299:1-11

Saving Grace of Unity

photo credit: Arthur Lau-Sed

ACIM Workbook Lesson #337

"My sinlessness protects me from all harm."

In the last five years of writing this daily blog, there have been multiple days when I've mentioned that every thought we have is important. In tandem with this, I've said how the last thing we think before sleep and the first thing upon waking are the most important of all. While I still wholeheartedly believe this to be true, I find it increasingly difficult to keep my mind from sinking to depths I haven't witnessed since my heavy drinking days of long ago. Today's ACIM workbook topic assures us that sinlessness protects from harm. Since we've defined sin as being anything which separates us from the Love which is God, I feel certain that my lifeline will come by way of accepting our unity with divine Mind and the infinity of Love. I'm going to ask for guidance by way of this ever-presence, listening open-heartedly and trustingly, knowing fear is truly false evidence appearing real.

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

Perception's End

photo credit: Kailey Jones

ACIM Workbook Lesson #336 "Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined."

Many of us are heartbroken over the recent elections in the United States. This is not the type of sadness which comes from a favorite football team losing to a rival, but rather a disappointment, a fear, a feeling of doom which comes from the disintegration of all the advances we have seen gradually appearing during our lifetime. I am grateful to have the words of today’s lesson to help me through this time. “Forgiveness is the means appointed for perception's ending. Knowledge is restored after perception first is changed, and then gives way entirely to what remains forever past its highest reach. For sights and sounds, at best, can serve but to recall the memory that lies beyond them all. Forgiveness sweeps away distortions, and opens the hidden altar to the truth. Its lilies shine into the mind, and call it to return and look within, to find what it has vainly sought without. For here, and only here, is peace of mind restored, for this the dwelling place of God Himself.” ACIM Workbook Lesson #336

Mary Baker Eddy quote: "The nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes for destruction. The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being." Science & Health Page 97:14-20

The Choice

photo credit: Gerry Toler

ACIM Workbook Lesson #335

"I choose to see my brother's sinlessness."

Forgiveness is a choice. I remember years ago, during a metaphysical society meeting, someone saying, "Evil is a choice". She said this in relation to years of sexual abuse and psychological torture, perpetrated by the two people she should have trusted most as a child. She recognized that evil was a choice when she was presented with what seemed to be an overwhelming suggestion to do something similar to her infant child. In that moment, she realized she could choose, and she did. Now she chooses forgiveness in all aspects of her life. She has chosen to see her parents in the holy light of Love. She has chosen to live her life in peace, with a willingness to turn from past remembrances and see things in the reality of God's Love. She has chosen forgiveness for herself and everyone, knowing that we are One.

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the divine.”

 Science & Health Page 542:17-21

An Epiphany in Thought

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook  Lesson #334 "Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives."

Does the word "unforgivable" exist in your vocabulary? Do you think of certain acts as being too heinous to release from your blame? It could be that something you did, personally, in your past remains unforgivable in your own mind. There are a multitude of things we can hold against ourselves and others. An epiphany in thought can free you from the bonds of guilt and/or blame. The realization that God does not damn anyone frees us to do the same. Allowing ourselves to see the world as Spirit sees it -- because we are the evidence and experience of divine Love -- sets up a whole new paradigm from the religious dogma which has been passed down for millennia. We needn't be afraid to claim our place as a worthy and loved individual expression of divine Mind. We're learning to follow our heart rather than our brain -- and we are freed!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“…the spiritual recompense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of existence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love.”

Science & Health Page 97:1-3

Ending the Dream of Conflict

photo credit: Richard Quick

ACIM Workbook  Lesson #333

“Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.”

This topic reminds me of the feeling of conflict I felt surrounding the myth of Santa Claus. When my son was two and I was expecting my second child, I announced to a friend that I wasn't going to do the Santa charade. She told me that was a terrible thing to do to children and gave me many reasons why I shouldn't do away with their belief in this massive illusion. And so I gave in and perpetuated this suppositional conflict within myself. I think this is an apt example of all the illusion we willingly put on ourselves, don’t you? The spirit of Christmas is defined in many superficial ways, and it seems the most blatant of these is Santa Claus. It is used in the same way religion tends to present God. If you are good, if you don't cry, if you don't pout, then Santa/God will give you certain things. If you break these rules, you'd better watch out! In our inseparable Oneness with divine Love there can be no conflict. Now, there’s something to celebrate! 

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

“The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love.” Science & Health Page 288:3-7

Bound or Free

photo credit: Aaron Springston

ACIM Workbook Lesson #332 “Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.”

I know many of my actions have been dictated by fear. Perhaps fear of being alone binds us to relationships which have served their purpose and need to be changed. This release could be thought of as a "failure" -- and that word brings up another fear most of us harbor. What if we don't think of the ending of a marriage or friendship as a failure, but as a natural progression to be embraced? The same may be said of a career or hobby. These cessations may simply be steps on a journey to somewhere you never dreamed you would go. If you've planned your life in every detail, it may seem as though you’re giving up when moving on to something else. That's why I love this way of thought I’m learning! There are no rules, other than listening for divine Mind to guide and lead me to wherever I need to be. This guidance doesn't always mean leaving something -- it could be staying with a job or relationship, regardless of what logic dictates. Listening and following is always an adventure!!

Mary Baker Eddy quote:

"Until the majesty of Truth should be demonstrated in divine Science, the spiritual idea was arraigned before the tribunal of so-called mortal mind, which was unloosed in order that the false claim of mind in matter might uncover its own crime of defying immortal Mind."  Science & Health Page 564:19-23