Go Easy On Yourself

 

We are, each and every one, the home of light and joy and peace — whether we remember this Truth or not. It would seem that events conspire to keep us from this peace. We’re rockin’ along being joyful and light, then bam! — something blows up on our car, or a loved one does something we think is awful, or our business falls apart, or — well, as we often say, it’s always something. I find comfort during these times by reminding myself that I don’t have to know what’s going to happen; I simply need to remember that the best possible outcome is there waiting for me to discover it. It’s not going to benefit anyone or anything if I innumerate every possible outcome, worrying about the pros and cons until I’m worn out and feeling hopeless. Instead, I will rest in the knowledge that creative Mind is the principle which governs everything with the light of Love!

“Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:23-30

“Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that you must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also your acceptance of yourself as you were meant to be.” 

A Course in Miracles T-18.IV.2:1-9

Breathing Easier

How many of you feel you've been holding your breath for the last few years? Don't breathe: there are viruses floating around, waiting to be inhaled. Don't breathe: something awful is going to happen, but we're not sure what. Don't breathe: our election process seems to have been turned upside down. Don't breathe: social media is out to get you. Don't breathe: lies will permeate your being and you'll never know what is true and what is not. These years have also been ones of loss and grief. Many of us are suffering the grief of losing loved ones, and too many have lost jobs and homes, plus all of the little losses — they all seem to be weighing us down as, day by day, they accumulate. Perhaps, what has affected us the most is the uncertainty and isolation of the “pandemic” years, which seems to have carried over to the present time, to some extent. The past decade has been difficult, but something in the air feels expectant, hopeful, even joyous! I know I'm breathing easier with every passing minute. I hope you are, too!

"When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress. The struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak, resting instead of wearying one."
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:8

“God is with me. He is my Source of life, the life within, the air I breathe, the food by which I am sustained, the water which renews and cleanses me. He is my home, wherein I live and move; the Spirit which directs my actions, offers me Its Thoughts, and guarantees my safety from all pain. He covers me with kindness and with care, and holds in love the Son He shines upon, who also shines on Him. How still is he who knows the truth of what He speaks today!”
A Course in Miracles W-222.1:1-5

Miracles Are Seen in the Light

Hill speak in Eureka Springs AR

Photo Courtesy of Blake Lasater

Every day, we are made aware of situations which seem to have no solutions. One of those is the practice of capital punishment. The proponents and opponents are often very vocal on this issue, and sometimes it seems they both have valid points. Ultimately, I know I wouldn’t feel better about a loved one’s death because someone else was put to death to “pay” for it. The eye-for-an-eye dogma of Moses was replaced by Jesus’ message of peace, facilitated by forgiveness. Is there a happy medium to be reached between these two ways of thought? There must be a better way than what we’ve settled for up to now. One Course in Miracles workbook lesson tells us that miracles are seen in light. We are told that light and strength are one. The strength we feel from seeing past an age-old belief is, indeed, a miracle!

“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.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health 510:9-12

“It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together. This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. It is a central idea in your new thought system, and the perception that it produces. The miracle is always there. Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. It is only your awareness of miracles that is affected. You will see them in the light; you will not see them in the dark.” 

A Course in Miracles W-91.1:1-7

Realities Supernal

Photo credit: Aaron Springston

Time is on my mind today … 🌝

“How amazing time is, and how amazing we are. Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. Yesterday we complained of time and feared it, but today we love and embrace it. Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics, and to comprehend its secrets and enigmas.” 

Kahlil Gibran

“Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 261:24-30

“Time is your friend, if you leave it to the Holy Spirit to use. He needs but very little to restore God’s whole power to you. He Who transcends time for you understands what time is for. Holiness lies not in time, but in eternity. There never was an instant in which God’s Son could lose his purity. His changeless state is beyond time, for his purity remains forever beyond attack and without variability. Time stands still in his holiness, and changes not. And so it is no longer time at all. For caught in the single instant of the eternal sanctity of God’s creation, it is transformed into forever. Give the eternal instant, that eternity may be remembered for you, in that shining instant of perfect release. Offer the miracle of the holy instant through the Holy Spirit, and leave His giving it to you to Him.” 

A Course in Miracles T-15.I.15:1-11

Mostly, I Want To Be Kind …

Someone wrote in a social media post: “I love the word tribe.  It implies togetherness, friends, protection and so much more.  Everyone needs their tribe.” This is a concept I’ve never understood, but the past few years have brought a desire to know more about this way of thought. Does everyone feel it? I suppose to an extent, even I do. Although I can say I never had a particular group of friends when growing up, nor felt a particular kinship with a church, and have never wanted to join clubs, it’s true that some alliances seem to form themselves. I love my book club meetings, along with a few spiritual gatherings throughout the years. Of course, there are friends and relatives I love madly. So to an extent I can understand tribalism, but not in the way people feel the need to be part of a larger group. Hopefully, I can stay off of my “high horse” while seeking deeper understanding through compassion for that which seems incomprehensible. Namaste…

“Forgiveness-to-destroy has many forms, being a weapon of the world of form. Not all of them are obvious, and some are carefully concealed beneath what seems like charity. Yet all the forms that it may seem to take have but this single goal; their purpose is to separate and make what God created equal, different. The difference is clear in several forms where the designed comparison cannot be missed, nor is it really meant to be.” 

A Course in Miracles S-2.II.1:1-4

“Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 266:6-12

Epitaph

 

“Epitaph"

 by Merrit Malloy

When I die

Give what’s left of me away

To children

And old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,

Cry for your brother

Walking the street beside you.

And when you need me,

Put your arms

Around anyone

And give them

What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,

Something better

Than words

Or sounds.

Look for me

In the people I’ve known

Or loved,

And if you cannot give me away,

At least let me live on your eyes

And not on your mind.

Hands touch hands,

By letting

Bodies touch bodies,

And by letting go

Of children1

That need to be free.

 

Love doesn’t die,

People do.

So, when all that’s left of me

Is love,

Give me away.”

“When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that you will last forever. Perhaps you think this is accomplished through death, but nothing is accomplished through death, because death is nothing. Everything is accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you who are life.”

 A Course in Miracles | T-6.V-A.1:1-4

“If the belief in death were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that there is no death, this would be a ‘tree of life,’ known by its fruits. Man should renew his energies and endeavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learning the necessity of working out his own salvation.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 426:12-16

The Ceaseless Unfoldment of Infinity

Photo from Aaron Springston

Bicknell Young is one of my favorite spiritual authors. This fascinating man was the nephew of Brigham Young, the renowned Mormon leader. I can only imagine his family's surprise when he discovered the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy in the late 1800s, and then went on to gain fame speaking and writing about Christian Science during the next few decades. He's the proverbial person, dead or living, whom I'd choose to sit down with for an evening of conversation. These sentences about Spirit are part of what pique my interest to know more about him. “Consciousness is Spirit. It does not become spiritual nor is it spiritualized. Nor does the evolution of consciousness mean a rising above or a purification from anything; it is the ceaseless unfoldment of infinity." Thank you, Mr. Young!

“Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.”
Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 277:20-22

“Your wholeness has no limits because being is infinity.”
A Course in Miracles T-7.VIII.7:5