Giving Back

Colorado Wildflowers

Photo from Aaron Springston

Before we learn to give as we receive, we must realize what we are receiving! It could be said we're receiving the gifts of God. But what is that? We are learning it is the knowledge that our true state is Spirit, that we are one with All That Is. We needn't worry that we're not good enough, that we don't know enough, that we've made too many mistakes to qualify as the reflection of God. All those thoughts have been propagated as fact, but they are only material belief. When we are open to receiving divine Life, Truth, and Love, that is what we give to the world with every breath, with every inspiration.

“What has been given you? The knowledge that you are a mind, in Mind and purely mind, sinless forever, wholly unafraid, because you were created out of love. Nor have you left your Source, remaining as you were created. This was given you as knowledge which you cannot lose. It was given as well to every living thing, for by that knowledge only does it live. (ACIM, W-158.1:1-5)

“The healing power of Truth must have been far anterior to the period in which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as ‘the Ancient of days.' It lives through all Life, and extends throughout all space.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 146:25-27 

I’ll Meet You There

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase 'each other'

doesn’t make any sense.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep.” Rumi

“Into Christ’s Presence will we enter now, serenely unaware of everything except His shining face and perfect Love. The vision of His face will stay with you, but there will be an instant which transcends all vision, even this, the holiest. This you will never teach, for you attained it not through learning. Yet the vision speaks of your rememberance of what you knew that instant, and will surely know again.”

ACIM, W-157.9:1-4)

"One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 589: 8-11

Walking in Softness

Created by Sandy Wythawai Starbird

“I walk with God in perfect holiness” is ACIM Workbook Lesson #156. Having had a resistance to yielding in the past, I felt a slight hesitation when first encountering these words. Walking with God in perfect holiness implies a yielding, don't you think? How else could you walk this walk without giving up what you think of as yourself? You can't. What finally got through to me was the realization that what I was giving up was NOT myself, but a mishmash of everything I had ever been told was true, combined with an erratic belief system I had decided was me. Add to that the hypnotism of media and the pull of mass consciousness and we're left with a pretty convoluted idea of what we are. Little by little, I'm letting go of beliefs and learned behaviors. Being present in the moment, giving my full attention to whatever may be in front of me, loving myself and all of creation in Its oneness -- this is what I see as walking with God. Accepting myself and everything as holy becomes easier when viewed without judgment. Simply witnessing events, perhaps with amusement, is certainly more fun!

“We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from [It] in whom we have our being.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 264:10-12

“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you, and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat, and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper round your holy head.”

A Course in Miracles W-156.4:1-4

Following the Spirit

      

Art by Akira Kusaka

For years I resisted admitting that only one thing was required of me in order to experience the peace I was chasing. It seemed that giving myself to this one thing would cause me to be  a religious zealot. I thought that to live in Spirit would be predictable and boring. At that time, material existence seemed exciting, while spiritual living implied a certain aloneness, which couldn't possibly be very much fun. As years have passed and I've become more aware of what living in Spirit means, the understanding of myself as a reflection of God has taken form in many ways. On the surface, it could seem that nothing has changed: I still work, play, sleep, and interact with others. But everything is different. By listening to my inner Self and following that guidance, I don't need to make lists of pros and cons and weigh the value of these in making decisions. Following Spirit doesn't mean that I mindlessly go through life as an automaton, doing what someone tells me. It means that infinite possibilities are opened to me, that thought is expanded in ways which transcend material beliefs. Contentment and peace are waiting for me to find them, as I remember my only function. 

“There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. Your forehead is serene; your eyes are quiet. And the ones who walk the world as you do recognize their own. Yet those who have not yet perceived the way will recognize you also, and believe that you are like them, as you were before.”

A Course in Miracles W-155.1:1-5

"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."

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:10-15

We Are All Ministers of God

The Answering the Call Group

First United Methodist Church

Eureka Springs, AR - photo by Blake Lasater, Minister

If someone told you that you are a minister of God, what would you think? Would this statement cause you to be nervous or perhaps feel unworthy of such a title? The word “minister” sent me to the dictionary to see how our ego-ridden definitions might apply. These are my favorites: "providing spiritual guidance to people" and "tending to the needs of others". The first time I thought of this word in relation to myself was years ago, when a friend told me that my art gallery was my ministry. Thinking back to the way people in need of spiritual guidance were drawn there, as if by a magnet, I must agree with his assessment. Since then, I have learned we are all "ministers of God", in our own individual way. Just as we all have different talents, we all have something of value to give. As today's Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #154 states: "It is not our part to judge our worth, nor can we know what role is best for us." We are also advised to not be arrogant, nor falsely humble. Our role as a minister of Love is clearly defined, but not by our human desire. Today let's listen with hearts wide open, to hear where we may best minister to the world!

“Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Eddy - Science & Health Page 570:14-17

“Whatever your appointed role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God, Whose function is to speak for you as well. Seeing your strengths exactly as they are, and equally aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to whom and when, He chooses and accepts your part for you. He does not work without your own consent. But He is not deceived in what you are, and listens only to His Voice in you.”

A Course in Miracles W-154.2:1-4

To See Light, Offer Light

Photo courtesy of Aaron Springston

Defenselessness is strength; defensiveness is weakness. This is most likely backwards from the way we think, and it may feel wrong because we’ve been taught to defend ourselves as thoroughly as possible in every situation. Ask yourself what you did and how you felt the last time someone disagreed with you, perhaps vehemently. If you began a verbal defense, listing all the reasons you were right, you may have felt many negative emotions, such as anger. On the contrary, whenever I’m able to witness events calmly, watching and listening, I can respond neutrally, perhaps saying: “You may be right about that” — and walk away, happily and peacefully. We are told in A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #153 that we will not see the light until we offer it to others, and they take it; then we will recognize it as our own. How lovely is that! I look forward to opportunities for seeing peace today.

“It is the function of God’s ministers to help their brothers choose as they have done. God has elected all, but few have come to realize His Will is but their own. And while you fail to teach what you have learned, salvation waits and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. Nor will you learn that light has come to you, and your escape has been accomplished. For you will not see the light, until you offer it to all your brothers. As they take it from your hands, so will you recognize it as your own.” 

A Course in Miracles -  W-153.11:1-6

“Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed rights of disease [and other seeming threats], while complaining of the suffering disease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defense, especially when by so doing our own condition can be improved and that of other persons as well?”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 348:21-25

Can Truth Have Exceptions?

A Church in San Miguel 

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." How many times have we heard that saying or something similar? But what about if it IS broken? We certainly don't want to admit that any of our time-honored traditions are broken, maybe because we have no idea how to "fix" them. It seems as though religion has been broken since its inception, but no one will admit it. I suppose there are many things which keep people stuck in dogma and ritual, repeating mistaken ideas because leaders tell them to do so. Fear holds us bound to these ways of life, too. Some people think they need to go through the rituals just in case there is a hell in which they would burn, if they fail to be baptized or follow some other ritualistic act. I'm not picking on Christianity here -- at least not only it! All religions seem to rely on fear to perpetuate their beliefs, and even the more gentle disciplines are suspect at times. So what is the truth about these things? One of the statements in A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #152 says: "Truth can have no opposite. Nothing but the truth is true, and what is false is false." Seems simple enough! 

“The point for each one to decide is, whether it is mortal mind or immortal Mind that is causative. We should forsake the basis of matter for metaphysical Science and its divine Principle.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 195:11-14

“… can truth have exceptions? If you have the gift of everything, can loss be real? Can pain be part of peace, or grief of joy? Can fear and sickness enter in a mind where love and perfect holiness abide? Truth must be all-inclusive, if it be the truth at all. Accept no opposites and no exceptions, for to do so is to contradict the truth entirely.”

A Course in Miracles W-152.2:2-7