What I Give is a Gift to Me

“Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me.” ACIM Workbook Lesson #344. With some brothers, I feel a loving unity; others seem to elicit fear and anger in me. I have bought into the idea of separation, and so I think there is something I need to forgive in those I find fearsome. It is a beautiful gift, this opportunity to see our innocence in another’s purity! We have been given a mega-mirror in which to view ourselves reflected in others, moment by moment -- and this may seem like a curse at times! We are all changeless and pure in our spiritual reality, and every time I see this in my brother, I take another step out of separation and one more step closer to my true Being. When I give separation, I receive separation. Giving Love and receiving unity seems like a far better thing to do! 

“Today I learn the law of love; that what I give my brother is my gift to me. This is Your law, my Father, not my own. I have not understood what giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone. And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be. Who can share a dream? And what can an illusion offer me? Yet he whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. Let my forgiven brothers fill my store with Heaven’s treasures, which alone are real. Thus is the law of love fulfilled. And thus Your Son arises and returns to You.

“How near we are to one another, as we go to God. How near is He to us. How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God.”

A Course in Miracles W-344.1:1–2:3

Mary Baker Eddy quote: “Truth has no consciousness of error. Love has no sense of hatred. Life has no partnership with death. Truth, Life, and Love are a law of annihilation to everything unlike themselves, because they declare nothing except God.” Science & Health Page 243:25-29

A New World of Light and Life

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

More people are accepting the gift of peace, in exchange for the turmoil and torment they’ve been experiencing. Perhaps I’m noticing it because I’m accepting peace for myself. Many times I’ve fallen wholeheartedly into sadness, wallowing in the misery. But that’s okay, because we have emotions which need to be acknowledged. I think of it as honoring the sadness. And when it’s time, we can break through the murky belief of whatever it was, with no need of revisiting or retelling the pain. I have done much the same thing in regard to what I perceive to be backward steps in the awakening of a new earth. Fear and depression have been washed away with the realizations of what must replace them. What a joy it is to give up personal agendas and preconceived notions of how things should be, welcoming Love without the expectations I so often have of others! I feel no sense of sacrifice in this trade-off …

“I am not asked to make a sacrifice to find the mercy and the peace of God. The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain. You only give. You never take away. And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. I am complete because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally.

“The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn today.”

A Course in Miracles W-343.1:1–2:4

“The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh universe — old to God, but new to His 'little one.' It became evident that the divine Mind alone must answer, and be found as the Life, or Principle, of all being; and that one must acquaint himself with God, if he would be at peace." Mary Baker Eddy - Retrospection and Introspection Page 27:29-4 (MBE Autobiography)

Glorious Liberty

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

We live in a world with many laws to protect us, such as wearing helmets on motorcycles and seat belts in cars. Yet the items we find in our grocery stores are filled with chemicals and other things which can barely be classified as food. We are told to use pesticides on ourselves, our gardens, our pets, even though the rates of autoimmune disease and cancer climb steadily. Yet I truly think there IS a spiritual solution to all the things which seem impossibly horrible. I'm not suggesting we hide under the covers and pretend everything is all right, but rather that we recognize the difference in spiritual truth and material illusion. This reinterpretation is similar to what we do when looking down train tracks when they seem to come together, appearing to end, even though we know perfectly well they continue. The proof before our eyes is terribly convincing and it takes a bit of thought, perhaps study, to understand why it is an illusion. Remember how long it took for “us” to realize we wouldn’t fall off the edge of the world if we got in a ship and sailed towards the horizon? There seems to be much to fear when we look out at the world, but when we look inward, we hear truth in the silence. We are nearing a tipping point and every thought is important. Keep up the good work everyone!

“Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 227:24-28

“I let forgiveness rest upon all things, for thus forgiveness will be given me. I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. It is not real. And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. The key is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams. I stand before the gate of Heaven, wondering if I should enter in and be at home. Let me not wait again today. Let me forgive all things, and let creation be as You would have it be and as it is. Let me remember that I am Your Son, and opening the door at last, forget illusions in the blazing light of truth, as memory of You returns to me.

“Brother, forgive me now. I come to you to take you home with me. And as we go, the world goes with us on our way to God.”

A Course in Miracles W-342.1:1–2:3

We Have Been Readied By It

My favorite day of the year is when we hold our book club retreat. The gatherings we have shared over the last two-plus decades have created a bond like no other I have known. Through joyous events and tough losses, we have supported each other emotionally and physically. The love we share is a precious gift. The following poem written by Amanda Gorman for the new year expresses my feelings perfectly. 

New Day’s Lyric

“May this be the day

We come together.

Mourning, we come to mend,

Withered, we come to weather,

Torn, we come to tend,

Battered, we come to better.

Tethered by this year of yearning,

We are learning

That though we weren’t ready for this,

We have been readied by it.

We steadily vow that no matter

How we are weighed down,

We must always pave a way forward.

This hope is our door, our portal.

Even if we never get back to normal,

Someday we can venture beyond it,

To leave the known and take the first steps.

So let us not return to what was normal,

But reach toward what is next.

What was cursed, we will cure.

What was plagued, we will prove pure.

Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,

Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,

Where we weren’t aware, we’re now awake;

Those moments we missed

Are now these moments we make,

The moments we meet,

And our hearts, once all together beaten,

Now all together beat.

Come, look up with kindness yet,

For even solace can be sourced from sorrow.

We remember, not just for the sake of yesterday,

But to take on tomorrow.

We heed this old spirit,

In a new day’s lyric,

In our hearts, we hear it:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

Be bold, sang Time this year,

Be bold, sang Time,

For when you honor yesterday,

Tomorrow ye will find.

Know what we’ve fought

Need not be forgot nor for none.

It defines us, binds us as one,

Come over, join this day just begun.

For wherever we come together,

We will forever overcome.”

- Amanda Gorman

“We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 248:26-32

“I can attack but my own sinlessness, and it is only that which keeps me safe. Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile, with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him.

“Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God to us. And in its kind reflection we are saved.”

A Course in Miracles W-341.1:1–2:2

Be Glad Today!

June Owen at Drumming in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

“Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today." This is sage advice from today's Course in Miracles workbook lesson. During a visit with a good friend, he mentioned that a mutual friend really dislikes doing laundry. He told me that she has all sorts of rules for the way it must be done, and he opined that perhaps this was a cause for her dislike of a necessary chore. When I saw the “be glad” quote from today's lesson, I also thought about his asking me what I did for fun, and his surprised reaction when I told him that everything I do is fun — including laundry! Thinking about this conversation reminds me of Wayne Dyer's words: “If you drop a pen and don't enjoy picking it up, drop it again!!” Let us all remember as we go through the day, whether our tasks be mundane or one of those moments which feels like a gift — be glad today; be glad!!

“I can be free of suffering today. Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring. This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed. His suffering is done. For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ’s vision through forgiveness, and be free forever from all suffering. Thanks for today, my Father. I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made, which is released along with him today.

“Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today. Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. Not one of us but will be saved today. Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love.”

A Course in Miracles W-340.1:1–2:6

“Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:25-30

Misconceptions

Photo attributed to many sources

It's difficult to realize that we're requesting pain. No one wants to admit they're doing this. I have a friend who is always wondering why she has problems. She repeatedly tells me how her thinking is pure, yet the problems persist. I've been there and know what she's going through. It's easy to fall into defensive thinking, constantly wondering what's going to befall us next. It's difficult to convince ourselves to look for One thing, and understand that through a singleness of purpose, solutions appear. Without the realization of our Oneness with divine Mind, we seek and cannot find. When we stop looking and allow ourselves to see Truth, perfection unfolds and shows itself in every facet of our lives. If I truly let go and let God, there is no reason to worry about results. One thing have I desired …

“I will receive whatever I request. No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love.

“Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me.”

A Course in Miracles W-339.1:1–2:2

"Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual evidence, contradicting the testimony of material sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the ever-present, is becoming understood."

 Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 297:20-24

What Am I Thinking?

Photo courtesy of Richard Quick

Studies show that we have more than 6,000 thoughts every day. As I heard Wayne Dyer tell us in one of his outstanding talks, the problem is that the thousands of thoughts we have today are the same ones we had yesterday! Waking up from the circular thinking in which we are trapped requires an honesty we’re not accustomed to practicing. Habitual thought is not an easy habit to break, but the desire to do so is the first step. Just like changing any behavior, you have to want to change or you never will. How can we begin to think differently? We can’t simply stop thinking, but we can exchange our trivial musings for substantial ideas. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” As I go through this day, I’ll often ask myself: What would Eleanor think? 

“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.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:1-11

“I am affected only by my thoughts. It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things. 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. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed.

“Your plan is sure, my Father,—only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son.”

A Course in Miracles W-338.1:1–2:5