I haven't posted here for a while because I have been trapped in my ego mind. I have found every excuse to avoid reaching out to the Holy Spirit for help. I have printed out various ACIM materials, left them in places that I could not ignore so I would be more likely to read and review and follow their wisdom...yet still managed to avoid them at every possible turn! One particular piece of wisdom sat in printed-out form for six weeks. Each day as I'd see it I'd find an excuse to ignore it. ha! What webs our egos weave!
Then the women came into my life!
First was Liz Cronkhite who sends a weekly ACIM "newsletter" that is always enlightening. She also holds a weekly phone conference call with ACIM followers and students. She explained that as she was learning ACIM principles she talked to the Holy Spirit as if It were a counselor or psychologist seeking to help her. This transformed my view of the Holy Spirit, that "entity" that God left in all of us to give us an indisputable and eternal connection to Him. Now I am talking to the Holy Spirit every day, asking for help to forgive myself...asking for insight into things I do not understand.
Liz said, for example, "Holy Spirit, I am afraid of you." I too love the ego mind and all that it entails. So I too am probably afraid of "turning everything over" to the Holy Spirit for fear I will "lose" myself. But once I understood that Liz was encouraging us to speak to the Holy Spirit as a trusted friend, a wiser big brother or sister, it all began coming together.
Then another woman gave me a big lift. Beverly Hutchinson McNeff of the Miracle Distrubution Network submitted this excellent piece for our consideration. I'm speaking of the article on "The Audacity of Happiness." What a wonderful and inspiring piece of writing and wisdom.
Beverly focused on Lesson 124. Let me remember that I am one with God. Wow! There is so much in this Lesson to learn. And Beverly does a wonderful job of explaining every aspect of that learning.
That's the message of Lesson 124. As I dissected each one I got deeply into a mind-quiet contemplative, almost meditative state. Here's what I discovered.
No Doubt
“Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His care.”
I understood that it is not our place to doubt God's Love for us. I had a bit of trouble understanding "His protection" because in Heaven there is no need for protection. And on Earth, which we made, God does not attend to our daily affairs. So I wondered, "what does that mean, the part about protection." After some meditation it came to me that "protection" is simply a way of assuring us here in the world of form that God cares for and loves us as the Sonship.
No Fear
“No meaningless anxieties can come
between our faith and our awareness of
His Presence.”
At first I thought this was saying that fears (anxieties) might come between our faith and our awareness of God's presence. I wondered how something could come between faith and awareness. Finally, I understood the "and" between "faith" and "awareness" is just to join the words together. If I were to write this in some kind of computer programming language, I might say:
noun: [anxieties] verb: do not separate noun: [(faith & awareness) of His presence]
No Separation
“We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. We feel Him in our hearts. Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His loveliness in all we look upon. Today we see only the loving and the lovable.”
As I lived life today I sought to remember these words: that all I see is a manifestation of His loveliness That all I see is lovely and beautiful. So as I spent my afternoon in solitary fashion as well as with other people, I remarked to myself at every moment that I was seeing God's loveliness. And so it was.
For some time I sat in solitary in a hot tub with eyes closed, just enjoying the blast of water from the jets washing over my body. From time to time I'd open my eyes for a few seconds to see what was in my environment. Each time I did it was a joy and a pleasure to see that all was loveliness.
I walked to the pier looking out over the ancient lake where I now live. A man, James, was playing a guitar and singing. I sat down and listened while sipping a glass of wine. He complained that someone -- a "music Nazi" he said -- had complained about his playing. I advised him to "keep on singing James. It's beautiful." On the way back to my condo I met someone else who regaled me of her life story. Again I was aware of the loveliness and presence of God in my life.
Thank you Liz Cronkhite. Thank you Beverly Hutchinson McNeff. And thank you Father for prsenting these teachers to me at a time when I was sorely in need of some help "from the outside." LOL. As if anything is "from the outside." It's all from within. For God, in extending Himself to create the Sonship, created us from Himself as pure Love. And for that again I say, Thank you Father.
Then the women came into my life!
First was Liz Cronkhite who sends a weekly ACIM "newsletter" that is always enlightening. She also holds a weekly phone conference call with ACIM followers and students. She explained that as she was learning ACIM principles she talked to the Holy Spirit as if It were a counselor or psychologist seeking to help her. This transformed my view of the Holy Spirit, that "entity" that God left in all of us to give us an indisputable and eternal connection to Him. Now I am talking to the Holy Spirit every day, asking for help to forgive myself...asking for insight into things I do not understand.
Liz said, for example, "Holy Spirit, I am afraid of you." I too love the ego mind and all that it entails. So I too am probably afraid of "turning everything over" to the Holy Spirit for fear I will "lose" myself. But once I understood that Liz was encouraging us to speak to the Holy Spirit as a trusted friend, a wiser big brother or sister, it all began coming together.
Then another woman gave me a big lift. Beverly Hutchinson McNeff of the Miracle Distrubution Network submitted this excellent piece for our consideration. I'm speaking of the article on "The Audacity of Happiness." What a wonderful and inspiring piece of writing and wisdom.
Beverly focused on Lesson 124. Let me remember that I am one with God. Wow! There is so much in this Lesson to learn. And Beverly does a wonderful job of explaining every aspect of that learning.
- No Doubt
- No Fear
- No Separation
That's the message of Lesson 124. As I dissected each one I got deeply into a mind-quiet contemplative, almost meditative state. Here's what I discovered.
No Doubt
“Today we will not doubt His Love for us, nor question His protection and His care.”
I understood that it is not our place to doubt God's Love for us. I had a bit of trouble understanding "His protection" because in Heaven there is no need for protection. And on Earth, which we made, God does not attend to our daily affairs. So I wondered, "what does that mean, the part about protection." After some meditation it came to me that "protection" is simply a way of assuring us here in the world of form that God cares for and loves us as the Sonship.
No Fear
“No meaningless anxieties can come
between our faith and our awareness of
His Presence.”
At first I thought this was saying that fears (anxieties) might come between our faith and our awareness of God's presence. I wondered how something could come between faith and awareness. Finally, I understood the "and" between "faith" and "awareness" is just to join the words together. If I were to write this in some kind of computer programming language, I might say:
noun: [anxieties] verb: do not separate noun: [(faith & awareness) of His presence]
No Separation
“We are one with Him today in recognition and remembrance. We feel Him in our hearts. Our minds contain His Thoughts; our eyes behold His loveliness in all we look upon. Today we see only the loving and the lovable.”
As I lived life today I sought to remember these words: that all I see is a manifestation of His loveliness That all I see is lovely and beautiful. So as I spent my afternoon in solitary fashion as well as with other people, I remarked to myself at every moment that I was seeing God's loveliness. And so it was.
For some time I sat in solitary in a hot tub with eyes closed, just enjoying the blast of water from the jets washing over my body. From time to time I'd open my eyes for a few seconds to see what was in my environment. Each time I did it was a joy and a pleasure to see that all was loveliness.
I walked to the pier looking out over the ancient lake where I now live. A man, James, was playing a guitar and singing. I sat down and listened while sipping a glass of wine. He complained that someone -- a "music Nazi" he said -- had complained about his playing. I advised him to "keep on singing James. It's beautiful." On the way back to my condo I met someone else who regaled me of her life story. Again I was aware of the loveliness and presence of God in my life.
Thank you Liz Cronkhite. Thank you Beverly Hutchinson McNeff. And thank you Father for prsenting these teachers to me at a time when I was sorely in need of some help "from the outside." LOL. As if anything is "from the outside." It's all from within. For God, in extending Himself to create the Sonship, created us from Himself as pure Love. And for that again I say, Thank you Father.