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July-September,  2023

Love… The Ultimate Superpower

by Rev. Ashley Rose Legrand, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Somewhere along the way, whether intentionally or unintentionally, we are taught that to get ahead, we must be shrewd, a shark, “at the ready,” cut-throat even, in order to make it to the top. Somehow, someway, this earthly mentality seeps in from the outside world.

For some, the idea doesn’t shape who they are and it doesn’t define or rule their way of being, but for others, it becomes heavily ingrained into who they are. They are scared to be vulnerable, associating it with looking weak. They always have their armor up, ready to defend and attack. To exert their power. To dominate.

But there is another way — a way that lightens our step, unburdens our gait and makes smooth our road. As we walk along this road… the Holy Spirit’s path for us, one that is softer and gentler, we are shown a whole new world.

With Love as our Guide, we begin to open up to the miracles that are all around us. We become receptive to the heart-opening experiences that find us everywhere and anywhere we are. Miracles are nestled in the nooks and crannies of everyday life, waiting excitedly, yet patiently to reveal themselves to us like an unexpected gift just begging to be unwrapped. They soften and disarm us, reminding us that it’s okay, even empowering, to show Love and be loving.

This loving approach is the most powerful foundation from which to achieve. It is our “secret” superpower, a storehouse of untapped energy and brilliance, just waiting to be uncovered and utilized. Like buried treasure, glistening in the sunshine of our right-mindedness, it shows itself when we think correctly. The map makes sense and the way is easy when we lay our defenses down. “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” (W-153) And in our defenselessness lies our peace. Our recognition that the other person is really us. Our recognition that we are one.

In giving Love, we will see It reflected back at us. This reflection reveals true vision… sparkling with dazzling specks of Light, imbuing us with an inspiration that is not of this world.

From here, we unlock access to this Higher dimension, a place that’s more powerful than any physical, tangible thing in this world of form. When we lean into the Divine within us, we are led to a greater knowing, a wider perspective, that the Love within us is all healing and all powerful. It can dismantle any blocks to peace and provide a level of “success” that is far beyond the parameters and limited constructs of achievement that this world sets forth.

Learning to be gentle with ourselves and with others isn’t selling ourselves short, settling, or giving in. On the contrary, it allows for a deeper inspiration to flourish. When we allow for a softness to enter our hearts and remove the pressure and conditions that we set, we can create and thrive in the power of the Love that we show our own spirit.

Love is not a weakness but a superpower. The ultimate superpower. It is the highest form of knowledge. The greatest source of strength. A power only known by the gentle, the compassionate, the defenseless.

Rev. Ashley Rose Legrand, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Metuchen, New Jersey. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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July-September,  2023

Learning to Listen

by Rev. Tacey Reese, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I wanted to share about listening to the truth by listening to Holy Spirit. I’m not sure the truth can actually be put into words. In fact, I know it can’t.

One time my Muskogee Creek teacher told me that that’s why we call it the Great Mystery. But there’s a certain experience of Truth, isn’t there? We all know It when we feel It. And our experience is more important than our intellectual understanding.

There are two lessons from A Course in Miracles that stand out to me on this topic. Lessons 106 and 107 if you want to read them later. I like to put the two keynote ideas from these lessons together like this: “Let me be still and listen to the truth because the truth will correct all errors in my mind.” These lessons remind me of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

We all need stillness in our lives, yet sometimes we forget to give ourselves this gift. And it is a gift. It’s a gift to ourselves and it’s a gift to our Creator. We need the stillness of just being without doing. And we need the stillness of contemplating our Creator and listening to Its Voice, the Holy Spirit, the Voice for God and the Voice of Truth.

Lesson 106 begins with this beautiful paragraph and I quote:  “If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages.” (ACIM, W-106.1:1)

So, our Brother is asking us to put aside our thinking mind, our egoic mind, the mind that thinks it knows everything, even what salvation is.

And He tells us also that Holy Spirit’s Voice is strong in stillness. So to hear Spirit, I need to practice stillness. I need to incorporate stillness into my daily life.

In the next lesson we’re told more about truth, what it is and what it does. It says: “When truth has come it does not stay a while, to disappear or change to something else. It does not shift and alter in its form, nor come and go and go and come again. It stays exactly as it always was, to be depended on in every need, and trusted with a perfect trust in all the seeming difficulties and the doubts that the appearances the world presents engender…When truth has come it harbors in its wings the gift of perfect constancy, and love which does not falter in the face of pain, but looks beyond it, steadily and sure.” (W-107.4:1-3,5:1)

Well, that certainly sounds like something I want, and I know you do too! And later in the lesson, Jesus says, “It is impossible that anyone could seek it truly, and would not succeed.” (W-107.6:4) This is very reassuring! He doesn’t say it’s improbable that we won’t succeed, he says it’s impossible!

So, how do we do this? To start, I must enter into a relationship with Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is in my mind right now, placed there by God, so I’m already halfway there.

I’m actually already in relationship with Holy Spirit, but maybe I didn’t realize that. I just need to acknowledge that and to cultivate it. And I do that in stillness. Quietly listening. With an open mind and an open heart.

I talk to Holy Spirit too, all day long and into each night, but what I’m talking about here is how I listen to the truth.

I talk to Holy Spirit about all my needs, my thoughts, my feelings; I talk to Holy Spirit about everything. And I might be busily engaged in a task while I’m talking.

But when it comes time to listen, I get still. I watch my breath, and I notice the pause at the end of the outbreath. I let myself linger in that pause and I imagine it expanding.

I allow this peaceful pause to become what I call the sacred silence. And in this silence, I listen. Sometimes I hear messages in words, other times it comes as a feeling or a knowing.

As I mentioned earlier, the truth cannot be confined by words. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like I hear anything at all except the sound of my own breath. Yet even then, I know the truth is there.

Jesus has assured me of this. He told me it is constant and unwavering and looks beyond all illusion. So I stay steady in the stillness, knowing the truth is there, knowing it is part of me and so I can be just as constant and unwavering as It is, as God is. And lingering in this stillness, I listen and am renewed.
You will be too.

Rev. Tacey Reese, O.M.C., LPC, is a Pathways of Light minister living in Benton, AR. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2023

Miracles News, April-June, 2023

 

We Welcome
the Light
of Love.

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2023

We Heal as We Accept Our Oneness

by Robert and Mary Stoelting, founders of Pathways of Light

We have discovered over the years that whenever we think we are separate and alone, we are thinking with the mistaken ego mind. The ego is the false idea of being separate from our Creator. The ego mind always defends against Love’s oneness. It thinks that its job is to judge everyone and everything it sees.

A Course in Miracles has taught us to be mindful of when ego (false separate identity) thoughts come up and take these thoughts to the Holy Spirit to receive another way of seeing. The Holy Spirit sees the truth of everyone’s unity instead of the ego’s judgmental thoughts. The ego is never at peace because it is in a constant battle with Love’s oneness.

Because Jesus has already completed the journey Home, he knows that he is not alone nor is he separate from us. He asks us to join with him in God’s Love so we can learn we are not alone. As we join with him, we invite all our brothers to join with us, as Jesus does. Knowing that we are not alone, we offer all that we learn to everyone and our strength grows. We become aware that… “The whole power of God’s Son lies in all of us, but not in any of us alone.” (T-8.VI.8:5)

Jesus tells us we cannot return to the Kingdom alone because we cannot be alone. Thinking we are alone is a denial of God’s Will and makes us unaware of What we are. To return to the awareness of What we are, we need to accept our oneness with our brothers. “We begin the journey back by setting out together, and gather in our brothers as we continue together. Every gain in our strength is offered for all, so they too can lay aside their weakness and add their strength to us.” (T-8.VI.1:2-3)

In the Mind of God, Love extends forever. God’s extension of Love is the Sonship, which is God’s treasure. God’s Will is only to extend Love. Because we are part of God, that is also our will. We are the extension of God’s Love and as Love, we also extend It.

We know What we are by being What we are. To be Love, we must extend or give Love. That is our only will because it is Love’s Will. Nothing else can bring us joy. Nothing else can satisfy.

When we choose to believe that we are separate and alone, we lose awareness of what Love is. By the grace of God, this insane wish cannot and does not change Reality at all. God knows that we remain part of Him and so we are.

The insane belief that we are separate blocks our awareness of What we are, but it does not change It. Herein lies our salvation.

We simply need to let go of this false belief and truth will dawn upon our minds. God’s Will that we remain one with Him saves us from our illusion of being a separate self. The truth of What we are is held safely in God’s Mind for us, undisturbed and shimmering in God’s radiance, waiting for our awakening from the dream of separation.

Like the prodigal son, we are coming to the awareness that what we thought would bring us happiness has only brought us emptiness and suffering. That is why Jesus tells us, “Forget not the Kingdom of God for anything the world has to offer.” (T-8.VI.1:5)

We are realizing that we have made a mistake. The Course is telling us that this mistake has not changed God’s Will for us. God’s Will is that we be one with Him. His joy is that we remain part of Him and extend His Love as He extends It to us. We are God’s treasure, and as Love, our extensions of Love are our treasure. They remain in our mind as we remain in God’s Mind. Love extends forever in the Mind of God.

When we find ourselves thinking we are alone, how do we heal?

Healing comes to the quiet mind. Attitudes are changed. Circumstances are seen in a new way. It is like the black and white picture where, if you focus on the black area, you see two faces looking at each other. If you look at it focusing on the white area, you see one vase.

Through the quiet mind, the world is seen anew. The quiet mind sees through the thin veneer of separate bodies. The mind that is quiet is brought to God’s peace. The conflict brought about by ego’s thinking is laid aside and dissolves into the nothingness it is. The quiet mind sees clearly.

Here there is rest. Here there is God’s peace. What was once perceived as complicated and difficult now is seen as simple as the fear is dissolved and the Love that was always there shines forth. All false ideas fall away and the truth comes forth as Love’s simplicity is seen. Here is the eternal truth. Here is the soul’s deepest nourishment, what we all long for in our heart of hearts.

And all this comes when we are willing to quiet our minds and rest a while in Love’s healing presence. The deep inner longing and the search for God ends. It has always been right here, in the quiet mind, waiting for our return.

This inner door is opened by being willing to still our tortured minds and rest awhile in Love’s healing presence. It just takes a willingness to step back from the world and let the mind be quiet a while. In stillness all that is true is known. All that is real is recognized. This opportunity for healing is always present. It just takes a willingness to quiet our minds and listen to receive God’s word. That is all.

Mary: Recently I had an experience where I became aware that I was upset when I observed discordance between friends. I knew that if I did not feel peaceful, I needed to go to the Holy Spirit to learn how He sees this. Later on, when I had the opportunity to relax into a deeper place, the Holy Spirit reminded me that what I observed were simply calls for Love.

He reminded me that mentally extending Love to everyone was always the answer. He encouraged me to focus on the truth of everyone’s unity in Love instead of anyone’s judgmental thoughts, including my own.

I observed that this lesson was another great opportunity to heal my mind. I was reminded once again that Love is always the answer. I got another opportunity to rest awhile in Love’s healing presence.

One of the ego’s most prevalent defenses is busyness. The more it can keep us preoccupied with activities in the world, the safer it is from intrusions of peace. The ego considers peace as an intrusion because peace interferes with the ego’s primary goal of maintaining guilt.

When we quiet our minds and allow ourselves to experience the peace of God, our minds are open to receive His Word. His Word tells us that we remain one with Him, undivided, unharmed and incapable of harm. His Voice tells us we remain innocent, as we were created.

This is the last thing the ego wants us to hear, for if we hear and accept it, it would be the end of the ego. And so the ego is constantly looking for things to do, keeping us busy doing things in the world that lead nowhere, accomplishing nothing in truth. This effectively serves the ego’s goal of keeping our minds busy so that we will not receive God’s Word. Because we have taught ourselves well to follow the ego’s lead, we need to practice diligently quieting our minds, opening to God’s peace and listening to His Voice.

As we let go of selfishness (thinking we are separate and alone) and open to Self-fullness, we open to Its joy, peace and deep fulfillment. Love overflows and cannot be contained. This is what we were created for and this is What we are. This is the extension of Love’s Being and is our only function.

This Self-fullness must include all our brothers to be Itself. In Love’s wholeness, every brother’s extension of Love is our extension of Love because we are one. “The creations of every Son of God are yours, since every creation belongs to everyone, being created for the Sonship as a whole.” (T-7.IX.5:3)

Love is always all inclusive. As miracle workers, we are learning this and are letting the miracle of Holy Spirit’s correction of our perception return us to our one and only vocation that has any meaning.

Robert and Mary Stoelting are Founders of Pathways of Light.
Website: http://www.pathwaysoflight.org Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2023, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

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