Miracles News

 

January-March, 2019

Overcoming Fear

by Rev. Larry Glenz, O.M.C.

Ever since I was a young boy I respected people who showed courage under difficult circumstances. But I never really felt courageous myself. I was afraid of so many things, so many people, and so many negative outcomes that I would imagine. But those that appeared to have more courage than I certainly impressed me.

I lived in a racially mixed town that was segregated by neighborhoods. The elementary school I attended was all white. I recall incidents of being very afraid whenever I saw black kids on the street. They recognized my fear and sometimes enjoyed threatening me with bodily harm. I hated being so scared and was ashamed of my cowardly thoughts and behavior.

In my teens I was a pretty successful student athlete but I still feared not being good enough. As a high school wrestler I had some impressive skills and a good record. Nevertheless, I had a haunting fear of losing. I would exhaust myself with worries about the imagined abilities of my opponent before each competition. I remember wishing I had a screw in the side of my head that I could turn to get my thoughts to change.

Other people did not see me as fearful. I had good grades and was recruited by some of the best schools in the country. I received awards for both academics and athletics. But I remember feeling the fear of failure greatly when I graduated high school at age 17.

Few people would have believed I was a fearful man in my 20’s and 30’s. I had a beautiful wife, two fine sons, and good job, a nice house, and many friends. But when my marriage fell apart after 19 years, I felt scared, weak, and full of doubts about my life.

I had always claimed to be an agnostic. I remember saying, “There may very well be a God but he is not paying any attention to me.” My divorce felt like an open wound and my fears about the future were overwhelming.

It was then that a close friend handed me a cassette tape of the book, A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson. He knew I was turned off by religion but he said the tape might be something that could help me.

I listened to the author of the book speak about A Course in Miracles. She spoke about the Workbook of the Course and how it gave one a process to gain spiritual strength. It was described as spiritual weight lifting.

I listened to the tape repeatedly for weeks and eventually bought the three books – the Text, the Workbook, and the Manual for Teachers. I felt inspired to devote myself to the lessons in the Workbook. In a very short time I was connecting with the Holy Spirit that resided in me.

Although I did not understand much of the Text and the contents of the Workbook, I somehow believed that I was holding the truth in my hands. I had the answer to all my fears if I was just willing to hand them over to my Higher Self for clarity.

It was not a quick process but I never missed a day of picking up the Workbook. I was told I did not have to like the lessons or to even believe what I was reading. But if I were willing to keep devoting myself daily, I would gain spiritual strength from my personal connection to the Holy Spirit.

Now I had a place to take all my fears and doubts. I was being guaranteed that if I handed over my fears to the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, they would dissipate and be replaced by the strength of God’s Love. My studies of the Course served as the screw in the side of my head that I could turn to get my thoughts corrected.

“Whenever you are afraid you are deceived, and your mind cannot serve the Holy Spirit.”  (T-2.III.5:9)

The Course was convincing me that fear was never justified and every tough situation was the perfect lesson and forgiveness opportunity for my continued spiritual growth. I now had the perfect place to take my fears. Just hand the fears to Holy Spirit and let go of the outcome.

There would be many tough times ahead. The Workbook, however, had transformed my thinking. I would still become afraid– sometimes terribly afraid. But I now had the strength of Holy Spirit’s help and guidance.

“All healing is essentially the release from fear.” (T-2.IV.1:7)

I now depend on Holy Spirit’s guidance. I forget to listen sometimes but He will always bring me back. And I am so grateful for the strength I have received.

Rev. Larry Glenz, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Long Beach, New York. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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January-March, 2019

What Is Time For?

by Rev. Maria Kingsley, O.M.C.

When I think about time, I think ‘my time.’ I don’t think about time as a concept but rather, “How am I using my time?”

I read in ACIM that time is a gift from God that allows me to journey back Home, an opportunity to go very slow and move through the molasses of ego thoughts that bring up fear and hesitation, doubt and worries. It is the thought of separation that we hang on to and that slows us down. So we need time to ‘get it,’ to accept that ‘there is a better way.’

Time makes us feel guilty that we are even in time. And so, when I think about ‘my time,’ my use of time, I immediately feel like I should be doing something else or that there are so many things I am not doing and should be, or that this is taking too long, what is wrong with me, etc.

The Course tells us:

“Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure that the future will be like the past. This is the ego’s continuity. It gives the ego a false sense of security by believing that you cannot escape from it. But you can and must. God offers you the continuity of eternity in exchange. When you choose to make this exchange, you will simultaneously exchange guilt for joy, viciousness for love, and pain for peace.” (T-5.VI.2:1-7)

We have A Course in Miracles, which explains that miracles shorten and actually — momentarily — eliminates time… and space. The miracle is saving us possibly thousands of years or perhaps several lifetimes.

Does that matter to me right now? Perhaps, but perhaps not so much. I still feel I need to do my work, pay my bills, do the laundry, get ready for tomorrow, etc. How can I worry about other lifetimes?  What miracle will take care of all those chores and ‘have -to-do’s?

And yet, we all know that we are here to find our way Home. We use time for that, also. How diligent am I in that? I forgot that is my true purpose, but it often gets lost in time. Do you get lost in time?

“Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time rather than eternity, and therefore believe you are in time. Yet your election is both free and alterable. You do not belong in time. Your place is only in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever.” (T-5.VI.1:3-7)

Here is how the ego fools me about time:

Delay does not matter in eternity, I read, and so the ego takes that alone as the truth: I am in eternity and so time does not matter. I choose to disregard the second part: it is tragic in time. Why? Because I am fooling myself into thinking I am in eternity but I (the ego-body self) knows I am in time, yet I am not, my true Self is not. It can be very confusing! I need to be more honest with myself. I am pretending to be in time, and so the ego tells me: time does not matter, yet I am allowing myself to be convinced of what the ego wants me to think. Jesus says:

“Vigilance is not necessary for truth, but it is necessary against illusions.” (T-6.V.8:9)

And so I resolve to be more vigilant for the Truth because I want to be free from ego interference. I truly do. I don’t like to feel guilt and worries and frustration that things go too slow and often wrong. And somehow I fall into those feelings again and again.

Here is where my ego energy really gets in the way of things, and I feel stumped how to change it:

I am learning to play better tennis. I have noticed the ego is interrupting my decision to strike the ball correctly only at the very last nanosecond before I actually hit the ball and turns my grip to a very poor position, while I watch the ball fly off the court. It is very frustrating for me to change that. I know that at some time in the past I have given the ego permission to ‘make me fail’ because I thought that is what I wanted (I remember when I made that decision at age 5 years old). But the energy behind this decision is so strong and so subversive that I have tried thousands of times to change that. At one point I had to hold the racket so firm in a particular grip because it felt as if another person wanted me to change it to the wrong grip. I could not believe it. So many times in my life I have tried to change that powerful energy that makes me fail, and I can’t seem to get a handle on it.

Yet I had to look at it clearly. I recognized that the ego used that nanosecond before a particular decision is executed — often an important decision, and she, the ego, would confuse my mind so that I was lost and could not remember what was the right decision — and often made a major mistake. This has happened so often in my life and brought me to tears again and again. It seems that, when I put more importance on making a right decision, the ego would turn it around at that very moment, and make me fail. Yuck.

In Chapter 8 of the Text it says:

“There is nothing so frustrating to a learner as a curriculum he cannot learn. His sense of adequacy suffers, and he must become depressed. Being faced with an impossible learning situation is the most depressing thing in the world. In fact, it is ultimately why the world itself is depressing. The Holy Spirit’s curriculum is never depressing, because it is a curriculum of joy. Whenever the reaction to learning is depression, it is because the true goal of the curriculum has been lost sight of.”

I will be released from fear when I allow my Spirit to reinterpret my thoughts.

The Course states:

“Now you must learn that only infinite patience produces immediate effects. This is the way in which time is exchanged for eternity. Infinite patience calls upon infinite love, and by producing results now it renders time unnecessary. We have repeatedly said that time is a learning device to be abolished when it is no longer useful. The Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God in time, also knows that time is meaningless. He reminds you of this in every passing moment of time, because it is His special function to return you to eternity and remain to bless your creations there. He is the only blessing you can truly give, because He is truly blessed.” (T-5.VI .12:1-7)

So, what is time used for?

I want to remember that time is a gift from God to His Son to bring Him back Home. And so I accept my wise Guide, the Holy Spirit, to tell me what I need to watch out for, to notice when my thoughts turn to fear or worry and know what to replace them with right then and there, no matter where I am or what I do, and I say:

My safety is guaranteed by God. I choose to join with God and let Him lead me through this seemingly difficult time. I choose the Joy that He offers, the Peace of Mind and Safety of the body. It is all given. I follow His ways gladly. And I am grateful.

May time always be a string of moments of Joy. Thank you.

Rev. Maria Kingsley is a Pathways of Light minister living in Tucson, Arizona. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  520-780-0170

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2019

Something Shifted

by Rev. Savina Cavallo, O.M.C.

I discovered A Course in Miracles in February of 2007 and since then I’ve been in several study groups, listened to teachers online, done the workbook lessons several times along with reading parts of the Text.

In 2014 I was ordained as a Pathways of Light minister. The teachings and principles of the Course have influenced me deeply and my trajectory on this path has been a healing one.

Still, I always felt I wasn’t as dedicated as I wanted to be nor as consistent in my daily practice of the principles and I wanted to experience more love, peace, joy and the good stuff that results from being on the path.

A few months ago, I enrolled in a transformational program based on the Course Text and Lessons. As I read and then did the daily practice, I slowly sensed something shifting inside of me.

A few weeks into the program, my husband and I had a very strong argument and I stayed angry at him for quite a few days. I just couldn’t let it go. Lesson 78 of the workbook, “Let miracles replace all grievances” was one of the weekly assignments I was to do right smack in the middle of my grievance. I knew this was not a coincidence, but Holy Spirit speaking directly to my heart.

It was time to heal the anger I was feeling. A specific portion of the lesson stood out to me and that’s what I took to practice… with my husband. It says, “We will select one person you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. Someone, perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.” (W-pI.78.4.4-5)

I chose my husband. I love him but he had angered me….and I was holding an ideal of him according to the role I had set for him.

I asked Holy Spirit to help me see him as he truly is. I practiced looking beyond the body and connect to his true being, the light within.

Then the anger lifted, and I felt so much closer and loving to my husband just by taking these deliberate steps and doing the lesson. All the anger just disappeared. 

As a result, my husband also was more loving towards me. We are now closer and more connected at a deeper level than ever before. I can honestly say that I am the happiest I’ve in my 63 years of life. These principles do work when we practice them consistently.

Rev. Savina Cavallo is a Pathways of Light minister living in Sunrise, Florida. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Website: http://www.savinacavallo.com

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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January-March, 2019

Teach Only Love for That Is What You Are

by Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel, O.M.C.

“Teach Only Love for That Is What You Are” Do I Believe It?

I just finished a wonderful two weeks of listening to the first global conference based on A Course in Miracles called “Awaken to Love.” I hope you also got to hear at least a few of the wonderful teachers that presented. (By the way, if you didn’t hear Mary & Robert’s interview, it soon will be posted on the POL website. It truly was one of the best I heard and well worth your listening time.)

Anyway, as I was saying, the conference ended and I wanted to listen to a recording of Diedrick Wolsak’s talk which I had not been able to listen to when he did his live interview. For those of you who may not know Diedrick’s work, he is the founder of Choose Again as well as a book by the same title. Choose Again is a wonderful process based on A Course in Miracles that has the purpose of removing the ego beliefs that hold us back from being our true Self, i.e. the Self of Love. I have been to two of Diedrick’s workshops and have been practicing his method for the last three years. I have found the process invaluable in my own awakening process.

Looking forward to listening Diedrick’s talk, I got in bed early, turned on my tablet and then the recording. Oh my! Was I in for shock! What I understood Diedrick to say was that all this “Awaken to Love” was a wonderful thought, but pretty impossible for most of us (including himself) because we really don’t love ourselves. Indeed, according to Diedrick, it is quite the opposite. We pretty much all hate ourselves (albeit unconsciously), and until we clear out that hate our ability to “Awaken to Love” is just another egoic fantasy.

Way to pour ice cold water on everything, Diedrick! Part of me wanted to turn off the rest of the interview. Here I was feeling all warm and fuzzy about love and my “Awakening” to it. Indeed, I had a rough draft of another article I was going to submit to Miracles News that reflected this warm fuzziness, and now Diedrick is telling me to be careful not to fall for another egoic hoax. Actually, all I think he was really saying is that if we truly want to “Awaken to Love”, we must clear out the obstacles we have put in front of it, and those obstacles are the beliefs we, from our ego mind, made up about ourselves; beliefs that were developed in childhood and are not the truth of who we are. 

These beliefs only serve the ego’s purpose of making us feel separate and alone. Diedrick sited Lesson 93 in A Course in Miracles Workbook entitled: “Light and joy and peace abide in me.” This lesson clearly points out how we truly feel about ourselves. The first sentence of the first paragraph says: “You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin.” Wow! Jesus knows what dark beliefs the ego wants us to believe to keep us separate from God, doesn’t he!

Diedrick’s “Choose Again” method has 6 steps (and is well outlined in his book), and he wanted to spend the majority of his interview time taking anyone who was willing through the process. To my surprise, several brave people volunteered (brave because it meant baring their souls to thousands of people). As I listened to these wonderful people go through the process and expose their deepest dark beliefs about themselves, I had an “Ah ha” moment — I realized that my deepest dark belief about myself is that I ruin everything from my mother’s life, to events in my marriage that led to divorce, to my children, and to my own life in many ways.

I got up the next morning and immediately read Lesson 93 over and over. In the first two paragraphs, Jesus does not mince words about what our true beliefs about ourselves are, but then he goes on for the next nine paragraphs telling us why this isn’t true. I sat with pen and journal in hand and contemplated the lesson and I heard Holy Spirit say to me: 

“The truth is you were and always have been God’s perfect child. Light and joy and peace have always abided in you from the moment you were born (actually before that), and the belief about not being wanted was a story you were told. Had you been told the opposite story, you would have had a whole different set of beliefs. Isn’t that amazing? Do you see by this how it is the stories you were told (or you told yourself) that then become your judgments of yourself and, from these judgments, you (your ego) made up your false beliefs? The stories are built on stories other people told you and those people had their beliefs and their beliefs came from stories other people told them, and so on and so on. Can you see from this how such dark illusions are made?

Change your beliefs to change the world. All are one! All are worthy! All are God’s holy children whom He loves equally and without exception. Light and joy and peace abide in each of you and only your old, tired stories cover this up. Let go of the stories! Be who you are right now, the holy child of God, filled with love to give to all. Let love be your story every day. I will help you if you turn to Me to remember your truth. Just say:

Holy Spirit, please remind me who I am — I forgot, I am sorry, please forgive me     and show me the truth. Thank You, I love You. Amen

Then listen only to My voice and I will speak the truth to you. Believe that and only that. That is how you hand it over. That is how you take away the power the ego has had over you all these years. Let Me love you. You are worthy, you are beautiful, you are holy, and you are loved.”

I saw a wonderful quote by Deepak Chopra that seemed to put all this into a very simple sentence: “Awakening is not changing who you are, but discarding who you are not.”

I am willing to discard those old beliefs! I know that they are what chain me to the self I made. They do not serve me or my brothers. In my practice of releasing old beliefs, in addition to reading Lesson 93 over and over, I am also doing the same with Lesson 127, “There is no love but God’s.”

In this lesson, Jesus tells us to: “Call to your Father, certain that His Voice will answer. He Himself has promised this. And He Himself will place a spark of truth within your mind wherever you give up a false belief, a dark illusion of your own reality and what love means. He will shine through your idle thoughts today, and help you understand the truth of love.” (W-127.9:1-4)

The mirror affirmations (affirmations that are to be done as you look at yourself in the mirror) that I wrote in my book, Finding Your Self in the Mirror, for Lesson 93 also helps me in eliminating those old beliefs. I pray they might also help you. The affirmations are:

1.  I am sinless.

2.  My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

3.  I am as God created me.

4.  I am one Self.

5.  Light and joy and peace abide in me.

6.  In gratitude, I accept this truth.

Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Louis, Missouri, and author of Finding Your Self in the Mirror: Awakening Through Mirror Affirmations for the 365 Lessons of A Course in Miracles.
Email:Btheblessing7@gmail.com Web: http://www.barbaragoodmansiegel.com

© 2018, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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