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April-June, 2016

Forgiveness Lessons with the Computer

by Rev. Linda Wisniewski, O.M.C.

Happy New Year. Your computer is not working. Are you kidding me? I can’t survive without my computer. What will happen with the ministry? I depend on the computer for everything. How will I connect? How will those that are trying to contact me know that I’m here if I don’t answer them? Maybe they will think I don’t care. Oh, this is a disaster. I’m finished. Everything is ruined.

These are the ego thoughts that came rushing in when the server on the computer broke and I couldn’t get it fixed for four and a half days. Oh my. The ego is an insane thought system and I’m glad you didn’t see it in action when I found out it wouldn’t get fixed for four days. “What do you mean, the people don’t work on the weekends. Can’t you see this is an emergency?” screamed the ego.

Not only is the ego thought system loud, but it projects its loud mouth onto others. My poor husband thought I was ranting and raving at him as I was hurling my thoughts into the atmosphere.

Then of course the guilt came up. How could I be so mean to the one I love? What kind of Course student am I? I’m such a hypocrite. Again, the ego thought system will use anything to make us feel guilty, wronged and unworthy.

Thank God I practice the Course lessons because I knew that I was reacting insanely, and if I continued, I would make myself sick. Not only would I have to worry about the breakdown of the computer, but about the mental breakdown of Linda. Thank God I am learning that there is another thought system that is sane and can change my ‘stinking thinking’ and show me a sane and peaceful way to look at things.

First I had to give my willingness to want to see this differently. Second, I had to make a decision that above all else, I wanted to be at peace.

I became still, even though I still felt rattled, and called on Holy Spirit for help. I didn’t ask Holy Spirit to come and fix the computer. I asked for help to correct my thoughts about the meaning I was giving to the computer and to the situation of the breakdown.

Holy Spirit reminded me of Workbook Lesson 50: I Am Sustained by the Love of God.

“Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today, tomorrow and throughout time.” (1:1)

“Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances.” (3:1)

“It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.” (3:3)

“Through the Love of God, within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence.” (4:5)

“It is the declaration of release from the belief in idols.” (4:7)

I certainly had made the computer an idol and believed that without it, I was doomed. This lesson put me in a state of calm where I could go within and ask the Holy Spirit to help me see it differently. I also asked Holy Spirit what to do about this situation.

I am learning that Holy Spirit works with us in the illusion and the advice can be very practical and lead to true miracles.

While I was in calm, the Holy Spirit brought up the name of a neighbor with whom I have been estranged for four years. I kept asking Holy Spirit to heal this relationship but nothing seemed to be happening. I also asked Holy Spirit to help me see the Christ in her, rather than her individual personality.

Well, when I heard Holy Spirit say her name. My first response was, “You are not serious, Holy Spirit. How can I ask my neighbor to use her computer, when I haven’t spoken to her in four years?” I heard the Holy Spirit answer, “Just do it.”

So, in fear, I called and asked and she was very gracious and told me to come over. As soon as I entered her home, all grievances just dropped and I felt so much love. I held out my hands and we hugged. We also made a date to get together for coffee. Every day my computer was down I was welcome to come to her home and use her computer so I never missed emails or messages.

Once again, it has been reinforced to me that I don’t know what anything is for. I thought it was about the computer, but it turned out to be about mending a relationship and seeing that only Love is real.

I am also learning over and over again that every circumstance is not about the issue that is being presented as a problem, but rather it’s an opportunity to use the challenge to show me where I still need to heal my mind.

I needed to learn that, “I am Sustained by the Love of God.”

I needed to learn to trust God’s Plan.

I needed to learn to trust.

My husband, who is very competent, says I don’t trust him and I try to usurp his authority. This is really a symbol of what happened when we separated from our Creator and tried to usurp God’s authority and replace it with a separate will.

Holy Spirit also gently reminded me to let go of the problem I perceived about the computer and let my husband handle it. This was difficult as the mind kept being tempted by the ego to take over control and try to solve the situation on my own.

One part of the mind told me to let go and let my husband take care of it. The other part of the mind — the ego part — kept convincing me that my husband wasn’t handling it right and it was taking too long to get it fixed.

Unfortunately, I succumbed to the temptation and called another Internet company. This company was trying to push a lot of things on me and I was getting confused. Just as I hung up, the repair guy from our computer company came and fixed it in half an hour. Of course, it was four days later because they didn’t work on week-ends, but this company we are with offers a much better deal.

Then I had to call the other company and try to get out of the deal. If only I wouldn’t have succumbed to temptation. But I’m not guilty and I’m learning so much from this situation.

I had asked Holy Spirit to help me with an impatient attitude. Holy Spirit teaches by contrast and so I saw the trouble I get into when I am impatient, and how gentle and peaceful everything works out when I am patient.

I am also learning that I can never be separated or disconnected, even when a computer shuts down. We are One in the Mind of God and there is no separation.

Other Lessons that helped me get through these four days in relative calm were:

Lesson 184: “I want the peace of God.”

Lesson 243: “Today I will judge nothing that occurs.”

I don’t know what anything means or what anything is for. The issue with the computer brought about a healing with my friend. It also taught me that I want to be happy rather than right. It taught me that I want the peace of God over anything else. It taught me that with infinite patience, all things will be worked out perfectly for my highest good and awakening. It taught me to trust Holy Spirit and let go and let God.

I am truly grateful for all the healing that took place as a result of my willingness to heal my mind and forgive all the mistaken thoughts that come from the ego thought system.

At the same time, I am grateful for the gifts the computer brings. It joins us with others around the world with whom we can share the Course and learn from each other how the practice of the Course brings true healing.

The issue is whether I let ego be in charge of any problems that arises or whether I put Holy Spirit in charge.

Whom I put in charge will depend on whether I will experience a chaotic outcome or a peaceful one.

Rev. Linda Wisniewski is a Pathways of Light minister living in Plymouth, Wisconsin. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2016

Fearless Love

by Rev. Michael Graves, O.M.C.

Having lived more than a few years of life now, I have come to know that most people in the world are genuinely kind and loving at heart. But I have also noticed that there seems to be something that stops some of us from fearlessly expressing love and kindness to others we meet in life. Especially if they are considered to be strangers or someone we don’t “know.”

Students of A Course in Miracles are more aware than most that there is no such thing as a stranger, only a brother, and that every encounter is a Holy encounter. Yet, many of us still struggle to be more open and fearless with others.

Ever been to a conference or lecture and had the person leading or speaking say something like, “And now I would like you to turn and greet those who are seated around you?” I’m sure that most of us would rather skip that part right?

Using the words we and us isn’t intended to be a judgement of myself or others but rather, as an observation of the behavior that I have seen in so many of us.

Let me share a poem that I wrote as I was thinking about this subject:

Why

In a world where fear and hate abound, why are we afraid to show our love?

Why do we avoid our brother’s glance and withhold a loving smile?

Why do we hurry by a suffering soul and harden our hearts?

Why do we fear what others will think?

Am I really afraid that my gesture of the love that I have traveled so deeply inside myself to find will ultimately cause me to be alone?

Why does expressing the very thing that will eventually save us give us pause?

Why is love’s opposite so strong in us?

Do we really think that our fear will protect us?

Protect us from what?

Why do we have loving thoughts of others in our lives only to let the thought pass without expression?

Why do we think that our feelings of love are our greatest weakness rather than our greatest strength?

Why do towers have to fall and people have to die for us to drop our fears and boldly show our unconditional love for others in the world?

Is it only then that we give ourselves permission to be who we really are?

Is it only then that we fearlessly rush to our brother’s side?

Is it only then that our hearts swell with love and cause us to act and to be proud of who we really are?

How did the world get this way?

How did I get this way?

It doesn’t have to be this way

I don’t have to be this way

I will not be this way

Come with me

As I see it, the expression of love for others in this world is the ultimate “which came first, the chicken or the egg” question.

We have all heard that we cannot truly love others until we love ourselves. But we also know that the way to feel love is to experience ourselves as freely extending it to others in all of its various forms.

Here is a poem I wrote about this concept:

My Path

I know I have been blessed
As I walk my spiritual path.
I’ve glimpsed the Master’s meaning
Of “all my Father hath”
It isn’t always easy
This life I choose to live
But easier when I remember
What I need I first must give

Going forward, I can see how important it is that we realize and accept that we were created as One, loving beings like our Father, dedicated to the wellbeing of ourselves and others.

All of the world’s scriptures contain this teaching in one form or another.

On some level, I believe that we have built walls of protection around ourselves as a response to our own hurts and fears, and as a way of staying safe and fitting in with other defended people, which I believe is most of us.

Save, of course, the enlightened few.

But those same walls that we think will keep us emotionally safe, also keep out the peace, love and joy that we all seek. It has been said that love is to the spirit, what air is to the body.

Having grown up in a very abusive alcoholic home, and going through a long and abusive first marriage, some would say that I have every right to be angry, fearful and defended in my approach to life.

But I have learned that clinging to my “right” never has, and never will bring me the love, peace and joy that I choose to have in my life today.

Only through finding love and true forgiveness for myself and those that have seemingly hurt me have I been able to change my life and the lives of those around me.

As for all of the other problems in this world, for me, Love is the answer.

The Course has taught me that everything we experience in life is either an expression of love or a call for it. And that every encounter is a holy encounter.

Just a genuine smile and a few seconds of full eye contact that says, “I see you,” can be a turning point in someone’s day and possibly their life.

We can help to restore our faith in ourselves and all of mankind by offering simple fearless acts of love and kindness to those whose lives we touch however briefly every day.

And so, it is my choice today to continue to identify and overcome my fears and, to the best of my ability, fearlessly express my love to the world.

Rev. Michael Graves, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister who lives in La Quinta California.  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Web: newbeginningslifeservices.com

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2016

I Quit

by Rev. Carly D. Glasmyre, O.M.C.

I walked into my manager’s office, tension running through my body. I sat down, looked into her eyes, told her I was giving my two weeks, and promptly burst into tears.

I was not happy at my current job, and I’d gotten a new one that paid more and was closer to my home. It was a victory, really. It just didn’t feel that way.

Ever since I was young, I believed that my job should make me happy. I grew up with people telling me to “follow my passion.” I read books that said doing what you love to do is the meaning of life. And, conversely, I watched adults in my life suffer and curse their jobs as the source of their unhappiness.

I was totally duped. I bought into the equation that job = happiness, and gave all my power away.

When I found that my current job didn’t fulfill me, I decided to do something more “meaningful,” and began life coaching. I got trained, set up a business, took on clients. But that didn’t make me happy either. I was essentially working two jobs, and felt completely burnt out.

So I began my search for a new job, interviewed, and got a position. I was flooded with excitement; surely this was the job that would make me happy. Yet a day later I was in my manager’s office crying! What the heck?!

What is so funny is that these events were happening at the same time that I was studying with Pathways of Light. I was working with and learning from Rev. Maria Felipe, who has always spoken openly about her grievance with men and how she used to believe relationships were supposed to make her happy.

I understood that I couldn’t make other people responsible for my happiness, and I felt like I could apply this in my life to my relationships with people in my life. But I couldn’t seem to apply it to my job. I couldn’t see that I was making my job responsible for my happiness.

I wrote to Maria asking her what I should do to stop feeling sad, and she reminded me that there’s nothing wrong with being sad. She told me that my job was just to be aware that I was choosing to be sad and hand it over to Holy Spirit. Maria’s gentle reassurance that I wasn’t wrong for being sad helped me connect to my willingness to see differently.

So after that tearful day, I went home and wrote to Holy Spirit, “Help! I feel terrible about quitting my old job and now I’m fearful to start my new one! How can I see this differently?”

Spirit said, What if your job wasn’t the cause of your happiness?

It all clicked into place: I’d been foisting the responsibility for my happiness onto my job. Further, this job transition was PROOF that my job couldn’t make me happy. I’d gotten a new one with a better pay and location, and I still felt like crap! I’d been playing all the old ego tricks with my jobs — telling people that I was unhappy, getting them to agree with me that I was right and the job was wrong, believing that I could change something outside of me to feel better within.

Though something is changing on the outside for me at this time, in truth, I never need to change something outside of myself to be happy. My happiness really comes from God. He is the true source of fulfillment. He is the meaning of life.

Lesson 50 in the Workbook says that I believe that I’m sustained by everything but God (W-pI.50.1:2), and I never realized until this job transition that I believed my job was my sustenance. I never realized that I was using my job as a replacement for God.

So, I’ve decided I’m quitting more than just my job this week—I also quit using my job to replace God. I quit believing that my job will make me happy. I quit giving away my power. I quit putting expectations on whatever task I’m doing! Today, I’m putting God first, and connecting to His Love, which is my true sustenance.

Rev. Carly D. Glasmyre is a Pathways of Light minister living in Reading, Pennsylvania. Visit her website at http://www.carlyglasmyre.com or email her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2016

Changes and Distractions

by Rev. Maura Williams, O.M.C.

This world we live in is full of changes and distractions. I can be peacefully sitting in my home and the phone could ring and a voice inform me of some bad news I was not prepared to hear. My world can go from very peaceful to the living hell of trying to comprehend the impossible.

A break up, a divorce, a diagnosis, a death, an accident, it doesn’t matter, they’re all the same. This kind of event intrudes into our somehow seemingly ordered lives and smashes us. It scatters each and every part of how we knew ourselves just moments ago.

How do we bring ourselves from the state of disbelief, disappointment, delusion and complete confusion? It all starts with remembering.

When something I can’t change happens, I must stop and realize it is my judgment of the event that makes me miserable and continues my pain. If I’m able to let go of my judgment, acceptance will take its place.

Accepting what I cannot change reminds me of the only changeless thing I know, the love of God. In not accepting the love of God, I am denying God. I am believing that I created myself and that I need to take care of myself and do everything by and for myself. I am not accepting that I was created by God and that I am helpless without Him. If I will only let His love in, He will do the rest.

I must be open and willing to let the Holy Spirit work in me to be aware of the peace and the love that are God’s gifts to me. In trust, I hand my hurts over to Him. And as I hand them over and stop fighting Him, His peace returns and I know His love.

The Love of God is in everything He created, for His Son is everywhere. Look with peace upon your brothers, and God will come rushing into your heart in gratitude for your gift to Him. (T-10.V.7:6-7)

God will not push his way into my heart. I must accept that I am His child. I must accept my total dependency on Him. This is really great news! It relieves me of all the responsibility I have imagined I have. I am not responsible for what happens, but I am responsible for turning it over to Him and letting go of my perception of my circumstances. I’m thankful to know God’s working everything out. I’m thankful that’s His job and not mine!

Rev. Maura Williams, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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