Miracles News

Tweet

May-August, 2024

Gifts and Miracles

by Rev. Joyce Peebles, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

We have traditions in which gifts are often given. God has gifts as does the ego. The ego’s gifts include such things as anger, depression, conflict, and pain. The only way to get the ego’s gifts are to choose them.

The Holy Spirit’s gifts are peace, love, and joy. The only way to experience them is to choose them. If you decide you don’t like your choice, you can choose again. The problem is you choose based on what you value at the moment. Who would not choose love, peace, and joy?

Everybody who wants to be right maintains that they are this ego body and that the world is real. Furthermore, they want to believe they are not responsible for their misery, someone else is to blame. Guilt is valued. To get the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you must decide that only innocence and love are real, everything else is not.

You recognize your willingness to do this by what you see projected from your mind every day. Are your projections showing you only love or calls for love? Do you think someone, or some situation needs to change or be fixed? Do you believe you would be happier if someone outside of you was different? No doubt the ego body would temporarily be happier, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit are only recognized when you believe you are not the ego body.

A couple of decades ago when I first became a student of A Course in Miracles, I went quickly over the first 20 lessons. They seemed so short, and I spent very little time on them. For example, lesson two says, “ I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.” Today I am still reminding myself that this is true. I am learning that nothing outside of my mind has any power over me. All conflict occurs in my mind and everything I see in the world is a picture of an inward condition.

Lesson 5 is, “I am never upset for the reason I think.” The key to understanding these lessons is willingness. This lesson tells us there are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of Mind.

I am grateful for the teacher who recently explained this lesson further. In summary, she told me the moment I forget who I really am, I forget who my brother is.

Cultivate the awareness that you either have peace or you do not. There is no peace when I have judged another as guilty.

A miracle occurs when I recognize the truth. I cannot have a little bit of love. You either love or you don’t. In the illusion an event appears to happen, but it never happened.

Constantly remember nobody is guilty, and I am giving everything all the meaning it has for me.

I also appreciate what someone else shared, “When your heart is set on waking up, everything becomes easier.”

I am so grateful for the help of others in the Sonship who are studying and struggling too.

The ego believes that what the body’s eyes see really exists, and that someone out there is trying to take advantage of me or treat me unfairly. The Holy Spirit helps me to see that what I am seeing in you is a projection of what I really see in me.

The Holy Spirit has one gift the ego can never offer; it is the miracle. A miracle is a change in perception whereby we take back our projected thoughts. It is a decision that I no longer want to perceive mySelf as guilty of rejecting love, a realization that I have done this faulty thinking to mySelf and now decide to reverse it.

Guilt gradually disappears as I stop attacking myself and others. You do not give up the ego/body/story. You understand you do not want it because of what it represents and the suffering that goes with it. There is no sacrifice involved when you see the choice is for love and peace.

A major stepping stone in the attainment of a miracle is recognizing that giving and receiving are the same. You can only give to yourself, whether it is attack or love. That “someone out there” I see is me. Reality is we are all connected and only the love that binds us is real.

There are some things you have no control over. You are Love and Light, a Spirit.

You can hallucinate, dream, fantasize all you want, yet this fact cannot be changed. No matter how much you or someone else has screwed things up, the reality is that it did not happen. You simply fell asleep and had a nightmare.

Neither do you have control over the fact that you are going to wake up from the nightmare.

You can delay it, but it is going to happen. You are not going to be allowed to suffer forever. The only choice you have is how long you delay.

The world is going to end for you because you will no longer have any use for it. God did not make a meaningless world, you did. It disappears when you no longer want it.

A miracle happens when you realize you have this kind of power.

Another thing you have no control over is that this dream will not be remembered at all. The people, wars, etc. you obsessed over, you have no choice, none of it will you remember when you wake from the dream.

The world disappears because you know you made it up. It was only a thought in your mind. Ask yourself: Why suffer so much while in the dream before you are fully awake? It has no lasting value or effects.

“Loss is not lost when properly perceived. Pain is impossible. There is no grief with any cause at all. And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream.” (W-pII.284.1:1-4)

I remember reading this years ago and thinking this cannot be true. Look at the rest of the lesson. “This is the truth, at first to be said and then repeated many times; and next to the accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. Then to be considered seriously more and more, and finally accepted as the truth.” (1:5-6)

I am now ready to believe these words. I am grateful for all the help I have received. I do suffer less as I have been willing to put aside my fearful thoughts.

Everything has all been a learning opportunity. Gratitude is gradually taking the place of suffering.

Rev. Joyce Peebles, OMC is a Pathways of Light minister. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2024, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

May-August, 2024

The Shepherd

Rev. Bob Thompson, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

I’m watch’d over by My Shepherd,
and am guided by His word,
Where’er He leads, I follow,
whene’er I pray, I’m heard.
Tho’ my path at times be rocky,
and seemingly quite steep,
He guides me, perfectly, each day,
and even when I sleep!

Green pastures are aplenty,
my soul is fed with care,
and when I seek clear waters,
He always leads me there.
Meadowlands and babbling brooks,
He leads me to those spots,
leading where I need to go,
(tho’ I may know it not!)

In the clearness of His Waters,
I see Him looking back at me.
I am an image of Himself, so,
what else could I see?
He’s watching as I quench my thirst,
and as I slowly graze.
My will is but to put Him first,
and so I live my days.

From everywhere He joins me,
as I amble thru’ my years,
JOYning in my laughter,
and Flowing in my tears,
Constant in His Nearness,
certain in His Power,
‘longside me every minute,
shelt’ring me, each hour.

My ev’ry need is satisfied,
(even those, I thought not met!)
So generous His gifting,
I gain all I need to get.
Tho’ I can be filled with “cravings”
and a life span of “misdeeds,”
I always come to fully know,
that I am given all I need.

There’s a valley of dark shadows,
where one day I must go,
but I will see no evil, because
His Love is all I know.
And though my way may falter,
and my step be oh so slow,
I plod the Path prepared for me
is the only Path I know.

Rev. Bob Thompson, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Portage, Wisconsin. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  Website: bumpityroadretreat.com

© 2024, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

May-August, 2024

A Child’s Daydream

by Rev. Robin Singler, Ordained Ministerial Counselor

Imagine yourself as a child living in a big, beautiful home. Imagine this home is God‘s Home, God‘s Kingdom of formless, eternal Love. This Home contains everything you could ever want: endless joy, protection, warmth, care, love, kindness, and strength. There is nothing lacking in this Home. There’s complete trust in the Father who provides this Home for you and all is well, beyond measure.

Now, imagine that you decide one day to wonder what might be outside of this Home. The child imagines a window to look out of, where there is another world, another place to be outside of this perfect, loving Home. The child imagines a world that is quite different from the Home they are accustomed to. There are sights and sounds and smells, there are playgrounds, classrooms, dangers, pleasures: All the unique, specific elements that make up the imagined world of form outside of this big loving Home of eternal Love. The curious child imagines an outside world as attractive and interesting.

The child suddenly questions themselves, “Oh no, what have I done? I’ve imagined myself playing outside of my perfect Home! What will my Father think of me? I’ve made a terrible mistake.” From that moment on, the belief in the idea of separation has begun, and the child’s guilt against themself, through the power of their Mind, hurls them into another experience. The child forgets that they are merely daydreaming of a made-up window in their Home, and that they still remain within their Father‘s Home, safe and secure as they always have been.

The child becomes lost in daydreaming, believing they are stuck in this new world because of the guilt they feel for imagining themselves apart from their perfect Home in God. The once serene, Love-filled Mind is covered over with a special new world that is meant to take the place of the Home that they never left.

Parts of this new world are very attractive. There are playgrounds to play in, people to meet and everything is different and adventurous and exciting. But as the daydream goes on weariness sets in, and what was once fun about this new world has become very tiring and frightening. Increasingly this innocent child, who is still safe in their Father‘s house, longs for the experience of safety and consistency that they are unaware of because of this special daydream founded on guilt and self-judgment.

While the child dreams, their Father has no concern at all, for He knows they are still at Home. There’s nothing to be upset about, for He knows nothing has happened to his beloved Child. He created the Child as an eternal extension of Himself, and so He knows that all is well and holds nothing against the innocent child, who has simply made up a little silly mistake in their mind that has had no ill effects on Reality.

As children, we all experience the desire to run out of our safe homes and go play on the playground. As a child, I would stubbornly stay outside, even as I grew very tired, hungry and cold. Even after skinning my knee or stubbing my toe, I didn’t want to give in and go back in the house. I wanted to have things my way and to hold onto my special playground even as it hurt me. I was also reluctant to give in and go back home because I thought I’d be punished for being away for so long, so I thought it better to keep away as long as I could to avoid the consequences of what I thought would be coming to me.

Nothing has changed. I am still a child experiencing the effects of the ego thought system’s aim to keep me believing in the daydream through guilt. I am working through my resistance to returning Home and facing the ego guilt that still resides deep in my mind, with Spirit’s help. And I am tired of staying away from Home. But I am an innocent child, in a pretend playground in a daydream, so all is well as it always has been. There is no need to be afraid of God’s punishment, for He hasn’t changed His Mind about me, and my dreaming is harmless.

There is no reason to judge anything in a child’s daydream either, for it all serves a Holy Purpose. Everything in the dream calls me back to my Father‘s House because it wears me out, because it is tiring, because it’s unfair and painful. It calls me back to my Father‘s house because His House is free of all ego pain and suffering and death and I do still remember, however faintly, that there is another reality.

The contrast experiences I have between when I believe in the daydream of guilt and when I believe in the Truth of my Home give me all the incentive I need to keep facing the guilt, to keep asking Spirit to help me let it go, and to give up more of my child’s toys. The fear of punishment when I return Home is diminishing, so I am giving up the games that seemed fun but turned out to be unsatisfying.

The preceding parable from Spirit has been helping me so much in forgiving myself for what I think I’ve done. Imagining myself as the innocent child, looking out an imaginary window of my Father‘s House is very helpful as I deepen my practice of A Course in Miracles. Seeing myself as a little child wandering around a neighborhood that I’ve imagined for myself is such an innocent reinterpretation of what the ego thoughts in my mind tell me. The ego tries to convince me that I am guilty for dreaming, guilty for the images of the dream, and that I am also guilty for being afraid to let go of the dream. But, my daydream has not changed my Father‘s House nor His affection for me. Period, end of story.

Now I practice imagining myself as a little child skipping along, walking through the neighborhoods that I’ve imagined with my brothers and sisters, all of us walking back Home to our Father’s House. Each brother and sister is gathered together and our group grows larger as we walk hand-in-hand, with our strength growing as the momentum and willingness to let go of the pain of the dream of separation grows stronger and stronger.

Now the playground leads me not into more shame and pain, but back to my Father‘s House, safe where I never left. I look forward to fully accepting the dream as a harmless nothingness and accepting my rightful place in my Father‘s House that I’ve never left.

The journey is getting easier and more light-hearted, and I feel younger and more innocent than when I thought I had a child’s body. It’s a wonderful experience and I am grateful.

Rev. Robin Singler is a Pathways of Light minister living in Huntley, IL.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2024, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Tweet

January-April, 2024

Miracles News, January-April, 2024

 

I bless the
world because
I bless myself.
ACIM W-187

 

© 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Back to main page of Miracles News.

Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution to support this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution with a credit/debit card, click here.
Click here to donate from your PayPal account.
Or send a check to Pathways of Light, 12530 Lions Chase Court, Huntley, IL 60142.