Miracles News

Tweet

January-March, 2015

You Are Not Bad, You Are Wounded

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

“Recently, I listened to a lecture by Marianne Williamson. During the lecture, Marianne said: “To forgive someone means to see that they are not bad, they are wounded.” When she spoke these words, they flew out and stuck to me in the same way that arrows with suction cups stick to the wall when they are shot from a bow. OK, this is probably not a new thought to ACIM students, but maybe it was the “100th” monkey principle that made me get it in a way I just hadn’t before or maybe I am so willing to give up blame and guilt that I was able to really hear this simple, but profound statement and apply it not only to others but to myself.

I thought about how my small self reacted in a conditioned response when another person opened my wounds by what felt like an attack; an attack that, according to the Course, came from their wounds. When I react from my wounded, small self, I am not conscious that the other person is wounded, I just see them as withholding love and my reaction is to withhold love from them. This is not a healing situation for either of us, is it! 

Spirit gave me a wonderful chance to really experience this lesson. My husband and I were finishing a rehab project on a condo. It seemed like we had been to Lowe’s a hundred times, and we were both ready to be done. We had one more purchase to make, and as we parked in-front of Lowe’s, my husband started warning me that this better not take too long. I could feel his impatience and my conditioned response was to get very quiet and to let myself feel “victim” to his impatience rather than to see that he was having a hard time coping with the stress of the rehab.

That evening, I “happened” to see a short documentary film about a blind man, Dan Berlin, who walked the rim of the Grand Canyon from end to end and back to the beginning – 46 miles. Dan said he went through a very dark time when he lost his sight, but he decided he could overcome this challenge (wound) and live a normal life. In other words, Dan chose to change his perception of his blindness and not be its victim. This change in perception is what the Course would call “a miracle.”

Dan had four friends who went with him on the walk and were his guides. Clearly, he had to trust these guides and be in the present moment. He had to be mindful of every step and be aware when a guide would touch him on the shoulder and tell him to “move to the right a little.” If he hadn’t listened, he would have walked off the edge! About halfway through the walk, Dan thought he could not go on, but his guides encouraged him and with their positive reinforcement (energy) he continued and finished the walk. (You can see the short documentary of Dan Berlin walking the Grand Canyon on YouTube).

After seeing the documentary, I thought about how I had let my conditioned response to my husband’s impatience lead me into my wounds of feeling like a victim and, from that conditioned victim response, I withheld love. I realized that if I had stayed in the present moment, asked my guide (Holy Spirit) for help and handed what was happening over to Her, the tone of the whole afternoon could have been changed. But that conditioned response is a path well-traveled. I know every nook and granny and can anticipate every curve. I don’t bring awareness to this path, I bring familiarity; I don’t bring Holy Spirit, I bring ego.

But just like Dan Berlin re-learning how to live his life not as a victim of his blindness, but as a full person, I know that I, too, can release the old, familiar way of doing things and choose a new path. And like Dan listening to his guides as he walked the Grand Canyon rim, the path of the Holy Spirit means a path where I need to be aware of every step, where if I am not in the “now” I could easily lose my footing. This path takes courage and awareness. It takes willingness to be still and listen to my guides and to correct my course when they tell me to so that I don’t fall of the edge and drop into my ego self.

What is your “Grand Canyon”? Where do you allow your thoughts to lead you off the side of the cliff into the deep darkness of your ego thoughts? This is a very important question to contemplate as this is the place to ask for miracles.

Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Louis, MO. E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2015, 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

October-December, 2014

Reclaiming the Power of Our Minds

by Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C.

This is what I want to contemplate today:

“Denial has no power in itself, but you can give it the power of your mind, whose power is without limit. If you use it to deny reality, reality is gone for you.” (T-7.VII.1:5-6)

Again and again in the Course Jesus reminds us that the power of our mind is unlimited. This is so hard for us to comprehend. We have denied this power so thoroughly that we can’t say no to chocolate, or we procrastinate to the point we cause ourselves grief and think there is nothing we can do about it. We fall in and out of love and hurt each other and it seems just to happen to us. We feel like we have no power over our lives at all. And yet, Jesus says we have unlimited power. So we must be doing this to ourselves.

We are talking about the power of denial, specifically. We are told that denial has no power of itself, but the unlimited power of our mind lends it power, so much so that what we deny is no longer true for us. If we deny reality, then reality is gone. At least it is gone from our awareness, just as we desired. That is why we can live as if we have no control over what we eat, that we cannot help being addicts, that we just stumble into and out of relationships and don’t know how it happened.

We do all of this to ourselves and then we deny any knowledge of how it happened and through the power of our minds we believe the lie. It becomes true for us and we are left helpless victims of circumstance. It’s the craziest thing! As insane as this is, backing out of it is no simple thing. We must overcome our own desire and choose to see differently.

We must first understand how it could have happened and then accept that, weak as we seem, we must actually be powerful beyond limit. We must put aside our fear of this power and embrace the idea as something we love and want. That is all we have to do because the rest is done for us, but lord knows, that’s enough.

This would be impossible if we did not have so much help. We accomplish this one step at a time, and I find it very helpful to take the step of realizing that, “Reality cannot be partly appreciated.” Knowing this I have stopped believing that I can love some and hate others and still know Reality. I no longer believe that I can forgive some and hold others imprisoned in my grievances, or that I can hurt someone without hurting myself.

Knowing this one thing helped me to see that awakening is possible after all. There is nothing to decide other than that all of God’s creation belongs to Him. If I want to remember the Kingdom and know myself beside Him there, I must appreciate, equally, all that He created. In the Course, Jesus says: “Whenever you deny a blessing to a brother you will feel deprived, because denial is as total as love.” Nothing can be left out, nothing can be seen as less than, and nothing can be seen as condemned. All must be forgiven and accepted. You cannot get any simpler than that.

I don’t give my blessing begrudgingly anymore. I want my brothers to be innocent, because I understand now that I am only as innocent as they are. I wholeheartedly want them forgiven because their forgiveness is my forgiveness. I am learning to use the unlimited power of my mind to return myself to sanity and to make myself ready for our return to God.

Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lake Charles, LA. Read more of her inspiring Healing Journal articles on the Pathways website. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Myron’s website is: http://www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org

© 2014, 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

October-December, 2014

Holy Spirit, a Voice I Can Trust

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

Recently I had one of those days that didn’t quite seem to make sense. At least not at first glance. Have you ever had one of those days? What these days often expose to me is the fact that there are always unseen energies of Love at work on my behalf, whether I am aware of them or not.

I enrolled in the Pathways of Light Ordained Ministerial Counselor program and I was getting ready to attend a teleconference training that was scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. It was a required course for my graduation/ordination that was scheduled for September of 2014. As usual, I had really enjoyed doing the lesson and I was excited about going over it with my fellow candidates and the POL staff ministers. So I got out the binder and all of the work I had completed and got ready to make the call.

With about three minutes to go before I had to check in, I just happened to glance over at my course schedule and noticed that I had prepared for the wrong course! I double checked the schedule which confirmed my mistake. I got that instant feeling of fear, dread and confusion shooting through my body as I realized what had happened. The course I had studied for was scheduled for the next training call in two weeks. How did I mix them up?

In a panic, I called the facilitating minister and to my surprise, she answered. She couldn’t talk very long because I could hear my classmates checking in on the teleconference line in the background as we spoke. I quickly explained to her what had happened and she said, “Oh Mike! I am so sorry to hear that!”

In the few seconds she had to talk she said, “The only thing I can think of is that you will most likely have to take the course when it is offered again, which is with the next group and move your ordination date to November 2014.”

I had developed a very strong bond with my current classmates and I was saddened to think of having to let them go and join a different group. I can’t begin to tell you what my inner critic (ego) was saying to me about myself at this point.                           
I started thinking about all of the other times I had “messed up” in some area of my life and how those people who had been so eager to point out my mistakes time and time again, might have actually been right about me. Of course, I knew it wasn’t really true but those old feelings can come rushing back at times like these.           

Here is the really cool part of the story. In the weeks just before all of this happened I had been struggling with some nagging feelings of fear, doubt and questioning of myself about what I am doing and why I am really doing it. Pretty normal stuff right? I actually think it is a good idea to stop occasionally and check in with Spirit to be sure we are doing what we are doing for the right reasons. But this was more than that. It was really starting to get me down. So, as I have been trained, I asked Holy Spirit to help me to see this differently and help me to return to peace. 

The very next day I read something that totally confirmed to me that I am right on the right track and doing exactly what I am meant to be doing at this time. The confirmation came as a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes as I read. It was one of those rare, comforting spiritual experiences that I have had from time to time.

You will never guess where I read the words that gave me the powerful experience and confirmation I was looking for. That’s right, it was something that I read as I was preparing for the “wrong” lesson.

Apparently, Holy Spirit felt that it was important for me to read something I needed to read when I needed to read it, and wasn’t the least bit concerned about how it would affect the ordination schedule.

As it turned out, unbeknownst to me at the time, there was another student that had made the exact same mistake I had made. Another student had fallen ill the night before the call and a couple of other problems occurred with the phone lines etc. that made it necessary to schedule a make-up session. The session was conducted a few days later and all of us were back on schedule!

So what have I learned from all of this? What I have learned is that there is a divine plan that I can trust. Come to think of it, there always has been. I don’t know about you, but there has never been a single event in my life that hasn’t somehow worked itself out in the end. I wasn’t always thrilled with it at the time, but I can see the Divine wisdom in all of it.

Rev. Michael Graves, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in La Quinta, CA. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2014, 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

October-December, 2014

If Only

by Oscan Senn

If I only believed what I know to be true
then my world would be different,
and yours would be too.

I’d take every step with the Light
by my side without shadows to shun,
or darkness to hide.

I’d listen each time I encountered
a fear to hear the wind whisper,
Fear not. I am here.

If I could but act the way I believe
instead of reacting to attacks
I perceive,

I could finally abandon this
shabby disguise, the layers of masks,
the roles I despise,

stop defending my misery and hoarding each wrong.
Then the Kingdom would open
where it’s been all along,

a placeless awareness that enfolds
you and I, for you shine
when I look with an innocent eye.

What changes is not the forms that we mold
— the world is transformed
by the way we behold.

In the presence of grace, I’d present
grace to you and your day would take
on a more luminous hue,

if I only believed what I know to be true.

Oscar Senn is a student of A Course in Miracles and lives in Jacksonville, Florida. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2014, 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.