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October-December, 2014

What the Course Means to Me

by Rev. Veronika Birken, O.M.C.

I have been asked about my relationship with A Course in Miracles. There are many sides to it but the one which has been most important to me was the discipline of practicing and applying the lessons. Reading books is a start, but only a start. Unless practice and application are added little progress or change can be expected. The one year of lessons are brilliantly designed to bring the student to the important awareness that his thoughts don’t mean anything, except what meaning he gives to them.

I had been trained in Christian Science, therefore to use the lessons of ACIM wasn’t difficult for me, though to do them really with full commitment and as indicated is very difficult. But this shouldn’t deter anyone. Even small steps show results.

I have also been given the blessing, through the work I have done with Pathways of Light, to find my own Inner Voice. This Voice the Course calls the Holy Spirit. To built this bridge is of number one priority, as then it becomes more and more obvious, when one is taken down the fools road by the ego voice. 

Rev. Veronika Birken is a Pathways of Light minister who lives in Merimbula, New South Wales, AU. Read her inspiring Healing Journal articles on the Pathways website. Email:RevV@trueimage.name
Website: http://www.trueimage.name

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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October-December, 2014

The Laws of Love

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

I must have passed right over the mention of The Laws of Love when I read that section of the Course before, but last Sunday someone mentioned The Laws of Love, and it rang out to me like a loud bell. It had an amazing reaction within me: As I heard these words, there was a feeling of another kind of awareness within me. It was profound and gentle and what I noticed about it was that it radiated from me through the body into the world.

I noticed the difference between that energy and my normal feeling: It was somehow pure and strong and was just there. It did not have a source within me. It was very energizing, alive, almost tingling but gentle. Others in the group noticed the energy as I talked about it as they later told me as it seemed to radiate from me to everyone. I was thrilled to feel this — it was an amazing feeling of freedom and peace in a different way than I have experienced it before.

Later I noticed that even though I did not focus on it always, when I did ‘feel for it,’ it was right there.

Each time I found myself in meetings since then, I have been able to feel and extend this love. I can see my brothers and sisters as beings of Light, not in the seeing-with-my-eyes kind of seeing, but in the vision of my mind. I feel like a small child who has discovered something wonderful, and I am playing with it. When I focus on the people in the group, I can sense their desire to move forward, their strong intentions to ‘get it,’ to want to follow the principles of the Course.

After I heard about ‘the laws of Love,’ I had to looked it up and read about it again in the Course.

So, here are a couple of quotes from the Course about the Laws of Love found in Chapter 13, Section VI on page 253:

Love always leads to Love.

“Awakening unto Christ is following the laws of love of your free will, and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. The attraction of light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by giving. Those who accept love of you become your willing witnesses to the love you gave them, and it is they who hold it out to you.” (T-13.VI.12:1-3)

“And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep. And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been faithful in your giving, for you were not alone. …Although he slept, Christ’s vision did not leave him.” (T-13.VI.13:1-3, 8)

I have since noticed that it feels wonderful to choose Reality in my mind, and to see joy and Love instead of analyzing what may have happened, how It could be seen, to question whether something is right or wrong, all of which I used to do all the time. We all know the answer already, because the answer we are searching for is not in this world. But somehow we need to ‘do something,’ and so it takes us into the opposite direction and we move away, and with just a little doubt in our mind, the balance is tipped in favor of the ego.

I am overjoyed that all my diligent letting go and forgiving lessons have brought me to this freeing feeling and I can look at anyone and not be triggered by my thoughts of what they may think or want me to do or expect. Yet, it is not a constant presence. I need to bring it forward and focus on it, but then it is right there.

Of course, we all know that Love feels better than any of the negative emotions, but we don’t allow it, and we all have our secret reasons for hiding behind some perception that we can’t let go of, at least not now. I surely have done that.

Here are some more quotes from another source:

The book “The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament” by Regina Dawn Akers also talks about the law of Love in Ephesians, Chapter 1, 2 and 3.

Chapter 1:

“The law of Love is used for Love and by Love without exception, and so the law gives as it is asked.

The law of Love is not separate from you, and it does not rule over you. The law of Love is you and it works through you, so that you may never be separate from the Love that you are.”

And … in Chapter 2:

“The Christ shall be the symbol for the law, for through the Christ the ones that seemed many are one. Through this law the ones that seem many are one. And in fact, they have always been one, as they are bound as one through the law.”

In Chapter 3 it states:

“Through Christ all are bound together and there is no separateness. This is the law of Love. This is what you are. You are inseparable from it.

When you think you are thinking alone, you are not. Your thoughts which are heard by your brothers are answered through them. This is the law of Love. This is why all things are Love. Only Love exists. Every experience that is given you is unequivocally the gift of Love given in answer to your request for Love.

Christ is the truth of all you see and sense and experience, because all that you see and sense and experience is given you through Christ at the request of your own desire. This is the law of Love. What you ask for you receive through the unfailing Love of your oneness. This is the truth of all existence. This is the law of Love.

Give, therefore, through your every thought only that which you would receive. For as you give to your brothers, they hear a request. In Love, they give back to you exactly as you have asked.”

Thank you for listening and you may know exactly what I am talking about. I feel your joy.

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

© 2014, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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October-December, 2014

Seek Only Peace

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

I am so grateful for the many wonderful changes that have taken place in my life since enrolling in the Pathways of Light Ordained Ministerial Counselor program. Now that I have worked through most of the lessons and ordination is near, I am amused as I think back and remember all of the reasons that I originally came up with for deciding to enroll in this life changing program.

I had recently retired at what I consider to be a relatively young age from a career in middle management with a local water company. Things began to get politically difficult for me as it became quite obvious that I was no longer working for the same, family oriented company I went to work for some 25 years ago. I had worked long enough to leave with a full pension and benefits for my wife and I so I decided to retire and see what was next for me.

I took advantage of the extra time that retirement provided to study A Course in Miracles more seriously both on my own and with study groups in my area and even started hosting a group in my home.

I still wanted to do some type of work and earn some extra money to eliminate the rest of our debt so my wife could retire as well, but I wasn’t quite sure what it would be. But whatever it was, I was committed to making sure that this time around, it was something that I really enjoyed.

I have been very active in 12-step recovery programs for the last 20 years. I especially love working with others as a sponsor or a trusted friend, helping them work through some of the issues in their lives, most of which, are issues I have worked through in my own life.

People I had worked with or who knew me well would often tell me that I would make a good counselor. I did notice that I had the ability to completely put aside my own thoughts, feelings and judgments about their situation and really listen to what they were telling me and then give them very objective, clear and helpful feedback. I remember feeling more like a “channel” when I responded to them. The information seemed to come “through” me rather than “from” me. But wherever it came from, I really loved being a part of it.

So, at 57 years old I considered going back to college to become a licensed therapist, but I felt that with the expense and the time I would need to finish my education and internship, it would not be an option for me. So, I became a certified life coach and decided to specialize in recovery, relationships and spirituality coaching as a way to do this thing I loved doing on a more professional level.

One day a friend of mine, told me about Pathways and the Ordained Ministerial Counselor (OMC) program. I went to the website to check it out and thought that it would be the perfect complement to my coaching practice and decided to enroll. And of course, I decided that in addition to the OMC program, I had to go on and do the Spiritual Relationships Counseling course as well.

I am sure that you have guessed by now, what I discovered was the real reason I was led to study to become a minister. It had very little to do with how it would complement my new business and benefit my clients, and had everything to do with the fact that Spirit knew I needed to do this healing work for myself.

When I shared what I was learning with my wife Becky, who knows me very well, she would say, it is clear to me that the lessons in this OMC program are really more about helping to heal you than anybody else. She couldn’t have been more right.

As ministerial candidates we were encouraged by the Pathways staff ministers to be careful about thinking too much about what our ministries will look like. They told us that it often ends up looking very different than what we had imagined. My personal facilitator told me the same thing when she shared her experience with me.

Today I try to let go of my attachments to my thoughts and plans in all areas of my life, step back and follow Spirit’s lead. If you are anything like me, you already know how difficult this can be to do consistently. I like to say that now I only walk through doors Spirit has opened for me. In the past, I have broken open doors to rooms I thought I wanted to be in, only to end up asking myself how in the heck I got in there?

For me, the most helpful (and easiest to remember) thing I have learned in my studies thus far is that each of us has a built in “early warning system” that lets us know when we have gotten off track and need to choose again. It is called Peace. Most of us are familiar with the last words in chapter five of the Text that starts out by saying; “I must have chosen wrongly because I am not at peace. I made this decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.” It is also on a focus card that was in one of the lessons in the curriculum that still hangs on my mirror. In the concordance of A Course in Miracles, the word peace is one of the most often used — 999 times!

In course 1001: Course Facilitator Training, Part I Teleconference we were asked to describe what attributes a peaceful person might have and what they might be like. My friend and fellow ministerial candidate Michelle suggested that I share with you what came to me as I meditated on the question.

A peaceful person believes that all is well and always will be well. They know that the forms things take in the world are not real and will always change. They know that forms are not the key to their happiness or their pain and that they literally do not matter. They believe that their brothers and sisters are perfect, sinless children of God like themselves. They have learned to look past fearful expressions and behavior to see the innocence in others. They release their fears to the Holy Spirit for gentle, natural healing and correction. 

I am actually starting to really understand the statement in the preface of the Course under What It Says: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God”

Now when I look back on my life, I can do it with a compassion for myself that I didn’t have before. I can clearly see now that peace is all I have ever been trying to find in life and I was mistaken in thinking that I could find it in anything or anyone in the world of form.

So, while I can’t tell you exactly how my life will look after ordination, I can tell you that it will be fun, it will be perfect and it will be what is meant to be.

In chapter 18 of the Text it says:  “If you knew who walked beside you on the way that you have chosen, fear would impossible.” So, if fear is impossible, it can only be love, right?

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
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October-December, 2014

Eject! Eject!

by Rev. Paula Richards, O.M.C.

I have a five slot CD player in my car. I’ve discovered that it was easier to quick change a CD when I only had a single slot player, so I find that I don’t change the CD’s very often, sometimes not for months at a time. There is one CD that I haven’t changed since I first loaded it seven year ago. Seven years! I keep telling myself it is because I like the music so much, but I know there is a much deeper reason.

The CD comes from my late ex-husband’s collection. My son suggested I would like it and gave it to me soon after my husband died in 2006. I did like it. In fact, I loved it! I came to realize that almost every song spoke to some emotional aspect of my life that I was experiencing back then. It was a very bitter-sweet time. I had just lost my job. The following month I lost my ex-husband in a motorcycle accident. Besides feeling guilty for having left him, I was also feeling guilty for having met a new romantic partner and allowing that joy into my life.

Some of the songs spoke of hope, but mostly they mirrored my pain. I played it every time I drove. Over and over and over again. It became my daily “fix.” Gradually, of course, I listened to it less and less. I still loved the CD, but didn’t need to hear it all the time. It wasn’t until a few days ago that it struck me how significant it was that I had not removed that CD from slot number one in seven years. As I thought about removing it, I was shocked to find myself reduced to tears. I actually felt as though, if I removed the CD, I would be losing a part of myself. Clearly, something still needed to be healed.

When I asked Holy Spirit to look at this with me, I was shown that I was holding on to “my story.” I could have aptly called it, Lady Sings the Blues. And, I was loathe to let it go. I can see now that listening to that CD kept my story alive — kept it “real.” I mistakenly thought that it kept me connected to the love I still hold for my ex-husband, but all it really did is keep me connected to my pain. Why was I so afraid to let it go?

A Course in Miracles, promises me a life of eternal happiness and peace if I am willing to “trust.” I guess the issue isn’t so much a lack of trust, but rather, a question of what do I trust more. Will I listen to the ego telling me that I am a separate body named Paula with a personal (sometimes painful) story to tell that makes me “special,” or will I trust in God’s promise of everlasting joy, if I am willing to release this illusion of individuality? I’m not sure.

I guess I still don’t trust my true Identity, as One with God, enough to be able to completely let go of my false one, but today I took a step in the right direction.

I pressed the “EJECT” button.

Rev. Paula Richards, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  Website: http://www.spiritrisingministries.com

© 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.

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