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July-September, 2010

Partnering with Holy Spirit

Rev. Carol Springer-Witfoth

It has been my pleasure to have a relationship with Holy Spirit, especially during the past two years. On the 25th of June I will celebrate two years of unemployment. Me and millions of other people. A tragedy.

I have moments when I am down. But not many, for you see I have a partner who is closer to me than my skin; Who wraps me in so much love that the neighbor who was faced with cancer found comfort in our presence. We drove her to and sat through doctor appointments. We held her hand following the colonoscopy which brought grim news. We celebrated with her when the surgeon announced the cancer was completely removed in the surgery. She has a partner, too!

Oh, did I mention I’m unemployed?

Last September, we decided to enter some of our current art in a competition. Seven pieces of artwork were entered. Four came home with awards. A first prize on one beat the best abstract artist in this part of the country. It was the inspiration of my partner that encouraged me to enter. It was my partner whom I thanked with love and joy and appreciation.

Oh, did I mention I’m unemployed?

Then heard my partner suggest that maybe we should do something to start a business. God knows there is an abundance of art we’ve created. The next step we took was to enroll in an Entrepreneurship program at one of the most progressive Community College systems in the country. They asked to see our art and then hung it up in the choice space in the building! My partner and I celebrated that.

Oh, did I mention that it appears I’m unemployed?

But I have a partner! A glorious, joyous partner! Around each corner is a new opportunity. A new friend. Old friends who say, “How are you doing? Really?” I smile and say, “We’re doing really well?” And again my heart warms with love to share.

Yep, I have a partner. Holy Spirit wants to be part of our lives not put on a pedestal. Holy Spirit wants to live in us not above us. Holy Spirit wants to hand us a tissue when we have a need to cry. Holy Spirit wants to feel the tremble in our throat when we laugh. Holy Spirit wants to feel the keys of the keyboard when we write articles. Yep! I have a partner. Or does a partner have me?

Rev. Carol K. Springer-Witfoth, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Lincoln, Nebraska. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

© 2010, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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July-September, 2010

One Problem — One Solution

by Rev. Myron Jones

There is much talk right now about disasters and other scary stuff. It can be easy to get pulled into this, especially since there seems to be so much evidence to prove that life is scary. If you live on this planet you have seen pictures of the gulf oil spill. Living near the gulf, I am bombarded with information about it. Much of this information invites me to join in grievances against the oil companies, the governor, the president or just about anyone who is available to be a target for the fear so many are experiencing right now. The human experience is about projection, and the bigger the fear the more quickly we project.

When I first realized the extent of the oil spill I was shocked. I got drawn into disaster scenarios and, like many other people, began projecting my fear onto others such as BP. I became afraid of the upcoming hurricane season and began imagining how awful it would be to experience a storm surge with all that oil out there in the gulf and I would get angrier than before. I noticed that I seemed to be compelled to talk about the situation with others.

Years of practicing vigilance noticing my thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and then asking the Holy Spirit to correct my thinking and heal my mind, paid off. I was very uncomfortable with the way the ego was directing my life in this area and asked the Holy Spirit for help. I soon realized that there is one thing I can do to be helpful. I can remember that everything in my life is here by invitation. I am not the victim of my world, but the cause. So the solution is to change my mind.

The oil spill is just another form the separation thought takes. One problem; one solution. I ask the Holy Spirit to heal in my mind the thoughts that contribute to upheavals within the world. It doesn’t matter if the upheavals seem to be in my personal life, or if they play out on a bigger stage. My only responsibility is that I heal my mind which, of course, helps heal the mind of the Son.

As I accepted correction from the Holy Spirit, I noticed that I no longer join in frightening conjecture with others, nor do I follow that path within my own mind. I am no longer looking for someone onto whom I can project my fears. I am sitting with my fears and using this as an opportunity to experience that fear cannot hurt me. It is disturbing only if I believe it is. I need plenty of practice with this because it is easy to forget.

I don’t want to see Mother Earth abused as she is just as much a part of God as I am. But I am not choosing to follow the ego into the pits of an angry hell as I project my fear and guilt onto others and imagine the worst possible outcomes. I notice when I react to someone else’s words and ask that my mind be healed. I don’t sit around watching the media hype it up. I don’t join my anger with the anger of others. I don’t passively accept my mind’s tendency to project. As a result I am an island of peace and attract those who are ready to consider this option over the option of anger, guilt and blame.

As my friend, Sonja, said last night, “We are the light workers and this is our opportunity and it is our responsibility to step up. If not now, then when?” I am the light of the world. That is why I am here. I choose to step out of darkness where the ego would have me dwell, and be the light that we all long for. Please join me.

I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing this problem.  Thank you.

Rev. Myron Jones is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Charles, Louisiana. Read more of her inspiring Healing Journal articles on the Pathways of Light web site.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Web site: http://www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org

© 2010, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2010

Excerpts from Course 903: Gratitude for God’s Gifts

Pathways of Light

When you are full of gratitude, you are appreciative, open and give your full attention to what you are grateful for. Your system of values gives it great importance in your mind.

The dictionary defines gratitude as an appreciative awareness and thankfulness. Gratitude encompasses acceptance, appreciation and love. What you value highly is agreeable and satisfying to you.

The opposite of gratitude is rejection… not valuing… a turning away from… excluding… not accepting or opposing. What we don’t value, appreciate and accept, we turn away from… We avoid it and take our attention away from it. We reject it from our awareness.

Read Text Chapter 6, Section I, paragraph 17 on page 95. Jesus is explicitly saying that it is very important to develop our ability to be grateful for what we are as an extension of God’s Love. In Chapter 6, Section I he says, “Teach only love, for that is what you are.” (page 94, 13.2)

In A Course in Miracles we are learning to appreciate God, appreciate the gift of God’s Love, unity and wholeness, instead of our illusions of separation from God’s Love. We are learning to remember that we are one with God and to accept God’s gift of Himself instead of choosing to forget that we still are part of God.

Jesus tells us: I do not need gratitude, but you need to develop your weakened ability to be grateful, or you cannot appreciate God. He does not need your appreciation, but you do. You cannot love what you do not appreciate, for fear makes appreciation impossible. When you are afraid of what you are, you do not appreciate it, and will therefore reject it. As a result, you will teach rejection.

Jesus points out to us that our ability to be grateful needs to be strengthened and enhanced. He is helping us understand that we need to appreciate God in order to remember our true Identity as part of God. We need to open up our closed minds and be grateful for our true Identity as Love instead of rejecting It.

Most of the time we are not consciously aware that we are teaching rejection and rejecting Love, our true Identity. But when we are angry, when we judge and look down upon our brother, when we focus on the faults of others, we are in essence rejecting God. The idea that we think we are separated from our brothers and from God is a rejection of the oneness of our true Identity in God — Who we truly are.

For more information about Pathways of Light Miracles Practitioner courses, go to: http://www.pathwaysoflight.org/polshop/home.php?cat=256.

© 2010, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2010

Listening

by Rev. Mary Gerard Lenihan

I was in the midst of taking the Pathways of Light Relationship Enhancement Counseling Training when I realized that I had not been truly listening to others. For me, this course turned out to be much more than it appeared. Maybe I was ready to receive what this course had to give.

What else is there, but to listen? To listen to the word of God, Who is my very Self and to listen to God’s word in another. Dare I speak to a brother without having heard from him first? What shall I say if I have not first heard? And what is it that I am to hear? Why it is the Voice for God speaking through my brother.

As a listener to the Voice for God, it astounded me lately that even though I have become quite astute at listening to God, I have a way to go when it comes to listening to my fellow brothers and sisters. And what good is it to hear God’s Voice in my mind and not listen for His Voice in others?

People have asked me how I hear this Voice. It is simple. I simply come forth with willingness to release all obstacles to hearing the Voice into the Holy Spirit. I ask Holy Spirit to remove all other voices from my awareness, and I maintain a one-pointed focus on hearing this Voice and no other. Yet there is something to be said for listening to the Voice for God not simply within my own mind, but within another. This also requires willingness to be totally present. No judgment, no agenda, no preconceived notions, no plan, no reaction — nothing on which I could build a grievance which I will eventually have to forgive. How do I come into this present-centeredness?

I decide that I want peace above all else. The ego tells me that judgments, agendas, plans…are important protective mechanisms; but all they protect me from is having an experience of connectedness. The ego tries to convince me that disconnectedness is a position of power and keeps me safe. Of course that isn’t true; disconnection breeds a sense of powerlessness and insecurity. Let me share a story.

John comes home after work one evening and there is some discord between us — I haven’t a clue now what that was because of course we are never upset for the reason we think! But I do remember him feeling that he wasn’t being heard.

I decide that I want peace instead of this. I want connection instead of disconnection. What does this decision mean? It doesn’t mean anything without a follow-up action; specifically, the action of choosing to be present and listen. I pondered different ego reactions, like just ignoring the whole thing and chalking it up to both of us being tired and overworked. I could have told him to cook his own dinner. Oh, such an ego assortment of reactions to choose from, but which one? Thankfully, I chose none. I decided that I didn’t want the assortment.

John had left the kitchen and I went to seek after him. I told him I was ready to listen. He leaned against the bookcase while I sat on the bed listening. I called upon Holy Spirit and Jesus and asked for help. I said, “I am willing to be present and listen. I am willing to hear what you would have me hear.”

My mind went blank. What I observed in John while I was listening was truly transformational. I saw a person who wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say or what he wanted me to hear. I saw him trusting his Self enough that he could actually share what came into his mind in the moment.

As he shared about how he was being moved to be in the world in a way more committed to his peace of mind and being truly helpful, the things he considered doing were being reshaped moment to moment. I was aware that as I listened I was having no judgments and reactions to the myriad forms he presented. I wasn’t developing my opinions.

I observed him moving quickly through various scenarios as if he was holding the hand of Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit was leading him out of the maze of possibilities and into the stillness of One. I saw clarity and discernment happening before my eyes without analysis, weighing pros and cons and a lengthy discussion. A peace lingered in the air and so did our connection.

If I desire to hear the Voice for Love, I need not listen but to the one who stands before me. When I sit quietly everyday to listen to the Holy Spirit within, I am to remember that herein is my potential, my training, to be truly listening to my brothers and sisters, as this Voice is within my brothers and sisters.

There is no difference between my quiet listening time in solitude and moving through the world and listening. If I experience them as different, then I am trying to keep God separate and special, which is the ego’s spiritual plan. In this perception, I will be unable to truly listen to anyone. I may be able to repeat back to someone what she said, but she will not feel heard because I didn’t really hear anything.

We have all had that experience where we share something with someone, we don’t feel heard so we ask them if they heard us. They repeat back what we just said, but we still don’t feel like we have been heard. That’s because we haven’t been heard. We’ve been recorded!

If I am going to stand there taking up time and space “listening” to someone, why not do all of us a favor and drop the minimum social listening requirement and be present and truly listen. Yes, our brain hears the ego layer on top, but in our willingness, our heart and mind hear Holy Spirit beneath the appearance. Imagine, we could be tuning into Love all day and extending love all day, not just while in prayer and meditation.

The way to practice hearing the Voice for God is to truly listen to another, for it is here we experience our connection. It is not that God is in this connection; rather, our connectedness is God.

During a Healing Touch session the other day, I heard the words, “God Is the Oneness.” These were more than mere words. I experienced that the way we experience God is to experience our connectedness one-to-one. Forgiveness is how we experience our connection. Listening is forgiveness.

A couple of months ago I was asking Jesus about true freedom. I was caught in a moment of thinking that there must be something I need to do to be free. He responded, “Mary, you are already free.” When I remember I am free, I am willing to truly listen because there is nothing anyone could say to threaten my freedom. Jesus shared the following words with me that I feel apply to listening and hearing the Voice for God within another:

When you see that you are already free you will no longer want to imprison others with your thoughts, words and deeds. No free person would ever want to imprison another. When you experience true freedom, all you want is for everyone else to have it too. We are all free or none of us are free.

As I listen, I share my freedom.

Rev. Mary Gerard is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Louis, Missouri. She is author of the books Visions of Illumination and The Mentor Within. which can be purchased through our online store. Click the book title for more information or to purchase.

© 2010, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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