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Step Back and Let Him Lead the Way

by Rev. Deb Frantz, O.M.C.

I have been in one of those listening modes again as I ponder my own spiritual journey. This is reflected in Lesson 155 “I will step back and let Him lead the way,” It is an echo of what I want my spiritual journey to consist of and what I am working towards.

What is that? It is complete trust in God, a surrendering to Spirit, and letting the Divine to take my hand and lead me where it is I am to be. Not only where I am to be, but what I am to be and what I am to say or do in any given situation.

The “Truly Helpful” prayer helps us do just this. Not only do we use it here in Pittsburgh to close our meetings, but I find it very helpful to begin the day and as I approach various situations in my life. Join with me now and let’s pray it together: “I am here only to be truly helpful. I am here to represent Him Who sent me. I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me. I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me. I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal.” (T-2.V.A.18:2-8)

So in stepping back and letting God lead the way, I am recognizing a sense of freedom in all that I do and say. The chains of control are lifted and I no longer have to be concerned about my responses or reactions or even the reactions of others. Judgment is lifted and replaced with Love. In following the call of Spirit, one never knows where one is led.

Recently, I have had two cinematic experiences. The first was watching “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The second was the video on the life of the Peace Pilgrim. Both St. Francis and Peace Pilgrim relinquished worldly possessions, heard the call of the heart and were inspired by the Divine. How inspiring their lives were! But perhaps that is not for everyone. There is a lesson here though. The lesson that I see is that there is no need to have attachments to the material world; this will not bring happiness. There is no need to have attachments to the world of personal relationships; this will not bring happiness. There is no need to have any attachments to the call of the ego as this again will not bring happiness. Only listening to His Voice will bring me the happiness that I seek. Happiness is only found within.

How many times have we surrounded ourselves with so much and yet felt so empty inside? Both of the stories of these two glorious souls help to teach us what it means to surrender to the Will of God. We do not have to suffer, sacrifice, or experience emotional pain. We have a choice, in that I choose the Life Source of God.

This reminds me further still of Lesson 102, “I share God’s Will for happiness for me.” We are not alone. We are never alone. When we choose loneliness and anguish, it is just that — our choosing. I have chosen that across the pages of my life. I have made a life these past 40 years of choosing sadness, tragedy, anger, fear and the like. Even as I became ordained as a minister four years ago, I did not realize the joy and peace that I would find in God here today. As I continue to surrender that which I have been attached to, peace keeps flowing as a gentle river in my soul. I do not have to dwell on all the past tragedies of my life, and there are many, mind you. I have been raped, abused, married three times, two of my children molested, gun held to my head, experienced domestic violence and other seemingly traumatic experiences. All along through the years I knew, somehow deep down, that I was a part of God’s Love. I wrote a song in my early 20’s that states, “the fire still burns bright in my soul.” Through all the pain that I had come to know, I knew then and here I am again recognizing the Light that is within me. We carry It always.

Some would look at my past and make judgments about who they think I am. That does not matter. Some would look at it and see my inner strength. Inner strength comes from God. Some would still see God’s Love through it all. The latter is what I choose to see.

God’s Love is always there no matter what it is that you are seemingly going through. You will be strong as you let Him lead you down the road. Accept Him and you accept that the obstacles will be cleared from your path. You are not your past. You are as God created you to be. I am as God created me to be and that is a shimmering reflection of His unconditional, unlimited, undying LOVE.

Where am I going now? That I do not know. I trust only in Him. I walk the road of truth. I walk to Him. The end of Lesson 155 tells us: “Your feet are safely set upon the road that leads the world to God. Look not to ways that seem to lead you elsewhere. Dreams are not a worthy guide for you who are God’s Son. Forget not He has placed His Hand in yours, and given you your brothers in His trust that you are worthy of His trust in you. He cannot be deceived. His trust has made your pathway certain and your goal secure. You will not fail your brothers nor your Self. “And now He asks but that you think of Him a while each day, that He may speak to you and tell you of His Love, reminding you how great His trust; how limitless His Love. In your Name and His Own, which are the same, we practice gladly with this thought today: I will step back and let Him lead the way, For I would walk along the road to Him.” (W-155.13-14)

How lovely are these thoughts! How glorious to place trust in Him! Let us walk together brothers and hurry Home.

Rev. Deb Frantz is a Pathways of Light minister living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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Above All Else I Want to See Differently

by Rev. Mary Stoelting

One of the main goals of A Course in Miracles is to help me see the ego thought system clearly for what it is so that I will be willing to forgive, or let it go. It tells me that the ego thought system (belief in individuality) is not my friend and instead of giving me the freedom it promises, it only imprisons and hides reality from my awareness.

It is becoming clear that when I identify with the ego, it promises uniqueness, specialness and pleasures of the body as its gifts, but what I am really getting is an illusion of a “life” of vulnerability, weakness, conflict and death.

The Course teaches me how to see the difference between the ego’s thought system, whose one intent is to separate, and the Holy Spirit’s goal, which is to return me to the awareness of oneness. The ego separates through projecting guilt and the Holy Spirit unifies by seeing only innocence.

In Chapter 14, Section V it says, “Crucifixion is always the ego’s aim. It sees everyone as guilty, and by its condemnation it would kill. The Holy Spirit sees only guiltlessness, and in His gentleness He would release from fear and re-establish the reign of love.” (T-14.V.10:6-8)

Until I became a student of the Course, I thought it was only natural to think that everything I experienced with the body’s senses was real. Now I see how important it is to be willing to see the world differently with the help of the Holy Spirit. When I first started studying the Course, it seemed to be a shock to learn that the world I appeared to be in was not real. It seemed unsettling to learn that the physical world was completely the opposite of reality.

The good news is that behind the false world that I see through the body’s eyes is the real world. The Course does not leave me in the cold once it helps me understand the world I see with the body’ senses is not real. It shows me very clearly how to move past the false perceptions of the ego, which is the cause of all my unhappiness, to the true perception of the Holy Spirit.

It instructs me how to be successful in opening to an awareness of what is real. In Chapter 14, Section VII I am told, “The search for truth is but the honest searching out of everything that interferes with truth.” (2:1) It also explains that I cannot search for truth inside the ego box (the ego thought system). That is why I need the Holy Spirit to help me see past all the many forms of the tiny mad idea of separation.

The Holy Spirit is the one communication link with the truth, or Reality. The Holy Spirit is always there in my mind, behind all the raucous, busy noise of the ego. But in order for me to hear the Holy Spirit, I must be willing to quiet my mind and listen. I must be willing to take everything I think I believe is real to the Holy Spirit to be undone. “Light cannot enter darkness when a mind believes in darkness, and will not let it go.” (T-14.VII.5:1)

In order to let my mind be healed by the Holy Spirit, I have to be open to seeing the world differently. (See Workbook Lesson 28) I think this lesson gives the most valuable and practical ‘life skill’ I am learning from the Course.

In order to see the world differently I need to have an open mind instead of a closed mind. If I think I already know from past experience, I will not ask for the Holy Spirit’s healing perception. I believe this one habit of accepting Holy Spirit’s help is so important that it is the single thing that makes all the difference between my being happy or unhappy. This practice of consistently accepting Holy Spirit’s help to see everything in this world differently leads me back up the ladder to Heaven.

An important message in the Text about this practice is, “The Holy Spirit asks for you but this; bring to Him every secret you have locked away from him. Open every door to Him, and bid Him enter the darkness and lighten it away. At your request He enters gladly. He brings the light to darkness if you make the darkness open to Him.” (T-14.VII.6:1-4)

The darkness it is referring to is any guilt I am holding onto, be it in myself or another. This darkness is also referring to every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering. (See Lesson 193) As long as I continue to hold onto the ego thought system by believing in a world of time and space, I will be keeping myself in hell. I will not be happy. It will seem to give me a few brief encounters with worldly happiness, but nothing in this world of separation lasts. It was made to be constantly shifting and changing until it ends in death. As long as I continue to believe in a world of separation, I will think that I am separate and alone. “The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. I would let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.” (W-pI.56.3:2-4)

Everything I experience in the world is coming from my mind. As I let my mind be changed, my experience of the world changes because the world has not left my mind. I want to be consistently happy. I want to awaken to the truth and see a world that reflects the Love of God. That is why above all else, I want to see differently. That is why my one goal is to take every apprehension and every concern to the Holy Spirit for it to be undone.

This is the process of true forgiveness. This daily practice sets me free. “The constancy of happiness has no exceptions; no change of any kind. It is unshakable as is the Love of God for His creation. Sure in its vision as Its Creator is in what He knows, happiness looks on everything and sees it is the same. It sees not the ephemeral, for it desires everything be like itself, and sees it so.” (T-21.VIII.2:3-6)

What do I desire to see? Do I want to see differences and the constantly changing, or do I want to see only the eternal? In order to be consistently happy, my one choice now is to see past differences to the one eternal Love that is always there. Above all else I want to see differently through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As I choose in my heart of hearts, I receive.

Rev. Mary Stoelting is a co-founder of Pathways of Light. She lives in Kiel, Wisconsin

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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My Mother’s Day Lesson

by Rev. Derek Dube, O.M.C.

Eva and I were baby sitting our granddaughter, Devon, the day before Mother’s Day and decided to take her to the park. Devon loves the park! We parked the car in the lot and while Eva and Devon were getting their jackets on, I walked up the path ahead of them.

Just then, a young boy, aged 8 or 9, came toward me on the path and asked if he could use my cell phone. Now I don’t consider myself to be a prejudiced person, but all kinds of judgmental thoughts came to my mind immediately (you know, those ego sort of thoughts). This boy happened to be black. The judgmental thoughts that instantly came to my mind were from my past experiences of being held up a couple of times, comments that I had heard growing up in my community, and all the stereotypical beliefs that I had bought into over time. They included such thoughts that this kid was telling me a lie, he was going to run away with my phone, he was going to make all kinds of long distant calls, cost me all kinds of money, etc.

I decided to question him a little bit because I was aware that I did not trust him. He told me his family was from out of town and his mom had driven away and left him there without saying anything to him. I thought, “Yeah, right, this is a good story.” I decided that I would call his mom and find out what happened. I dialed the number he gave and when a woman answered, I told her what the boy had told me. She apologized and said she had to make an emergency run to the rest room with her daughter and would be right back. She thanked me for my concern and apologized again. I told the boy what his mom had said, so he sat down on the curb and waited for her to return.

Eva, Devon and I went on to the playground area. While Devon was on the slides, I went over and sat down by myself. I was very aware of a deep feeling of guilt and shame which was causing a pain in my stomach. How could I be filled with such mistrust for a child coming to me for help? I was very critical of myself for being such a “bad” person.

I watched the child out of the corner of my eye as he sat on the curb waiting for his mother to come back. In hindsight, I could see how calm and peaceful he was when talking to me. He had a lot of courage to come up to me and gently ask for help. I also noticed how calm he was and he smiled a lot. In a few minutes, the boy’s mother came back and he and his sister joined her on the path towards the playground.

I didn’t know what to do. Should I go over and talk to them, see if everything was all right? I felt a paralyzing feeling in my body, I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to go over and apologize, but I couldn’t move. I was a victim of my own self-criticism and it seemed overwhelming. Eva noticed the family and told me she was going over to talk to them. I wanted to go over and talk to them too. Somehow, Eva saying that gave me the strength to stand up and walk over to them with her. I apologized to the boy for not trusting him and thanked him for his courage. We small talked with the family for a few minutes and then went back to our own activities.

Later that night after contemplating the events at the park, I realized how accepting and peaceful the mom and her two children were and how I was in the loving energy that they were extending outward. I felt no judgment coming from them in any way. I got the feeling that this mom was a very loving person and was modeling that to her children. The only gifts I received from them were smiles, love, acceptance, understanding and ……. I can’t really think of the perfect word for what I experienced in that moment, but it was simply beautiful. I truly feel that on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, 2004, I was visited by three angels who were there to gently help me release some old, unconscious baggage that has needed to be let go of for a long, long time. I’m very grateful for the experience I was gifted and for Eva’s part in the nudging me over to talk to them.

Derek Dube is a Pathways of Light minister living in Brookfield Wisconsin.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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Eternal Purpose

by Rev. Erin Lawson, O.M.C.

In this world there seems to be endless choices we need to make each and every day. However, every choice in truth is a choice between what appears to be two options. They are illusion and Truth. The first option does not truly exist and the other option is eternally True. The unreal option is the belief that we exist in a world of form and perception and that we experience it through the presence of a body. This is no more than an illusion that we have been giving belief to in a mind split from the holy mind God created. The option of Truth is the knowing and experience of our eternal existence as one with God, the Source of all existence. Depending on which one we choose, we will believe it is the truth and experience the appropriate effects. The effect of the illusion is insanity; the effect of the Truth, being Truth, is infinite joy.

God created us one with Him in His Image and His Image has nothing to do with the experience of having a body. He created us to be one with Him eternally in His Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is His eternal Reality and there is no other Reality but His. The experience of existing in God’s Reality as God Himself experiences It is the Truth of existence. That is why Jesus, living in and experiencing the Reality of God, could say with authority; “I am the Truth.” He was demonstrating the truth of existence as God created it for us. The joy of Truth is that what God created remains as It is created eternally. Eternal changelessness is the nature of Truth. God’s Creation does not suddenly by some force of magic become something other than He willed. Believing God’s Will has changed, or that we have become something other than He Willed, gave rise to this world and all that it contains — all of its so-called “gifts” and all of its “horrors.”

In this world we are presented with the experience (belief) of having, or worse yet, being a body that is vital to our experience of existing. Everything we do in the world is done in service to the body. Everything we do in service to the body is done to avoid the effects of fear down the road. We have centuries of evidence that bodies are born in pain, live a life of struggle and toil just to end up decaying underground.

We all have our moments of achievement that we thought would bring the happiness and fulfillment we deserve. But without fail it is always less than we thought it would be. Then we try again believing this time it will be the fulfillment we want and it never is. In spite of this obvious madness, compared to our Eternal Oneness with God, which is Eternal Fulfillment, we devote ourselves to the body’s longevity as if it is the answer to Eternal Joy.

The belief in the body as reality presents us with endless choices in service to countless purposes, few of which, if any, relate to each other except for what we believe we can get from them. Each relationship we experience in this world seemingly serves a different purpose than all the other relationships we have. We assign a value to each one and if it lives up to our evaluation we believe it is “good,” if not its “bad.” Everything we experience in our life is a choice, good and bad alike. We choose them in service to some illusionary purpose that we believe will bring us fulfillment.

This is the experience of a fragmented mind and is the state of illusion. True and eternal fulfillment comes from knowing and being the fulfillment of God’s Will. God created us with a holy (whole) Mind, an extension of His Mind, in service to His Eternal Purpose. Accepting our oneness with God and living in a way that honors “only that” as our reality now, which honors our Father in Heaven, brings the fulfillment we are all seeking.

A Course In Miracles teaches us that our only responsibility is “Atonement.” Atonement is the acceptance of our existence as God created it. We atone ourselves to God’s Will as our existence and Its fulfillment as the purpose of our existence moment by moment. As we accept our oneness with God and live according to the Law of His Reality, we are accepting Christ into our existence as our existence and that is “salvation.” Look at the lily of the field. It does not struggle and toil for its existence. When we finally accept our self as God’s holy Children, our purpose in eternity, all we need to be His children will be added unto us. We will fulfill our God given purpose effortlessly even as we stand upon the face of the earth.

There may be those who struggle with the thought of how to accept our oneness with God and fulfill the purpose of being His holy Child in this world. The vast majority of God’s Children in the world do not realize they have the right or the God given ability to make such a choice. Even if they have an idea that they are supposed to Love as God Loves, they see the madness of the world around them and don’t see how it could be possible.

Everyone wants to be loved and hope they are as loving to others. Even those who act evil want to love and be loved in their heart of hearts. However, they have sunk so far into the illusion that in their minds they have given up on Love. Thank God, Love has not given up on them.

To know and experience our oneness with God we must be willing to offer His Love to every moment, to every experience and to everyone. If a thought of Osama Bin Laden or seemingly worse yet Adolf Hitler enters my mind am I willing to offer them the Love of God? If I experience thoughts of anger and hate and a lust for revenge about them, I am denying the purpose I was created for. Even though they seem to have nothing to do with my life in a personal sense, I experience them in my awareness of existing. That makes them a part of my creation, my existence, and I must be willing to love all of creation as God Loves me right now. Everyone of us has someone in our reality that we want to love but they keep presenting themselves to us in a way that seems to make it impossible to embrace them in love. So how is it possible to love all of creation as God loves us? It begins with the forgiveness of the Holy Spirit.

True forgiveness is to know with certainty that only God exists. To know only that which is of His Kingdom, Its Laws, is Truth. To see the Children of God and the world they live in as forgiven is to see them as God created them and knows them — perfectly holy. To see a child of God as anything else is to not see them at all and it is a choice to leave our purpose in eternity unfulfilled. One of the most joyous and liberating moments of awakening is the clear and undeniable realization that we are created for the eternal. That is the fulfillment of the curriculum of A Course In Miracles — to “remember God.” As we willingly accept that realization and devote ourselves to fulfilling it here and now, we are restored to the Vision of Christ. Because we choose to serve no purpose but the eternal in the moment, the vision of Christ reveals to us how we can fulfill God’s Purpose for all in each and every moment. No matter what the perception may be as the world sees it, the Vision of Christ shows us how to fulfill the truth in that moment, which is a blessing to all creation.

The more we allow ourselves to witness the forgiven world and honor the purpose of Truth in each moment, the clearer it becomes to us that we can only fulfill the purpose of God right now. There is no such thing as a future or a past in eternal Truth. All of creation is happening right now because now is the only element of time that touches upon eternity. Every purpose we have accepted in this world and pursued its fulfillment as if it has value to our existence is a choice for delay in time. It is a choice to leave our Eternal Purpose unfulfilled. The choice for delay in time is always tragic. It is tragic because it is the choice to delay our own salvation and salvation corrects and fulfills all of creation for us immediately. As we serve only the purpose of eternity through every seeming choice we make in the world, we will witness all of creation existing in service to our Eternal Purpose. The joy is we do not need to understand how that can be in order for it to work. We just have to be willing to know and accept; we all exist for God and His purpose in eternity. There is no other Truth. Join with the Holy Spirit in service to God’s eternal purpose and know the glory and joy of our oneness with God here and now.

God’s Blessings to all.

Rev. Erin Lawson is a Pathways of Light minister living in Honolulu, Hawaii.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice and website address are included.

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