Miracles News

Articles by
Pathways of Light Ministers

Subscribe to printed version of Miracles News.

Most Recent Articles

(Drag to scroll down.)

Archives

Complete Archives

Tweet

The Guilt and Forgiveness Things

by Rev. Larry Glenz, O.M.C.

I have had my share of trouble getting a grip on the “guilt” thing in A Course in Miracles. I am being clearly taught that:

• There is never a good reason to feel guilty.

• I feel guilty because I falsely believe I have separated from God.

• Only the ego believes in guilt; Holy Spirit knows I am totally innocent.

• I’m just dreaming that I’m guilty and, therefore, I need to awaken.

• I need to bring all my feelings of guilt, sin, and fear to Holy Spirit.

• Holy Spirit will remove my unconscious guilt from my mind.

• This brings about a happy dream and then ultimate awakening.

Oh, and there is the “forgiveness” thing that I have struggled with as well. I am taught:

— Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

— When I think I am forgiving another, I am really forgiving myself.

— What my body’s eyes see is a lie; so I forgive what never really happened.

— Any grievance that I do not forgive will result in my suffering.

So how can I apply these principles to my life? 

It has been two years since I lost my beloved son to a heroin overdose. We battled his addiction to opiates together for more than seven years. For most of that time I was in the grip of fear; I call it “the terror.”  Every ring of my phone held the potential of announcing a terrifying consequence for my son, Kevin. 

I turned to my Higher Power continuously for help. His constant message to me was to “just love him anyway.” I was not to judge or condemn him for his behavior. I was directed to love and forgive him.

Despite his many efforts at recovery, one night the dreaded phone call came. Kevin was gone at the age of 27. Among those he left behind was his four-month old daughter, Olivia. It was a tragic ending for the one time all American boy.

During the long cycles of addiction, recovery, and relapse, I followed a process of turning to Divine Guidance — my Higher Power — Holy Spirit — for advice. I wrote in my journal to ask Him specific questions about how to handle Kevin and his disease of addiction. Spirit’s answers to me were consistent. I was told that I have no idea what Kevin needed to go through. I was to demonstrate unconditional love. Nevertheless, I was inconsistent in following His directions. I often responded out of fear — using anger, guilt, and shame to try to get him to change. Those times I regret.

I have used this experience to better understand the Course’s teachings about guilt and forgiveness. I believe what ACIM teaches: Only the love is real in this world; all else is an illusion made of thoughts from my unconscious guilt. The story about the “terror” I experienced was never real.

I am practicing forgiveness of myself, forgiveness of Kevin, and of all those connected to the story. This practice is strengthening me spiritually and emotionally. I am learning to keep all the love and to forgive all the rest. 

My Higher Power sustains me and gives me encouragement to help others through His guidance. Sometimes this guidance comes through to me in Kevin’s voice.  Those times bring a smile to my face and a warm rush to my heart. 

I believe I am stronger than ever before. I credit my belief in these principles and Holy Spirit’s guidance for this. The “guilt” and “forgiveness” things about ACIM are coming in stronger now. I can feel an inner peace with Kevin. And I am grateful.

Rev. Larry Glenz, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Long Beach, New York.
You can purchase Rev. Larry Glenz’s book or audio book, “Forgiving Kevin: A Son’s Addiction Becomes a Father’s Greatest Teacher” at the Pathways website store.

© 2012, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Be Silent. Be Still

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

There is a devotional song I like, called Tapping by Rickie Beckwith. In part it says:

You are tapping on my heart. Tell me what is the plan. Tell me how to heal my mind. Tell me how to walk this land.

These words resonate deeply with me because I am aware of that tapping all the time. Holy Spirit is tapping in my Heart, tapping on my shoulder, on my head. He gently taps to get my attention. Sometimes I acknowledge His taps, sometimes not, but always the tapping is there. My desire for His Guidance grows stronger and stronger as I practice listening.

Tap tap… Wake up! Tap tap… Say this. Tap tap… Go here. Tap tap… Do that. Tap tap… Are you tired of the chatter in your mind? Listen to me. Tap tap… Read this book. Tap tap… Watch this video. Really? Okay. Tap tap… You feel sad. You must be listening to the ego. Tap tap… You are loved. Tap tap… You are never alone. Tap tap… You belong to God.

When Regina Dawn Akers got back from her pilgrimage to India to visit Ramana Maharishi’s ashram with the message that she is to spend a year in silence, I felt the Holy Spirit taping on my heart. Tap tap… This for you, too. I’ve been following in Regina’s steps for years now, so I wasn’t surprised that my Heart answered her desire for silence, but I was uncertain that I could do this.

I have a very full time job that calls for a lot of verbal communication. I facilitate ministerial courses, teach, counsel, perform weddings, mentor students of the Course. I didn’t see how I could spend a year in silence. And yet… there was that tapping.

So instead of saying no, I asked how. How would You have me do this? The Holy Spirit helped me to see that this, like everything we do together, is not about what I do, but how I do it.

I began by looking with the Holy Spirit at my obligations one at a time to see if there was anything I should drop. I also remain open to guidance in the moment about my schedule. I recognize a tendency in myself to use “worthwhile” activity, even spiritual activity as a distraction from what I am guided to do.

Since I was on vacation this week between Christmas and New Years, I thought it would be an excellent time to practice silence and get a feel for what this coming year will be like. I didn’t have guidance to drop anything in my schedule, so I didn’t see how I was going to fit silence into it, but I figured Holy Spirit had a plan and I was excited to see it unfold.

Holy Spirit gently led me to ways this will work for me. I would be writing and would feel that familiar tapping. Be still now. And I would stop what I was doing and sit in silence for a bit, maybe no longer than a couple of minutes. It was a good two minutes, though. It was like turning off my iPhone for a minute or so. When I turn it back on, the glitches are gone and it runs faster and better. I turn myself off for a brief time and when I return to my work, I am refreshed and working more efficiently and absolutely more peacefully.

While I was washing dishes, I was deciding what to do next and allowing the ego to be entertained with stories from the past. Tap tap… Be quiet. Oh! He wants me to practice silence in my mind as well. Good one, Holy Spirit! I need this practice anyway, as I’ve been working on letting go of the thinking mind and obviously I have more work to do on this.

I was driving to the store and listening to a CD. When it ended, I reached for the next one and felt that tapping again. Silence now.

I was listening to my friend talk and felt the tap. What? Holy Spirit showed me that my friend’s voice was not the only one in my head. In fact, now that He called it to my attention, I realized it sounded like a whole convention was taking place there. I was listening the wee voice that was preparing my response to her words. I was listening to the voice that was reporting back on the level of my physical comfort. It is too hot in here, the chair too hard.

There was a voice that was commenting on her new haircut. Another was reviewing our past visits. I was listening to the voice that was making out my shopping list, for heaven’s sake. So Holy Spirit was asking me to be silent as I listened. When I did that, I was surprised at how silent my mind was with only the one voice speaking.

I was listening to a student, and when I started to respond, I felt a tap. Be quiet and listen. So I did. And before I tried to respond again, I asked for both timing and words. I am to be quiet even when I speak, it seems. Fewer words, and only His words.

When I fixed my breakfast yesterday, I was trying to decide whether I would read or check my email while I ate. I’m big on multi-tasking. I felt the familiar tapping. Just eat. Eat in silence.

I am amazed at the number of ways I have used business and distractions to avoid silence. This morning I went through my usual ritual: Get coffee, turn on computer, read lesson, journal, post. Tap tap… Be still. Be silent. And I remembered that silence is not just something else I am to do this year, rather it is the defining element. I think Holy Spirit is asking me to begin and end my day with silence. I am to make silence my priority, to have dedicated time for silence as well as learning how to be silent in my activities, my words, and my listening.

In Workbook Lesson 221 we learn: Peace to my mind. Let all my thoughts be still.

Father, I come to You today to seek the peace that You alone can give. I come in silence. In the quiet of my heart, the deep recesses of my mind, I wait and listen for Your Voice. My Father, speak to me today. I come to hear Your Voice in silence and in certainty and love, sure You will hear my call and answer me.

Now do we wait in quiet. God is here, because we wait together. I am sure that He will speak to you, and you will hear. Accept my confidence, for it is yours. Our minds are joined. We wait with one intent; to hear our Father’s answer. (W-pII.221)

Rev. Myron Jones, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Charles, Louisiana. Read more of her inspiring Healing Journal articles on the Pathways website. Myron’s website is:
http://www.forgivenessisthewayhome.org

© 2012, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

I See

by Rev. Sherry Jonckheere, O.M.C.

It has been clearly and methodically proven to me over the years that everything I see is a total creation of my mind. I have a world inside my head that I can choose to see as my truth, and be a slave to its whims and crazy circumstances or I can see the truth as shown me through ACIM. My study of quantum theory and other sciences, as well as energy methodologies have given me the understanding of the concept that there is nothing out there. ACIM has taken these studies to another level by offering further explanation about the nothingness that lies beyond energy.

I took a day recently to sit with and study Lesson 132 from the Course again, as it challenges my beliefs in this world of form and brings to mind the truth of what I am seeing and all that I have created. The idea that, “I loose the world from all I thought it was” allowed me to practice really freeing myself from the chains of this world. It offered me the opportunity to look again at the hologram I have created.

As I sat with the idea and felt myself squarely in the moment, I could see the edges of what I had made. Having an understanding of this mad idea, with the time to work and ponder its intricate illusion, I am now more keenly aware of the flimsiness of what I think I see. I feel that as I back away from my dream of this world and move toward what is real, I have the feeling of having one foot in the dream and one foot in reality. The dream we look upon each day is often likened to a play being acted out on stage that allows us to see our dream from an observer perspective.

The vision I had while working with this lesson was a picture of myself peeking out through a curtain, watching a dream play out. Behind the curtain, which is where I want to go, is where truth lies and so I love this perspective. Although there are still areas where I am still connected to the dream, I am more and more aware of the illusion that is happening right in front of me.

In a previous Course lesson I went into meditation with the idea for the day, and what was coming up seemed blurry to me. I have always had great eyesight, but for the past couple of years I have found that there are times when I have trouble seeing things as clearly as I once did. These times come and go and usually get worse during times of stress or hormonal imbalance. So, although it is frustrating at times, I have a pair of light reading glasses that help me and I just accept.

Many times a thought has come to me that, as I do the work to loosen the grip of the world, I see that my body’s eyes are less clear in what they are seeing because there is nothing here to see. Real vision has nothing to do with the body’s eyes. And so, in yesterday’s blurry meditation (and for a moment I was frustrated that everything seemed unclear even there) I heard that my inner vision is adjusting to see clearly while my outer sight is becoming more and more out of focus to symbolize the inner clarity and understanding of what is real vs. what is an illusion.

I would like to move towards clarity in both worlds as I grow in my understanding, but appreciate the symbolic nature of what is happening. I love the visions and thoughts that I receive that show me where I stand right now as I continue to trust and have faith in the knowledge and understanding of what lies beyond the dream that I have made, and the energy that makes up everything that I think I see. I get it. Thank you.

Louise Hay writes that eyes “represent the capacity to see clearly — past, present and future.” Her corresponding affirmation is: “I see with love and joy.” She goes on to say that eye problems are “not liking what you see in your own life,” and offers a beautiful affirmation, “I now create a life I love to look at.”

One of the challenges I find as I do this work is functioning in the dream as life’s seeming little glitches arise. I keep Louise’ book, Heal Your Body close by and refer to her mastery when I need to reboot or tweak my thinking about something that may be going awry in my body.

So as much work as I am doing in loosening the grip of this world I think I see, I am clearly still dreaming and so I take care to stay healthy and understand all of the strange and wonderful happenings taking place in and around me. What fun!

“Yet if you are as God created you, you cannot think apart from Him, nor make what does not share His timelessness and Love. Are these inherent in the world you see? Does it create like Him? Unless it does, it is not real, and cannot be at all. If you are real the world you see is false, for God’s creation is unlike the world in every way. And as it was His Thought by which you were created, so it is your thoughts which made it and must set it free, that you may know the Thoughts you share with God.” (W-pI.132.11)

Thank you. I see.

Rev. Sherry Jonckheere, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Brighton, Michigan.

© 2012, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

A Quick Course in Health

by Rev. Liz Swearsky, O.M.C.

This morning I was reading my workbook lesson, “My body is a wholly neutral thing.” (W-pII.294) I started thinking, we go through so much trouble taking care of our bodies, what we put on it, how we feed it, tend to it when it is sick. What if we had such a deep belief in our oneness with God that we never had to do any of those things? Now, I am not a proponent of walking around naked (although it would be nice if it was a society norm!), but can you imagine how much more time we would have if we didn’t have to do all this stuff? Think of how much more time we would have soaking in the Love of God, experiencing the joy that is our right, reveling in the pursuit of happiness… just relaxing. (We all seem to be so tired all the time!) 

Our health would be exemplary and health insurance would be a thing of the past. With God as our insurance company we are guaranteed perfect health. Think of all the money we would save! 

There are ways out of this. First is using our mind in a constructive way. As hard as this sounds, what we believe is what we attract. Sometimes these beliefs are tucked away deep in our unconscious mind, causing havoc, like a virus that infects a computer. We don’t know where it came from, but we definitely know it is there.

To begin the healing, we must recognize this and make a choice to change our beliefs. Question what you believe, be open to seeing things differently! Take micro-steps. This won’t happen overnight and celebrate the small successes.

Stop beating yourself up when you slip up a bit! In truth, we are perfect in every way. We have to make the overall decision to believe in this truth. When you are looking dis-ease or the flu in the face, choose to see perfect health, remembering that is what you are. You are not a body, you are free, (paraphrasing Lesson 199).

Your body is to be used as a means for awakening, it is wholly neutral. See it that way. Instead of identifying with yourself as the body, see yourself as eternal Spirit. Begin to detach from the body; don’t take its issues and this life so seriously. 

Another thing is forgiveness. Lack of forgiveness is like closing the door on God. I look at it this way. If I am not forgiving my brother, then I am only hurting myself. Forgiveness does not mean that you have to stay in the bad relationship or keep yourself in a negative environment; it just means that you choose to see the truth of that person(s) — the shining Light that is the truth of who they are, no matter how deeply it may be buried inside of them, and recognize that they are a mirror for ourselves. Be willing to see what is buried within us by looking at the people who disturb our peace as our teachers, who reveal the healing that we need. They are helping us to solve our internal puzzle, to clear our mental cobwebs. Ultimately nothing outside of us really means anything; it is our mind that decides how we perceive everything. Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? Choose happiness. It’s a lot more fun! 

I had struggled with body image and mental health for much of my life, having climbed out of the dark hole of depression and bulimia. Now, as a customer service rep for an insurance company, I speak with people every day facing all kinds of health issues and the fear that surrounds dis-ease. I have great compassion for them and send them a silent blessing. I recognize myself in them. I know in my heart that they are perfect health and hold that for them until the day when they are able to believe that for themselves. 

I have also found that letting go and letting God, as trite as it may sound, has been a tremendous help to me. We don’t have to do this ourselves. We have been given the Holy Spirit to walk with us. Use the Holy Spirit! We have been given this holy Helper as our individual Counselor, Friend and Healer. Think of Him/Her as your best Friend, who has only your unending happiness in mind.

Find and listen for the small, soft Voice within. It is there. Get quiet and listen. And surrender… That can be the biggest one! Surrendering all that we think we have to “someone” (Holy Spirit), that we are not sure will get it right for us, understand us, know what we ‘want’ is difficult.

As I learn to do this more and more, my life becomes more peaceful… more aligned with God (or Good). Sometimes you need to get through the storm of doubt before that allowing can come in, but it is there and it is worth the effort to find. Being open to change will ironically lead to the changeless Truth and ultimately, great health.

Rev. Liz Swearsky, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Southington, Connecticut.

© 2012, 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.

Tell a Friend

Printable Page

---

Back to main page of Miracles News.

Featured Store Items

Spiritual Counselor Training — based on principles of A Course in Miracles, including ordination. More….

24 ACIM Practitioner courses including 50-page study guide, CD's or MP3s, with facilitator. More….

Healing Inner Child 8-week program will help you nurture your inner child, connect with your Higher Self and heal relationships.

Listen & Receive 30-Day Home Study Learn to receive insight for your life in a form that is perfect for you …heal fears, find joy & peace. Learn more.

Hey, Holy Spirit, It's Me Again by Rev. Myron Jones. An indispensible guide for anyone on the path of ACIM with insights on the 1st 90 lessons. More…

True Forgiveness by Rev. Jennifer McSween. The Proven Path from Pain to Power and personal happiness in 5 Simple Steps. Learn more.

From the Christ Mind Book II scribed by Darrell Morley Price. A great supporting supplement to A Course in Miracles. We highly recommend it. More….

Forgiving Kevin Audio book by Rev. Larry Glenz. A moving and inspiring true story of a father/son relationship that withstood seven years of addiction, recovery, and relapse. More….

Healing Family Relationships Applying the Principles of A Course in Miracles audio book by Rev. Myron Jones. Learn how family relationships offer fertile grounds for forgiveness and healing your judgments of the world. More.