Miracles News

July-September, 2010

Letting Go of the Battle with God

by Revs. Robert & Mary Stoelting

Mary: God is changeless oneness. If I am not experiencing changeless oneness, changeless Love, then I am trying to make up something other than what God created. I am in a battle with God about what Is.

I am in a stage now where my willingness to give up this battle is getting stronger. This willingness shows up in my dream of separate bodies as a consistent practice in stepping back from what I think is true.

This has not been easy. Seeing the one Mind of Christ seems illusive and I fall back into the illusory story of making differences and uniqueness real again and again. I used to blame myself for getting lost in the dream and feeling angry, and afraid of what I thought was going on. But now I see that this is just another ploy to do battle with God. Now, when I recognize that I am not in a place of peace, I remember that once again, I have tried to replace God with another story I am making up. Now I know that my job is simply to step back from what I have tried to make reality, and hand it over to the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit Who returns me once again to the truth that only God Is and nothing else is true.

We recently saw on the science channel that physicists are coming to the idea that this whole physical universe of time and space is just an illusion. This experience reflects my desire to return to the truth that bodies are only an illusion and only Love’s oneness is real. I am finding that an important part of the process of letting go of the battle with God is simply to quit efforting, to relax my hold on what I think is real and give time to quiet listening to my inner Teacher.

This is a radical change from my habit of assuming that what I see and hear and touch with my body is real. Letting go of my battle with God about “what is” is a radical change in life style and I struggle with this “letting go” process often. But that doesn’t mean that I am a hopeless case. Thank God my inner Teacher waits patiently for me to once again step back, where I am returned to remembering that I know nothing.

In this quiet place of surrender to a better way, I find peace, joy and Love. “The sight of Christ is all there is to see. The song of Christ is all there is to hear. The hand of Christ is all there is to hold. There is no journey but to walk with Him.” (T-24.V.7:6-10)

I have not completed my journey of letting go of my battle with God, but I’m on my way. And the more I practice remembering that I know nothing, the easier and more full of peace and joy the journey becomes. ❦

Simplify

Robert: Lately I have observed that there seems to be increasing discussions in the news and on talk shows about the value of simplifying. The motivation to simplify may be based on economics, a need to reduce stress, an interest in living “green” or a willingness to let go of old attachments.

For me life becomes more simple as I stop trying to use experiences and beliefs from the past as the basis for interpreting what I am experiencing in the present. The temptation to think that the past has taught me something meaningful comes up often.

The one area where I have frequently tripped on this is when I am working with machines or computers. What does Holy Spirit know about software and mechanics? Yeah, these are illusions, but I still have work to do. Get out of my way, Holy Spirit. I can take care of this. (In case you were wondering, this is just another form of the battle with God Mary talked about above.) But if I’m honest I have to admit that when I push Holy Spirit aside, my work gets increasingly complicated and stressful.

But when I step back from “my way” and stop sending Holy Spirit out on the “highway” with willingness to be taught, my work gets simpler. “In quietness are all things answered, and is every problem quietly resolved.” (T-27.IV.1:1) As I allow myself to stay in peace, Holy Spirit and I become a team. As the bridge between the oneness and simplicity of Love and the mind-boggling complexity of the ego thought system, the Holy Spirit uses each situation I think I am in to show me Love’s reflection.

Love is one and sees only unity. So how does this help me work with the software I am using? To begin with, Love sees no adversaries. Believe me, I’ve done enough battles with software to know that I’m good at making it an adversary. When I am willing to step back from the battle, I make room for Holy Spirit to demonstrate that as I see the software as a friend, a means to be helpful, I will easily see how to apply it to Holy Spirit’s purpose. This recognition is reflected by my eyes being directed to instructions I hadn’t seen before, my thoughts making connections that I had blocked from awareness, by others bringing me answers, sometimes in seemingly unrelated contexts.

These experiences teach me that I am not alone and disconnected. I am connected with Love that is beyond all images and forms. When I let go and accept the simplicity of Love, simplicity is reflected back to me in the world. Every “project” in the world becomes a classroom for Holy Spirit’s lesson in the simplicity of Love’s oneness. The battle fades and the peace that I am is reflected in the world.

Revs. Robert and Mary Stoelting are co-founders of Pathways of Light. They reside in Sanford, Florida. E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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