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II’S AN INSIDE JOB

ITS AN INSIDE JOB

There was a man who was stranded on a desert island for many, many years. One day, while strolling along the beach, he spotted a ship in the distance. This had never happened in all the time he was on the island, so he was very excited about the chance of being rescued.

Immediately, he built a fire on the beach and generated as much smoke as possible. It worked! Soon, the ship was heading his way. When the ship was close enough to the island, a dinghy was dispatched to investigate the situation. The man on the island was overjoyed with the chance to be rescued and met his saviors as they landed.

After some preliminary conversation the man in charge asked the man on the island how he had survived for so many years. The man replied by telling of his exploits for food and how he was able to make a fine house to live in. In fact, the man said, “You can see my home from here. It?s up there on the ridge.”

He pointed the men in the direction of his home. They looked up and saw three buildings. They inquired about the building next to the man?s house and he replied, “That?s my church - I go there to worship on Sundays.”

When asked about the third building, the man replied, “That?s where I used to go to church.”

We laugh at this fellow because we recognize in him someone we have known, and perhaps see our self in some way. Some folks are quick to change churches if the one they are in doesn?t seem to be doing the job for them. Perhaps they are looking for the church that will make them feel safe. They want to think that salvation is within their grasp and so they go to the church that promises to deliver. They soon move on because they find that they don?t feel anymore saved at this one than they did at the last one. Well good luck to them, because they aren?t going to find what they seek in a church. Salvation is an inside job.

This isn?t something we are always comfortable looking at. We are a people looking for a quick fix in all areas of our lives. If we have a pain, we go to the doctor and get him to prescribe a pill for it. Too fat? Look for the magic diet that will take that extra weight off in 90 days, just in time for this years new bathing suits. There?s no problem finding one; every magazine on the stand promises the diet to end all diets right there within their covers. And guess what, follow their diet and you can lose weight without effort, without sacrifice, without exercise! If that isn?t easy enough, Walmart has an entire isle devoted to pills that will do the job for you, sometimes while you sleep! Depressed? No problem, there?s a pill for that, too. Child too rambunctious? Give him a pill. Doing drugs? Just say no. Life not working? Ask Dr. Phil for a quick 10 minute fix. He does it on Oprah all the time.

But guess what. There isn?t a quick fix for what ails us. I?m not going to give it to you in a 15 minute sermon, or even a two hour sermon. You can?t buy it at Walgreens and you can?t get it from a psychologist, not even a celebrity psychologist. Changing churches won?t make us feel better and neither will changing the circumstances of our lives. What is wrong in our lives isn?t out there at all.  What we see as wrong in our lives, what we see as the circumstances of our lives, is just a reflection of what is wrong in our minds. It is a reflection of our wrong- minded thinking.

I created my life as I see it today. The building blocks are my beliefs and if I don?t like the structure I have made, then I am going to have to change my beliefs. I wish there were just a shot I could take, or a magic incantation that I could utter and everything would be different. But that?s not how it works. I have wasted too much of my life trying to fix the effect, while leaving the cause in place. This makes no sense. It is time for a change that will really make a difference.

Joy and peace are the natural state of God?s children. So what happened to me? Where is my joy and peace and how do I get back to them. God, in His infinite love and mercy, placed within me a Guide Who will help me get to the life I am intended to live. Once I give up on the quick fix, and once I quit trying to build this structure from the top down, I can start my real work.

Please let me make a suggestion. If you are unhappy in your relationship, stop trying to make your partner into someone who can make you happy. If you want a strong and fulfilling relationship, your work isn?t in the other person. Begin your work in yourself. No one can make you happy and no one can make you unhappy. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is a state of being. And happiness can be achieved only within yourself. It is your thoughts that create one state or the other, so if you are unhappy in your relationship the change must begin with your thoughts.

I must be psychic because I hear a question from you. What good is changing my thoughts, changing myself, if my partner is going to remain the same? How can this change the relationship? It takes two to make a relationship, doesn?t it? Well, this is the really neat thing about it. If you change your beliefs and thus change yourself, the relationship will change.

Stop wasting your time trying to place blame outside yourself. You might build a great case for your misery being someone else?s fault, but you won?t make yourself one bit happier in doing so. You will simply reinforce the idea that you are powerless. Keep the responsibility for your happiness within you where you have absolute control. In changing your own mind and teaching yourself to live in joy and peace, you will necessarily influence those around you. Your model of self-love will touch all of us deeply. Your inner work will infect the quantum field which will create a change in the physical world. Your life will change. Your relationship will change.

This is the only way to affect real change in your life. Anything else you do will only shuffle around what is already there. You may make a different design that you prefer over the old, but eventually it will prove itself to be as comfortless as the past design.  So how do we make real change? How do we know how to change our thoughts and which beliefs will work? What if we choose new beliefs and they are as ineffective as the ones we have already tried?

This is where God comes to the rescue. This is why He placed within us His Own Voice to gently whisper to us the truth we seek. This Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, will correct our thinking and heal our minds. We only need to be willing to hear a new way. Here is our only part in the process: We need to be mindful of thoughts that do not serve us, and we need to give these thoughts to the Holy Spirit to correct. This will not happen without our active participation because God will not force our happiness on us. He will wait patiently for us to recognize that joy is our will as it is God?s Will.

Remember the passage in the Bible that says seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be open? Well notice that it doesn?t say just stand there and wait for something to happen. First we must knock because God so loves us that He honors our free will. He so trusts us that He knows it is inevitable that we will recognize our will is His Will. How much time will it take us? I don?t know. How much pain can you endure? Your pain is self inflicted, and will not be relieved until you choose differently.

This is not complicated. It is very simple. You have two voices within you. You have your ego voice. This is the voice that got you into this mess in the first place. You may want to reconsider listening to it in the future. It hasn?t worked out so well thus far. This is the voice that assures you your problems are someone else?s fault. It is enticing because it invites you to believe that the blame lies outside of you. If you lose your job, the ego?s voice comforts you with the thought that it is the economy. If you speak harshly to your children, your ego voice says that they drove you to it. It is their own fault. In other words, the problems are not yours, they are outside you where you have no control over them, there is nothing you can do to change things, so sit back, do nothing and suffer. That is your lot in life.

If you are the sort that is not willing to just sit back and take it, the ego has another story line. He tells you that you need to get off your duff and start making changes. If the people at your church don?t seem to appreciate your attitude, find another church with a more discerning membership. If your boss doesn?t like your work, find a new job. It has lot?s of advice like, eat less, exercise more, stop smoking, buy new furniture, change the color of your hair, have another drink, another toke, another relationship, a new best friend. Change the flavor, color, design of your life. Switch everything around because if it looks different, maybe it will be different.

This ego voice tells you that if your relationships aren?t working, if your partner is making you miserable, you need to fix her. Explain to her what is wrong with her; what is wrong with her behavior. Help her see the error of their ways. Make her listen to you with unfailing logic, with manipulation, with force. Make bargains with her. If you loved me, you would do this. If you want me to love you, you must do that. Oh yeah, that has worked really well in the past.

Or you can listen to the other Voice. You can bring your problems to God. You can bring your unhappiness and your lack of peace to your Father and ask for help in understanding what you need help in changing. Give Him your thoughts about work and the boss you can?t get along with. Give Him your thoughts about ungrateful children, uncooperative partners. Search your mind for the thoughts behind the emotional upheavals in your life and ask your Father for another way to see this.

How do you know which voice you are hearing? Is the voice harsh? Is it demeaning? Does the voice place blame? Does it berate, enforce guilt, and deflate your hope? Does the voice suggest you are special in ways other children of God are not? Does it tell you about your mistakes? Does it warn you of dangers and increase your fear? This is not God?s Voice.

God?s Voice is always quiet and gentle. His Voice speaks of love and brings comfort with it. He reminds you of your innate holiness and your perfection. He speaks of your brother with the reverence a blessed child of God deserves. He sees only innocence and speaks to you only of unity. He knows that all of us are special in the same way, and one is not greater than or lesser than another. He knows that you have never done anything wrong in your life; that all of your circumstances are here for the purpose of your personal growth, and He knows that you have met each challenge in the best way that you possibly could have at that moment.

If the ego?s voice seems always to be the voice that you hear first and is always the loudest voice, it is only because it speaks from a place of desperation, and out of fear and uncertainty. If the temptation to listen to that voice is strong, it is only because you have made a habit of doing so. Like any habit, it will require consistent effort on your part to make a change. If you have ever tried to break a bad habit, you know how much work is required of you. It doesn?t usually happen overnight. However, as you do the work, the rewards for your effort, the peace and joy you feel, will be the motivation to continue the work. Like any other new skill, the more often you practice it, the easier it becomes.

There are only two voices. Which will you listen to? One will bring you confusion and unhappiness; the other will bring love and joy into your life. You can have either one. You can choose the fruitless work of trying to change the effects of your thoughts, trying to change the world outside of you. Or, you can choose instead, to work with God on your inner self where the only real change can be affected. Each moment of your life provides an opportunity to choose anew.

 

© 2005, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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From 920: Being a Miracle Worker

From 920: Being a Miracle Worker

How my life is becoming less complex and agitated as I let go of the separated world belief.

Now when something seems to disturb my world, I sooner or later (and more often sooner) see the disturbance not as something to fix or to regret, but something to forgive. Recognizing that everything is for forgiveness makes all of it very simple.

I was thinking this morning that I needed something I don’t have. Then I thought that if I do indeed need this in my life, it will be in my life. I give the illusion of need to the Holy Spirit. He knows what I need, and will supply all things that will not hurt me. If there is something I need to do, I will be told.

I was thinking how this applies to my body. I have been having trouble applying this principal to my desire for a certain body image because I did not want to surrender my control of this situation. So it felt very complicated with lots of issues. I would become agitated, feeling angry and guilty, and then fearful when my attempt to control went awry.

As I begin to loosen my grip on this situation, I feel lighter. I welcome peace into my life. When I again experience the need to control the outcome, I lose my peace. It’s all a matter of trust. I’ve been thinking that I don’t trust the Holy Spirit to take care of this. What I meant was, I don’t trust the Holy Spirit to manipulate form in the way that I want Him to. I don’t trust the Holy Spirit to make form important in the way that I think it is.

What the Holy Spirit is telling me is that I can trust Him to show me that form doesn’t matter; that it is meaningless. My job is to release the need for a certain outcome.

I was thinking of a time when my little one climbed up a little too high, and when he tried to get down, his feet didn’t touch the floor. He was so frightened and panicky. I told him that it was OK, that I would catch him, and that he could just let go. He desperately wanted down, but was afraid to release his grip. It seemed silly to me because I knew how little danger he was in, but it was very frightening to him.

That’s how I feel sometimes as I learn to relinguish my illusions. But just as my child took that leap of faith and trusted me, I am learning to do the same and put my trust in God. After the first time my son trusted me and he saw that it was OK, it became easier and easier to trust me in subsequent emergencies.

Again I see a parallel here. That is just how I’ve built my trust as I’ve gone through the Course. The first time I released my grip on illusions, it felt like free-falling in space, but then everything was alright. In fact, everthing was better. With each small relinquishment it becomes easier, and as the contrast between peace and chaos becomes more obvious, my motivation becomes stronger.

© 2005, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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