Day 121
6 What is the peace of God? No more than this; the simple understanding that His Will is wholly without opposite. There is no thought that contradicts His Will, yet can be true. The contrast between His Will and yours but seemed to be reality. In truth there was no conflict, for His Will is yours. Now is the mighty Will of God Himself His gift to you. He does not seek to keep it for Himself. Why would you seek to keep your tiny frail imaginings apart from Him? The Will of God is One and all there is. This is your heritage. The universe beyond the sun and stars, and all the thoughts of which you can conceive, belong to you. God’s peace is the condition for His Will. Attain His peace, and you remember Him.
I pray daily that my willingness to know that there is no will but the Will of God. I pray for healing, for clarity as I so often believe in another will. I want the peace of God. I want that the peace of God is all I want. Except when I want something different. ~smile~ But I know that when I want something different, I am only confused, and I am willing to see differently.
I had an opportunity to do just that. I gave my peace away, recognized what I had done, and asked for healing. This is what happened.
My sister-in-law recently had a transplant of two lungs and a heart. I am her fill-in caregiver. We are supposed to be at the hospital and then with her at home for six months to a year. This weekend I went there for the first time. Brinda was in a lot of fear and what I noticed is that everyone else was “catching” this fear and it was feeding on itself as fear does.
When we became fearful we began looking at everything through the filter of that fear, and so we saw only fearful things. We saw only the mistakes the nurses made, the infrequency of the doctor’s visits, the failure of the respiratory technician to explain things fully.
When we looked at Brinda we did not see how good her color is, how able she is to move around so soon after the surgery, how strong she is. We saw only that she was weak, her breathing sounded bad, she was swollen and looked bad.
Our fear colored everything and made us fearful of our own position. The tendency, of course, was to project that fear and its buddy, guilt, and to see everyone else at fault, and as we saw them as guilty, we of course, felt that same guilt because that’s how it works. We were teaching guilt so learning guilt. What we give is what we receive, so giving guilt and fear, this is what we received.
Luckily, we began to wake up to what was happening, and to make a new choice. We began to realize that we needed to put the Holy Spirit in charge. We started talking to Brinda about affecting her recovery in a positive way by trusting God and so trusting that He was guiding everyone else, all of us and the nurses and the doctors. She responded to this. And we began watching our thoughts and our words, recognizing when we were reacting to fear so we could change our minds about that.
Here is what I am encouraging in our team of caregivers and in Brinda. I am suggesting beginning and ending the day with prayer that blesses everyone involved in her care, and that expresses our gratitude to everyone, and that expresses our desire to step back and allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead in everything we do and say.
I am also encouraging everyone to remember that what we want for others is what we expect to receive ourselves even though we may not realize it on a conscious level. When the nurses do not respond immediately, we bless the work they are doing with other people who are also in need, remembering that we are all one in this together and their well-being is as important as Brinda’s. If we notice fear in each other, including Brinda, we remind ourselves to ask for healing of our mind instead of projecting the fear and blaming someone else.
I am very grateful for my Study and practice of the Course. As soon as I remembered my purpose, I asked for healing and the mind-fog lifted. I was able to see so clearly what was going on with all of us, and when I asked for the action that would be most helpful He reminded me that our thoughts are prayers. He reminded me that my healed thoughts would express as healed relationships and healed bodies. He reminded me that “specialness” reinforces separation and that I don’t want that. I knew that everyone needed to be blessed with the same loving care as Brinda, the nursing staff, the doctors and the other patients.
As I listened to His guidance the peace of God settled over me, and I began to write what He had given me. He also gave me the prayer for this morning. This is the prayer I received and passed on to everyone else.
Morning prayer. Dear God, thank You for your love. Thank You for the rapid and complete healing of Brinda’s body. Thank You for the excellent staff who are working with us all to provide for Brinda’s care and to assist in the healing of her body. Thank You for guiding every decision made for Brinda, and for guiding our thoughts, words, and actions throughout the day. Thank You for the healing force of Your Love for everyone on our floor. Amen
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