8-30-12
9 Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, which are always miraculous in the true sense, the exchange reverses the physical laws. They bring more love both to the giver and the receiver.
In the world when something is given there is loss for the giver. If you are in financial straits and I give you money then you gain the money and I lose it. If you have had a hard break-up and I visit you and cheer you up, I lose that time and energy. Because “love” in the world more resembles a bargain than anything else, giving love is costly. I give my time and loyalty and expect my partner to give me something in return, perhaps some bit of his freedom.
Even if we are able to maintain this delicate balance of giving to receive, everything in the world ends, so this kind of love is always tinged with fear. The cost of even the most successful love in the world is loss of peace of mind, a kind of underlying anxiety as we wait for the other shoe to drop with some finality.
But when I give myself as a channel for the Holy Spirit, give my hands, my feet, my tongue for His use, the result can be a true miracle. The mind of the one receiving can experience a shift in understanding, or relief from suffering, or God’s love and comfort. In exchange, I receive love, certainty, joy. I cannot really find a word that describes it.
It feels so right, knowing that I am doing what I am guided to do, what we all came here to do, help each other wake up. The greatest gain is that as I allow their gift to pass from Spirit through me, it is my gift as well. In the giving, I receive. And the cost is. . . well, nothing. There is no loss at all.
If I were just giving from the ego, telling what I think I know, I might say something helpful. I might use the same language. I might help, but it would not be the miraculous exchange that occurs when Spirit is the giver and I am the channel. When I speak from ego I often feel drained of energy, and feel like the whole process was difficult and unsatisfying.
When I “give” through the ego, I feel like I gave and received nothing. I feel uncertain and wonder if I made things better or worse. If there is any satisfaction it is to the ego self, which for moment feels “better than” and this is short-lived because the ego gives only to get and takes away more than is given. Uncertainty and doubt take away even the little I think I earned.
The more often I stand aside and allow Spirit to speak and act through me, the more joyful life becomes. It is still a dream, but miraculous living makes it a happy dream. When the ego brings me disturbing thoughts I am more likely to recognize them as meaningless, and even if I am drawn to them I much more quickly realize I don’t believe them. Without the desire to listen to the ego chatter, the mind is quieter and more peaceful. Things that used to feel frightening and depressing are seen as meaningless as well.
This is what I receive in exchange for what I give. This is the miracle from my side of it. My family sometimes worries because I work all week, and all weekend I teach and counsel. They think this is a burden and will wear me down, because they are thinking in terms of the physical laws of the world. But they are mistaken. Miraculous giving has no cost and the gift is renewed energy and greater happiness. As I give, I receive; what I give I receive.
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