March 24, 2020

Saturday I posted the following affirmation on my facebook page:

Today I choose to shelter in Peace ~ aligning my mind with perfect peace and love rising within me where it dwells.

It was inspired by both a prayer blog I get every day from Jennifer Hadley and the goings on in the world we live in today. We have been asked to “Shelter-in-place” within both our County and our State to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The pandemic has stirred up a great deal of fear in the world. Yet, we can hold a sense of peace for those around us and across the world. Just because so many perceive a threat to be afraid of, it doesn’t mean I have to jump into a sense of fear with everyone else. The Course asks each of us to let go of fear. Remember these gems?

Love Is Letting Go of Fear.  by Gerald G. Jampolsky (Author)

Everything you teach you are learning. Teach only love, and learn that love is yours and you are love.T-6.III.4:8-9

Sinking into fear is what blocks the awareness of love and peace within us. Love and peace are our natural state. The Course teaches us that anything other than love and peace is misperception. Our Source, the One, creates us with all we ever need. Even in this world as it appears, we have everything we need. And we have access to peace and love by looking within to our true Self. Have we lost sight of the peace within us? That’s OK. Recognize what is, and ask Spirit, your Higher holy Spirit Self, to show you a different way to look at the world and its shortcomings. Our body might get sick. But that can’t change who we really are. We are One with each other and our Creator in Oneness. That Oneness is unchangeable. And when we lose sight of our Oneness, a simple ask to see this differently can begin to lift us out of the fear we seem to be experiencing at the moment.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Allow the forgiveness of self to release you from the self-made bonds of fear. Find a way to connect with another. They may be feeling the same as you are. Or, they may have a different outlook and share an insight that will lift you from the oppression of fear. We are all in this together and we can weather this together much better than we will alone. Reach out and virtually touch someone. You may be the light shining in the darkness they need. And if you feel you are lost in the darkness, they may be the light you need to reach out to that will help lift you out of the darkness you feel you are in. Remember, that the Course teaches us that:

we are the light of the world. ACIM W-61