December 15, 2009

We are in the season of Advent.  This is a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ.  What a perfect time for the preparation of the awakening of the One Christ Spirit within us all.  It is time for the separation of ourselves and the ego.  We make way for the awakening of what already is within us.

In this world we find ourselves caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season.  We probably even find ourselves overwhelmed with all that we think we must do.  We find ourselves burdened and a bit on edge.  Advent is supposed to be about hope, joy, love, and peace.  Where is it all?  Who has time for any of that?  Yet, all of what the season is supposed to be about is within us.  The Christ spirit dwelling deep within us at the core of our being is there, forgotten by us, but poised and waiting for us to give it a chance to well up within us and calmly sooth our fears.

Just take a moment.  Take a deep breath, and remember who we really are.  Allow what is deep within us to come to our awareness.  Bask in the peace love, and joy Spirit brings to our mind.  We may still have just as much to get dome, but we can approach all of it with a sense of peace that will certainly lighten the load.  So take a moment, ask Spirit to wash over us and enjoy the blessing it brings.  When the season has passed, as it always does, we will know ourselves and know each other as the peaceful, loving, and joyful One Child of God we really are.  Let it be so.

December 1, 2009

Our journey may seem uncertain. All we encounter may seem unstable and inconsistent.  But one thing is always certain in this world.  The end of our journey is certain.  It is certain that we will reach the end of it and arrive at the goal.  It is guaranteed that it is so by God.  God wills us to succeed.  And because God guarantees it, it cannot fail.  We will reach the end.  We will return to the awareness of who we really are.  We will remember ourselves One with God and all of creation.

What a wonderful promise this is that God gives us.  We cannot fail.  We do, however, choose what we place our belief and awareness in.  We choose whether to Be in the Realm of God or to be oblivious to our presence there.  We continually cycle between forgetting our true essence and remembering who we really are.  And so we move back and forth from one to the other in an ever changing insane world that appears so uncertain.

Yet God has given us so much to help us along the way.  God’s goal for us is a successful return as soon as we are willing to return.  But it’s our choice and ours alone.  The world we choose to see and believe in is the one we will live in whether reality or illusion.  Our brothers and sisters are here at every step of the way, waiting for us to recognize them as who they really are.  Waiting for each of us to set all of us free.  And we set all of us free by recognizing who we really are; by remembering that we are the One Child of God, One with God and all of creation.  However, we don’t even recognize them for who they are because we are so caught up in our own illusion of our thought.

Now we rise above our habitual thought.  We transcend to the One Thought of God, present in the One Mind of God we all share.  What a peace and joy comes over us!  We wonder how we could have ever thought differently.  But that doesn’t even matter now, because it fades to nothingness in the presence of our true nature.  It fades away in the knowledge of what is true and real.  And when we again forget it, we remember again and more willingly let go of all else and return to the awareness of who we really are, One.  Let it be so.

November 24, 2009

This week we come to a time we call Thanksgiving.  It is a perfect tie to reflect on the gratitude I feel for all of you who have joined me on this journey back to the awareness of who we really are.  We have crossed paths and chosen to journey together for a time, whatever length that time may be.  You have taught me much, and I hope I have taught you something truly helpful on your journey.

Our relationship is holy.  We have chosen to see the Christ within each other and join as the One we really are.  We have birthed a new relationship that remembers the ancient relationship that we have always had, but forgot. We release our judgment, our hurt, our blame, and our separateness.  We rejoin as the One Child of God we truly are.  The strains of the ancient melodies so hauntingly familiar come wafting back to us, reminding us of our true nature, our true being.  We remember our innocence.  We remember the peace and joy that is deep within us.  And we rejoice and give thanks.

As we continue our journey together, let us remember the boundless love that flows through all of creation.  Let us remember to celebrate each moment we have together, knowing that it has no end.  Let us be still and listen for the Voice for God within us and joyfully celebrate our Oneness.  We are truly One and the Light of Christ shines brightly from each one’s face we encounter.  I am eternally grateful for your presence in my life, seemingly separate, but truly joined as One.  May everyone we meet be the face of Christ shining brightly for all to see.  We are all truly blessed.  I look forward to every joyful step we take together as we journey on in Oneness. Happy Thanksgiving!

November 17, 2009

From the Manual for Teachers:  “There is no need for help to enter Heaven for you have never left.”  We try so hard to achieve something we already have.  And we expend so much effort trying to become someone we already are.  But we have forgotten who, what, and where we are so we strive and strive and sometimes despair.  We are so busy trying that we miss what is already there, what is already within us.  We miss the peace, joy and love that is radiating from us and flowing through us.  We are happy and we don’t know it!

Remember the song and dance we did as children?  “If you’re happy and you know it clap you hands.”  And we clapped our hands and were happy.  Oh, if we could just return to our childhood.  We hadn’t a care in the world.  What happened to that innocence?  Nothing happened to it at all.  It is still who we are.  We just got distracted and involved in “more serious” ideas.  And thus forgot about our innocence and our happiness and fun. But, we never left Heaven.

But now we embark on our journey.  We begin the trek to the awareness of what is real.  God has provided help for us along this journey.  The Holy Spirit is there for us.  Vision is there for us.  The Voice for God is there for us.  And we are there for each other, for we are truly all One.  God pulls out all the stops, for our success is guaranteed!  Let go.  Let go of everything.  Let all that God has given us sort it all out and show us the way.  We are the One creation of God that is pure, holy, and at home in the Heaven we never left.  Clap you hands and know you are happy.

November 10, 2009

Truth, the understanding of what is real comes to us directly from God.  There is no interpreter; there is no need of any explanation.  The God within us, of which we are wholly part of, understands implicitly what is of God.  It is all one and the same.

But since we have separated ourselves from our awareness of God within, we are given the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Voice for God, the holder of the remembrance of who we are.  This presence within us is the guide we can rely on to direct our journey back to God, the awareness of who we really are and the God within.  Each step of our joinery teaches us something more that is already within us.  Each step gradually awakens the memory of who we are that we left forgotten behind us.  Though it has always been with us, being the One we have always been.

It is our choice whether to even allow ourselves to see this guide.  But it never leaves us and is always waiting for us to let go of all we have made up and let it show us who we really are.  As we open ourselves to each other and see who they really are, they reflect back to us who we really are.  Every thing and every one who we encounter in our path is an encounter waiting to experience the love, peace, and joy of God.  Each experience is an opportunity for us to choose between seeing as we have always done, or making the choice to see anew with the vision that comes from God. Our choices in life are our measuring stick of our awareness of who we really are.  Are we ready to let go?  Are we ready to step into the full awareness of who we really are?  Nothing stands in the way but our own willingness to allow ourselves to be who we really are.  God has always seen us as whole.  Are we ready to join God in the celebration of our wholeness?  Say yes and take the hand of Spirit held our so gently, waiting to take us on that holy journey that only takes an instant back to the awareness of our true Self.  Now is the time to understand.

November 3, 2009

What God gives us is always clear and understandable.  It is so because God gives us everything we need.  And everything God gave us is an innate part of us that has always been within us and can never be separated from us by ourselves or anyone else.  God’s understanding is always within us.  And it needs no interpretation.  We understand as we let ourselves see with vision, God’s sight, and hear with God’s ears, recognizing our innate Oneness with God and all of creation.

We have spent a lifetime learning to look outward for understanding and for God’s presence in the world.  But we have been looking to something that is founded in illusion that is separate from who we really are and who and what God is.  This effort is always to try to make sense of all we see and experience.  Once we realize that we are not separate, not of the world of illusion, but One with God, we can begin to learn to see correctly with the vision that is already ours.

The relationships we have developed along our way are usually characterized as dependant, perhaps dysfunctional, and fraught with unreasonable expectations.  We place our worth, our sense of self, and our happiness in another person we are in relationship with.  In doing so we remove ourselves even more from the awareness of all God has provided.  When we look to someone else for all this we can’t see that we have all we need within us.  We have been looking outward to another we see as separate from ourselves instead of looking within for what is already there. As we begin to see each other as One with ourselves and God, we open ourselves to the idea of the Truth that we are all One and lack nothing.  We open ourselves to the idea that our true identity is pure, whole and awash in blessing.  We find that we are less confused as we let Spirit direct us.  We begin to understand the presence of divinity within all of us that cannot be interpreted but can only be understood from the place of the God within us.  The message of the holy or healed relationship then shows us our wholeness and reveals the understanding deep within us of who we really are.  Let go of all we don’t understand and let our divine understanding be revealed.  It becomes possible when we release it all and surrender to Spirit.

October 27, 2009

We have all come up, over time, with some idea of who we are.  This identity is based on our interpretation of every experience we have ever had.  It is based on what we have been told.  It is based on what we have “figured out” about ourselves.  And after all that effort of figuring and analyzing, it still doesn’t feel right.  It doesn’t make sense.  Or perhaps it almost but not quite makes sense.  And if we look too hard, we know we will find that very little of what we have figured out makes any sense at all.

All of this has been made from our trying to make sense out of a world that is made of illusion.  The world we think we see is made up of our interpretation of our thoughts about our experiences whether we thought them or were told or taught them.  They have no basis in Truth.  We have looked with our body’s eyes, the eyes of the impermanent body that is born of separation, not recognizing our true place in Oneness.  And so we continue seeing with the body’s eyes, and seeing only what eyes made of separation and illusion can see; separation ad illusion!

No wonder we are confused.  Our true Self is not of separation, so it cannot understand thoughts and interpretations of separation.  But it can understand Oneness. Our true Self can understand what is real and True.  It can understand what our God-given vision shows us.  When we let ourselves see with eyes of vision we need not figure anything out.  We need not interpret anything.  For what is of God and Truth and of our true selves resonates deep within our being.  We recognize it as the Truth we have always known.  We recognize the Self that is who we really are and have always been, just as God created us.  It is our eternal Self, One with each other and God that has always been, has never not been. As we relax, let go of our self made ideas and let Gods vision come to us, we discover a freedom, a sense of wholeness, an innocence, a knowing and an understanding of all holiness and love.  We feel the peace of God well up from deep within us and let the love and light that shines within us extend so brightly to all the world for it to see.  We will know that all the world is a part of us, whole, innocent, free, and loved.  The love of God is poured freely to all the world.  All we need do is recognize and accept it.  Let your sight be transformed to vision and recognize God’s realm of Heaven before you.  Heaven is for us now, not in some distant future.  Step over the threshold and be who you really are!

October 20, 2009

What is the condition of our relationships?  We know we are all One.  We know we are One with God and all of Creation.  We know our will is one with God’s Will.  We know there is no lack and that we have all we need and could possibly want.  We know we are innocent, pure and whole as God created us.  To see whether we really know or even believe this, we need look only at our relationships.

Because we have mistakenly thought we were separate, God has given us our relationships to teach us who we really are.  It is imperative that we see our brothers and sisters correctly for us to see ourselves and God correctly.  And if we don’t see another as innocent, pure, and whole as they really are, we can choose to change our perception.  We can choose to see with vision, the eyes of Spirit within us that has never forgotten who we really are.  What a gift this is.  All it requires is a willingness to let go of our preconceived ideas and let ourselves be shown Truth.

As we let ourselves see with forgiveness, we free each other and ourselves from the imprisonment of what we thought we knew.  We give each other the gift of salvation which frees all the limitations we think we have.  We allow all of us to experience the soaring freedom of our true being.  We soar like the eagle.  We love and are loved with abandon.  And the peace and joy of all that we are and that God is flood over and through us in absolute abundance.

Take the risk, let go of all we have made up and set the world free of all the limitations we have projected on it.  We will step into Heaven and find we have always been there in our home we never really left.

October 13, 2009

Now is the time to let our relationships be healed and thus transformed.  It is in our relationships that we show each other who we really are and where we show ourselves who we really are.  We let our true nature, our true being, shine through all the illusions we have believed in.  We have seen ourselves as lacking, and thus also seen our relationships lacking.  We thought we could find what we thought we lacked in our relationships and thus gain it from the other.

Our relationships tend to be based on differences, where we think the other has what we have not.  So we find a relationship where we think we can gain what we think we lack from another.  We stay there until we find there is nothing more to gain, then move on.  And so we wander from relationship to relationship, seeing what we can gain from each one, sometimes remaining with them for a lifetime even though we have moved on.  Many times we stay with those relationships because we are afraid we will lose something if we move on.  The Course calls these “unholy” relationships.

God sees relationships differently.  God sees relationships from a different premise.  In these relationships, we look within and see the truth, that there is no lack in us.  We accept our completeness, our wholeness, and extend that wholeness by joining with each other in what the Course calls “holy” relationships.  We allow ourselves to see ourselves and each other in the vision of clarity that comes from within us, held there by Spirit, for our use when we are ready to accept our wholeness.  Our relationships are transformed because we see the truth that we are whole and complete, lacking nothing, and share that completeness with each other.

Our life transcends limitations of the body.  We feel the Spirit of Oneness within us.  We experience the peace, joy, and love of God as we allow ourselves to accept the truth of who we really are.  We stand just under Heaven, close enough not to return to our old way of thinking.  Our relationships have Heaven’s Holiness.  How far from home can a relationship so like to Heaven be?  Here in our transformed relationships we find salvation, the return to the awareness of who we really are.