May 25, 2010

We are just as God created us.  Created in the image of God we are pure, innocent, perfect, and unchangeable.  And so none of us is better or worse than, more or less than, or more or less special than anyone else in the eyes of God.  We are created equal.  This doesn’t say we all have the same talents or are carbon copies of each other.  It means we each have maximum value in the eyes of God and therefore in reality.

Last Sunday Rev Freda Smith talked about the shepherd that went looking for the 100^th sheep that had gone missing.  The shepherd would not rest until all 100 sheep were safely in the fold.  Not one was of sufficiently less value than any of the others to leave alone out in the cold.  We are each of maximum value to God.  But we are the ones who thought differently about our own worth and projected those ideas on God, making one of more or less value than another.  What were we thinking?  Simply this, we forgot who we are.  We lost the awareness of who we really are, the One Child of God.

Pursuing or continuing in the thought pattern of specialness is done so at the cost of peace.  Specialness is an idea that sets one or another apart from each other.  It supports the idea that one is better or worse, more or less than another.  It sets up the idea that one is more valuable than another, whether in the sight of others or in the perceived sight of God.  In setting up these ideas of an order of specialness, we limit ourselves whether we see ourselves as more or less special than each other.  In limiting each other in our thoughts, we deny ourselves the awareness of all God created us to be.

All we really are is right there within us and we share it in its entirety equally with each other.  All is shared in its entirety and nothing is withheld.  The minute we try to withhold any value from another we lose sight and awareness of God’s creation.  Limitation is not a part of creation.  It is merely a mistaken idea.  All we have that is real is shared with all of creation.  All that is real is indivisible.  It cannot be cut up and doled out according to our “specialness.”  Specialness is an illusion.  It is a mistaken thought that we can just let go of and see the Oneness of us all.  Free yourself and each other from the limited idea of specialness and thus release all of creation from its treachery.  God’s abundance will spring up within you and you will know the freedom of the awareness of who we really are.  The peace we seek will already be there within us and we will see it there.

May 18, 2010

Our relationships with each other are holy.  They are grounded in the reality of our being, holiness.  There is no specialness in holiness because we are all the same, holy.  It is impossible to be anything else when we recognize our true self and our Oneness with God and each other.  Yet we forget who we are and see ourselves differently again.  We see one better than the other.  We see ourselves shining above our brother or sister, making the illusion that one of us is special.  This is the mistake we make again and again.

This mistake is a pattern, a habit, a habitual way of thinking.  We know that we have a choice in what we think.  Are we willing to take responsibility for that thought?  Are we willing to let ourselves see that we actually have a choice in how w e think?  If we knew what misery we place ourselves in by thinking the way we do, we would change our thoughts in a flash.  So why don’t we?  We are afraid.

Our fear of God and our fear of each other come from our belief in specialness.  Remember how powerful we learned our beliefs can be?  We cannot believe two opposing things at one time.  We must choose what we will believe.  Will it be Truth and reality, or will it be illusion?  God has given us vision, true sight.  Are we willing to use that vision and see the truth of our sameness, our holiness, our existence as God created us?  Or will we choose to believe that we are special, that we are different even though we are all of God.

No more can we judge each other different from the reality of God’s creation.  It is impossible.  We cannot be anything else.  But we do have a choice in what we choose to believe.  Will we let that be in alignment with the Mind of God, our own true mind?  Or will we let our thoughts wander to the made up beliefs and illusions that are from the mind that thinks itself separate from God and each other?  It is always our choice.  When we let go of specialness, love comes flooding in.  It washes away all unloving thoughts, it clears our mind and lets the Mind of God rise up and be our purpose in holiness.  Let it be so today.

May 11, 2010

There is nothing that surpasses what God created.  All of God’s creation is whole, perfect, innocent, and unchangeable.  So if that is true, how can anything be “special”?  Specialness implies that there is something other than special!  It implies that something God created can be something less than its true nature.  Thus it follows that specialness can be attacked and is in danger of losing its specialness.  In God’s creation this is impossible.

As people who think we are separate, we often consider ourselves or someone else special.  We may refer to someone as our “special someone” or say that someone is special because of some trait or deed they have done.  In elevating one person to the status of special we make a judgment about that one and also make a judgment about others.  If one is special, another must be less than special or not special at all.

Specialness is the great dictator of the wrong decision.  How have we decided to see ourselves?  How have we decided to see each other?  We truly are as God created us, One and inseparable, so we must all be of God, whole, and filled with love.  If we decide to see another as less than, or more than ourselves, we have made a decision that removes us from Oneness.  We have made a decision that attacks the wholeness of one or the other.

God created each of us just like the other, whole and One with God.  Can we let go of the need to be “special” or make someone else “special”?  Can we free each other from the attack of differentness?  Can we release the chains of limitedness we have bound each other with?  Specialness is a very poor substitute for love.  Love accepts all, for it knows that all is good.  It knows that all that is real is of God.  There are no exceptions.  We all share God’s purpose, which is Love.  It alone is real, and in the recognition of that love, we return to the awareness of who we really are, always have been, and always will be.  This is the state of Heaven.

May 4, 2010

Attaining and maintaining a state of peace.  This is the motivation for the Course.  This is why the Course exists.  Our mind is quiet in this state and we remember who we are and that we are One with God and all of Creation.  We remember God and Truth in this quiet state of peace.  This is really what we are seeking.  We just forgot what is was and so were looking in all the wrong places for something we already had.

Peace is God’s will for us.  It will enter when we let God in to our awareness.  Do we really think that a shadow, an illusion, can possibly come between ourselves and our Creator?  We are One with God and nothing can come between us.  Yet, we believe that something has.  We believe that we have been separated from God by something or someone that we have no control over.

Our belief in something other than Truth, our belief that something can separate us from God and the awareness of who we really are, is the only thing that keeps us from attaining a state of peace.  We have become so focused on what we believe to be true apart from God that we have let it cloud our vision, blur our awareness.  Yet it is so simple to let go of our beliefs and let God show us Truth.  Letting our will, the Will we share with God flow through us and bubble up from within us is an incredible joy.  It may seem difficult at first, but trusting God to show us the way is an easy thing once we let go of our beliefs and attachments that we made up.

The Course asks us to be willing to question everything we think we value, everything we think is true, and everything we think we believe.  Nothing can be omitted or withheld.  All must be open to be questioned, opened to the light of Spirit.  All that is real will remain and all that is not real will simply fade away if we are willing to truly let go of it.  What God creates has no alternative.  Everything is of God or an illusion.  When we grant this willingness, the state of peace wells up from within.  It rises to fill all of our awareness, and we experience the abundant love, peace, and joy that is God!  There is no alternative other than this.