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February 28, 2005
Please take away my...
Dear God,
Please take away my inappropriate desires.
Please release me from my cravings.
Replace them all with You.
Amen
from Illuminated Prayers
Posted by mwblog at 01:43 AM
February 27, 2005
To place a situation in the hands of God...
To place a situation in the hands of God, as we know, is to place our thinking in the hands of God. It means we're asking His Spirit to enter our minds and guide our perceptions. We're asking Him to help us remain focused on the divine essence in someone else and help them remain focused on the divine essence in us. We are asking that the possibilities of the present, not the mistakes of the past, guide our perceptions of each other and ourselves.
from Everyday Grace
Posted by mwblog at 01:04 AM
February 26, 2005
Often we receive a kind of...
Often we receive a kind of "inner knowing" about something, yet we disregard that knowing because we can't rationally explain it. The more we pray, meditate, and take our spiritual practice seriously, the better listeners we become to the small, still voice for God. We come to understand that there are means of knowing beyond the rational.
from Everyday Grace
Posted by mwblog at 01:03 AM
February 25, 2005
The fact that the term "peacemaker"...
The fact that the term "peacemaker" was invented means our society has evolved to the point where we are ready to embrace its potential meaning. Conflict resolution is to peace what guns are to war. The full actualization of its potential, however, remains on the horizon.
Posted by mwblog at 01:02 AM
February 24, 2005
The United States is like...
The United States is like a torch that has, at various times, both enlightened the world and burned the world. We should be the generation that commits to making right what still needs to be made right, in order that our children might have a fresh page on which to write their story.
Posted by mwblog at 01:00 AM
February 23, 2005
If enough of us embrace the spirit ...
If enough of us embrace the spirit of nonviolence and adopt a personal commitment to conscience, making what efforts each of us can to increase the power of good in this world, then we will achieve at this time of millennial shift as stunning a leap forward in human consciousness and world affairs as any generation has ever made. There is a door that we can open together, on the other side of which is a shining new world.
Posted by mwblog at 01:58 AM
February 22, 2005
When King Hussein of Jordan...
When King Hussein of Jordan died in February 1999, leaders from throughout the world went to Amman for his funeral. People who normally do not speak to each other, who spend their lives seeking to destroy each other, who have sent men and women to their deaths in battle against each other, stood side by side and were reminded, for one brief moment at least, that in the end there is only the silence of God.
from Healing the Soul of America
Posted by mwblog at 01:56 AM
February 21, 2005
It's not just that God...
It's not just that God said we should love one another. He also created the universe in such a way that, in time, we are sure to learn to do just that. If everything we do has a consequence, if everything we do comes back to us, then surely we will come in time to learn that it is ultimately in our own best interests to put out only what we would want to get back.
from Healing the Soul of America
Posted by mwblog at 01:54 AM
February 20, 2005
The will of the people seems...
The will of the people seems not to be the driving force of American policy; the general welfare of the people is arguably not the primary motivation of most governmental behavior. But if the American people don't take our government back, re-engaging a process we have chosen to ignore for a while, then we have no right to complain about those who would take it over in our absence.
from Healing the Soul of America
Posted by mwblog at 01:51 AM
February 19, 2005
We are moving now toward ...
We are moving now toward a universal compassion because, if we do not , we will cause our own extinction. To be a mystic is to choose rebirth, for ourselves and for the human race. We are participating in a collective quantum leap forward, in which our species will experience a fundamentally new chapter in our history.
from Everyday Grace
Posted by mwblog at 01:46 AM
February 18, 2005
To announce that there must be no criticism ...
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, Republican President (1901-09)
Posted by mwblog at 01:29 AM
February 17, 2005
Living in the realm ...
Living in the realm of body identification rather than spirit identification, we are constantly at risk for the experience of loss. We think we lose every time something in the world of form doesn't unfold the way we wish it to. Let's say I am in love with a man, we're together for a while, but then one of us decides the romantic attachment isn't working. To the ego, that means the relationship is over; to the spirit, that means the relationship simply changes form. And the spirit is correct. As much as a situation like that can bruise the heart, a higher vision of what really occurred can heal us. Love is eternal content, and it is safe and secure in the hands of God.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:19 AM
February 16, 2005
We think if this ...
We think if this or that happens in the world of form, then our lives will be fine. But while we habitually look to the material realm for something to complete us, our actual completion lies in knowing that the material realm itself is just one aspect of our greater life.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:11 AM
February 15, 2005
What is visible to the physical eye ...
What is visible to the physical eye is the world of form, while the greater reality of a situation is not its form but its content. Marriage is form, while love is content; age is form, while spirit is content. The only eternal reality lies in the realm of content, and content never changes. Our spiritual power lies in navigating a changing world from the perspective of that which does not change. The more we know about what's below the waterline, the more power we have above it.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:10 AM
February 14, 2005
And every situation ...
And every situation is like that iceberg, teeming with forces that aren't visible to the physical eye. Basing our sense of reality on what the physical senses perceive as real -- what people did, what people said -- we base our sense of reality on a small fraction of its entirety. This means, of course, that we're hardly in touch with reality at all.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:07 AM
February 13, 2005
Someone once sent me ...
Someone once sent me a photograph that had been taken by a fisherman in Newfoundland. It was a picture of an iceberg, not only the part of it that protrudes above the water line, but also what's underneath the water. We all know, of course, that what is visible on top of the water is approximately 10 percent of the iceberg. Still, seeing the image was mind-blowing. It's shocking to recognize how much of life our eyes don't see.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 09:03 AM
February 12, 2005
When Yoko Ono was asked ...
When Yoko Ono was asked how she could bear being without John Lennon given that they had spent 90 percent of their time together, her response was, "Now we spend 100 percent of our time together." The death of the body is not the death of love.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 09:00 AM
February 11, 2005
The spirit of resistance to government ...
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."
--Thomas Jefferson
Posted by mwblog at 08:35 AM
February 10, 2005
The thinking of God ...
The thinking of God is a hundred and eighty degrees away from the thinking of the world, and one of the many areas where we have things completely upside down is in the area of arrogance and humility. We never should apologize for seeking to actualize the greatness of God that lives in all of us. And those who refuse to support others in manifesting their dreams are only withholding support from themselves. Whatever I refuse to celebrate in your life, I will not be able to draw into mine. My thoughts about you are inseparable from my thoughts about myself. If I won't give you permission to shine, I can't give myself permission to shine either.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:29 AM
February 09, 2005
It's not arrogant to believe ...
It's not arrogant to believe that you're infinitely creative, brilliant, and potentially perfect through the grace of God. In fact, it would be arrogant to think otherwise because what God has created cannot possibly be less than perfect. That fact applies to you and it applies to everyone. It is not arrogant, but humble, to accept God's gifts and allow them to be expressed through you.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:27 AM
February 08, 2005
All the children of God ...
All the children of God are special, and none of the children of God are special. You're not better than anyone else, but neither are you worse than anyone else. All of us have special gifts, all of us are born to shine in one way or another, and all of us are innocent in the eyes of God. Look at the children in kindergartens: they're all gorgeous and magnificent, and so are we.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:26 AM
February 07, 2005
Your value is inestimable because ...
Your value is inestimable because you are a child of God. If you ever find yourself thinking, "I am such a loser. Time and time again I try, and I always fail," stop right there. Erase the tape by recording a new one. Say strongly to yourself, silently or verbally, "I'm the coolest person in the world because God creates only perfection. I recognize my inestimable value regardless of my mistakes, for which I ask forgiveness. I am God's creation, and in this moment I ask the universe to reflect back to me the greatness of God that is within me."
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:23 AM
February 06, 2005
If you are as God created you ...
If you are as God created you, then no mistakes you've ever made or anyone's judgments or negative opinions about you can in any way determine who you are or change your value. In the Holy Instant, we can remember our divine essence and choose to express it. And whatever we express will be reflected back to us. The universe is always ready to give us new beginnings that reflect our innocence, but we are not always ready to receive them. The sun can dawn, but we don't see it if the drapes are closed. No matter how much God loves us, we don't feel it if we don't believe it. As long as we think that we are less than God's perfect creation, then the experiences we attract to ourselves will be less than God's perfect creation. As we believe, so shall it seem to be.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 01:22 AM
February 05, 2005
That is the question ...
That is the question: who are we, really? For if we think we are only small and separate, mortal beings, then the world we create will reflect that belief. We will live in a world of separation and suffering and death. Yet when we change our sense of who we are—when we realize we are boundless, unified with all life— then the human experience as we know it transforms. The one exercise repeated in the workbook of A Course in Miracles states the following: "I am as God created me." In some essential way we still are who we were at the moment of our creation, and all problems derive from our forgetting that.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 10:17 AM
February 03, 2005
The universe is primed ...
The universe is primed to start over again in any moment, and it is only our own thoughts to the contrary that keep it from doing so. A miracle occurs when we ask God to intervene between our past and future, cancel out all fear. and release us to new beginnings. A God who will part the seas and raise the dead has no difficulty solving your problems in high school—or anywhere else, for that matter. His is a radical power to repair and restore. When our faith is as audacious and radical as His power, we will experience that power to the fullest.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 08:54 AM
February 02, 2005
You don't live the life ...
"You don't live the life you deserve. You live the life you think you deserve."
--- Jacob Glass
Posted by mwblog at 08:13 AM
February 01, 2005
In a town I once visited ...
In a town I once visited, I had an experience that was very painful, and when my friends asked me what happened, I would tell them the story. But then I said to myself, "Enough already. It wasn't all bad; think of the wonderful people you met and all the good things that happened there too." So then when friends would ask, I would tell them the negative and the positive. But after a while, when I had done my forgiving and atoning and allowed my heart to heal, I found myself answering a query about that period of my life very simply: "It was a special time." The words just came out of my mouth; I didn't consciously realize I was about to say them. But at the deepest level, those words were true because only love exists. Just saying them gave comfort to my heart.
From The Gift of Change
Posted by mwblog at 07:17 AM
