“Imagine this now, not as a needle but as the wisdom you seek. Imagine this wisdom not as being stopped by the layers of thinking and feeling that we used the onion to illustrate, but as a point of entry and pass-through. What comes of unity enters you and passes through you to the world. This is the relationship you have with unity while in form—a rela¬tionship of intersection and pass-through.
“No longer will what enters you get stopped by layers of defenses. No longer will it meet the road-block of your thinking, your effort, your attempts to figure out how to do it and what it all means. There is no cause for such effort. Effort is only a layer of defense, a stop gap between what you would receive and what you would give in which the ego once made its bid to claim ownership. Effort, as translated by the ego, was about turning everything that was given into what “you” could only work hard to attain, and thereby claim as your individual accomplishment. Obviously, union is not about this.” (ACOL, D:Day5.21 – Day5.22)
What a grand thing it would be for all of us to flow through our days, taking our cue from our relationship to union and getting things accomplished without the efforting that the ego demanded of us! Most of us have worked way too hard at sometimes the wrong things for far too long. Now we have another chance. We can intuit our next steps, go within for an internal compass, and then see the results of our new effortless “labor” spring forth before our eyes. Doesn’t this sound like a superlative way to function in the new world that we will be creating?
When we have been putting forth gigantic efforts toward accomplishment, did we stop to see if the ladder were leaning against the wrong wall? Many of us achieved many of our purposes, but at what a cost!
Now Jesus would teach us how to work, and it will not even feel like work at all. Our play will merge into work, and our effortless striving will bring about new and glorious goals that have never previously been within our reach. It isn’t our achievement, then; it belongs to the union that we are forming with our Maker. The credit belongs to God.
Will we be unhappy that “we” didn’t achieve something “on our own”? No, because such thinking will quickly be laid aside. We will flow into greater and greater achievements in this world, with the primary goal being as a bringer of salvation. Does this mean that we will always be pious? Not in the least, because God doesn’t want the trappings of innocence. He gives us the real thing: innocence borne of a sinlessness that will ensure that we don’t feel downhearted at missing the mark any longer. We will know, from the inside out, that our God is directing our path. It will be a good path, better than ever before, because we will be willing with Him.
Dear God,
As I go through my day, I ask for Your help in having it go well. Let me do something good with my days. Let me follow Your direction to better goals than I have ever known before.
To flow through all days from now on seems almost too good to be true. But not actually, for Your way points out the most important methods for achieving Your ends. May my play today mean more to me than any strenuous work ever did.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 