Can Jesus Be Anywhere, Anytime?

“Forget not who you truly are, but forget not also to be in joy in your experience here. Remember that the seriousness with which you once looked at life is of the ego. Drape your persona in a mantle of peace and joy. Let who you are shine through the personal self who continues to walk this world a while longer. Listen for my voice as I guide you to your purpose here and linger with you in this time to end all time. (Treatises of A Course of Love: Treatise on the Nature of Unity and Its Recognition, 13.6)”

Affirmation: “May I listen for the voice of Jesus today.”

Reflections:

1 – Jesus

Only fairly recently have I taken Jesus at his word that he is here with us, given “one unequivocal call” (from A Course in Miracles).

2 – Norman Vincent Peale

Previously I was much influenced by the many books by Norman Vincent Peale in the last century. He told many stories of sensing the presence of Jesus in times of great need, stories that included himself as well as recounted tales from other people. I was especially impressed by one story of a secular business leader who was coming to the end of his life and had little faith, finding himself out of control and fearful. His minister (not Dr. Peale) recommended that he talk to Jesus as though he were a business partner, drawing up a chair by his sick bed, and surmising what Jesus’s responses might have been. Later on, it became clear that Jesus became for this former tycoon much more than a business partner, but a tender and gentle healer. When he died, one hand was outstretched from his bed to the chair that was always drawn up beside the bed. And his face was peaceful.

3 – Law of Physics?

Can we not see that there must be some law of physics not yet discovered that allows Jesus to be just anywhere, at any time? He has walked further back to God than any of us, and, according to such psychics as Edgar Cayce, he is our leader here. Not all individuals choose him as a leader, but we are among those who do, as evidenced by the reading that we seek out.

4 – Insomnia

I have found it a great comfort in the middle of the night, when awake (for sometimes I have insomnia), to realize that there is nothing to fear, though the night is dark, the hours before dawn stretching a long way. I know that everything will look better in the morning. But when I imagine that I am not alone, for I have asked for divine companionship, the anxieties that used to plague just disappear in the mists of the night air outside my window.

5 – Carry Life Lightly

We do not need to live this life in a serious vein. Jesus himself could be serious, but according to biblical accounts, he also relaxed in the company of his disciples and enjoyed social interaction as well, even with those who were despised by the authorities of the day. Life is carried more easily if it is not carried with an air of seriousness. The lighthearted touch is the benign touch. And the healing touch. The seriousness that we have all known, at least from time to time, has been of the ego. So let’s resolve to let that part of our persona dissipate now.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I need the hand of Jesus today. I need this hand very much. I have much new to be grateful about, and I thank You for those new aspects to my life. That these blessings come after prayer, or asking, is obvious. May I always remember that prayer brings about miracles in a way that nothing else can or does.

May Jesus walk with me today, in lightheartedness and no seriousness that is unnecessary. Thank You for Your reassurances that all is well, that there is nothing here that You can’t handle.

Amen.

Fear and Love = the Two Emotions

“Fear, like all the rest of your emotions, comes in many guises and is given many names, but there are really only two emotions:  one is fear, the other love.  Fear is thus the source of all illusion, love the source of truth.  (A Course of Love, 9.16)”

Affirmation:  “I choose love today.”

Reflections:

1 – From A Course in Miracles

This passage is a direct replay of ideas from A Course in Miracles.  Indeed, the idea that there are only two emotions, love and fear, is one of the most frequently recognized statements from ACIM.

2 – Eliminate Fear

If we would leave illusion behind, and walk into the sunlight with God and our Self, we must find a way to eliminate fear.  This is not always easy, for there are a multitude of disguises, even though at base all of these disguises are of fear.  Jesus indicates in A Course in Miracles that we cannot ask him to remove fear from our lives, for we have made it, and if he acted to remove fear, he would be coming between cause and effect, a most important law.  But we can ask that we get help in alleviating the conditions that have led to the fear (from the Text of ACIM).  This is always a helpful prayer, and like all real prayers, when this prayer is truly meant, it is answered quickly.

3 – Personal Experience

The next night of insomnia you experience would be a good time to test out this idea.  First, commune/pray with/to God, relax, and then decide that maybe God has a reason for your sleeplessness.  What conditions have brought about the fear/sleeplessness?  What do you want to have help on?  Be specific, and it may help to write out on paper or computer the conditions as you view them.  Be certain that answers will come, if not immediately, when you have calmed down enough to let intuitive thoughts rise to the surface.  Then let the prayer sink to your depths.  You have done all you can for one night.  Know that the answers will arrive.  Make this a primary belief.

4 – Anxiety

Anxiety has dogged me all my life, and so I have had sleepless nights.  This, in spite of more than 30 years of making A Course in Miracles my primary study.  But, as time has gone by, the anxiety over a sleepless night has abated, and, as this abatement has happened, the blessing of God’s love has overcome me more and more frequently.  I have also learned secular techniques for dealing with anxiety.  And, of course, I have prayed, long and deeply, for help in the conditions that have brought my fear to the forefront at any given time.

5 – Love

But Jesus also says in this passage that love is the source of truth.  We know this intellectually, and now, through  A Course of Love, we have reached the time to know this through our hearts.  Unlike our minds, which raise unanswerable questions, our hearts do not question.  We feel, and from the feeling, we know.  That is the blessing of this passage from Jesus in A Course of Love.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Another night of an hour and a half of no sleeping, but thank You that I can devote awhile today to a nap.  Help all of us to deal with those things that are less than the best.  We would choose to walk Your way, and this way is always one of peace.  Help me to remember that the next time I awaken in the middle of the night.

Be with us as we seek to choose love and eliminate fear.  This is our major task, along with the forgiveness that we have come to recognize.  We too must forgive ourselves, once we have asked of You the forgiveness that we all need.

Be with me throughout the day today.  May my mood is high, and my actions and thoughts be congenial.  Be with my significant others, and all others who are touched by my words and actions.

Amen.

A Guide Who Will Not Fail

“He has a Guide Who will not fail.  He need make no distinctions among the problems he perceives for He to Whom he turns with all of them recognizes no order of difficulty in resolving them.  He is as safe in the present as he was before illusions were accepted into his mind, and as he will be when he has let them go.  (M-16.7)”

Affirmation:  “I follow my Guide.”

Reflections:

1 – A Loving Guide

I am constantly amazed at how loving our Guide actually is.  Our Guide, the Holy Spirit, is the Universal Inspiration, and the Communicator for God.  If God is Love, and most of us believe that He is, then would not His Communicator be a fount of Love as well?  It all makes perfect sense, in my way of viewing life.  But I am still surprised by the attention to detail, and to my own sense of drama (when my Guide responds even though I have brought some of my agony onto myself).

2 – Quiet in the Early AM

These early morning hours, when I am writing today, are helpful in the extreme.  Richard Carlson, a bestselling author, from time to time told in his books of his writing from 3 to 6 a.m.  He found the quiet then to be helpful in his creativity.

3 – Holy Spirit Closer at Night?

Is it not also possible that the Holy Spirit seems closest to us when the rest of the world is quiet?  Even the birds are not yet singing, and their chorus will eventually herald the dawn and make us glad that we have lived to experience yet another day.  Our Guide is here for us to consult at these times.  Let us not waste these moments.

4 – Solace

We are safe in this world, even when tragedy strikes.  The Holy Spirit, as God’s Communication Link with us, is ever with us.  And He provides the solace that we sometimes need when our hopes have been dashed, and also when we have reached in extremis, or the end of our dreams.  Other dreams will be given us; we need not fear.  We will not be left bereft.  Time, ever an illusion, is still our friend at such times.  And we need to turn to God in prayer, knowing that He is here for us.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Last night, once again, I awoke after three hours of sleep.  And prayer did not, this time, seem to calm me.  I turned to Your secular gift, music.  And all was well.

Thank You that You do not distinguish between spiritual and secular remedies.  All is Yours.  And I am Yours.  

I often am amazed at the calm that descends in the middle of the night, when I have offered my prayers to you and then turned to music to soothe.  And the music doesn’t have to be particularly calming, but just music that I like and that speaks to my spirit.

Be with me today as I seek You amid a busy world, with not quite enough sleep.  May You and I together have a good day.

Amen