A Valley Full of Lilies

“You realize not that if you were to stop and take your brother’s hand, the race course would become a valley full of lilies, and you would find yourself on the other side of the finish line, able at last to rest.  (A Course of Love, 9.40)”

Affirmation:  “holy relationships”

Reflections:

1 – Holy Relationships

This passage from ACOL is another phrasing of a pivotal assertion of A Course in Miracles.  The passage is especially beautiful in wording.  The central point is that we need to have holy relationships with our brothers and sisters, and that when we reach out to touch them, we are finding our way to heaven.  Heaven is not a place or a condition, but Oneness (an ACIM tenet).  When we hold our brother or sister’s hand, we are aiming for oneness with him or her.

2 – Lilies

The “race course would become a valley full of lilies,” which is a lovely reminder of the lilies mentioned in the Bible as well as A Course in Miracles.  Surely lilies must be one of Jesus’s favorite flowers.

3 – We Want to Rest

We would not have to race about to achieve.  Our achievement is found in the closeness with which we hold our brother and sister’s hand.  We want to rest, for we are very weary.  This world is a place of weariness, and we would not want that if we could change it.

4 – A Blessing

To be on the “other side of the finish line” is a blessing indeed!  May we, in sweetness and light, join our brothers and sisters today in holy relationship.  We do not ask for special relationships, unless we see the means to transform those special relationships into holy.  When we do that, all is well.

5 – Transforming Special to Holy

Our special relationships will not be snatched from us (an ACIM tenet), but transformed into holy ones.  The transformation may be a bit difficult, even very difficult, but the change in goals for the relationship makes the period of transition hard.  We have transformed a relationship entered into for unholy reasons (e.g., attractiveness, ambition for success, ambition for worldly glory) has been transformed into a relationship that will take us home to heaven.  How could we ask for more?

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would know that there is no need to rush about and hurry so.  I am holding my brother’s hand, and that is sufficient.  I ask that all of my holy relationships remain holy, that no attack nor anger mar their beauty.

Help us to find the will to rest.  Often we push ahead when we would be better off to wait, to rest in serenity that You offer to us.

Be with me today.  Help me to know that You are always present with the solution of every problem that presents itself, at the time that the problem presents itself.

Amen.

Routines Dangerous

“Routines as such are dangerous, because they easily become gods in their own right, threatening the very goals for which they were set up.  (M-16.2)”

 

Affirmation:  “Let me not be temped to fall into a comfortable rut.”

Reflections:

1 – Routine or “Rut”?

The word “routine,” in this passage, seems to me to be akin to a “rut.”  All of us know that ruts, while comforting because we try to eliminate or, at the least, reduce variety in life, are also confining.  We find that trying to avoid change is stressful in and of itself.  Of course, it is possible to reduce the pace of change, which may, in the short term, be a good thing.  If we are addicted to drama  (something A Course in Miracles counsels against), then we might well benefit from some slowing down of change.  But to seek out routine and ruts as a way of life is counterproductive to a full life, the kind of glorious living that Jesus would have us to find in this world.

2 – This World

This world is not necessarily bad in and of itself, but what we have made of this world is often bad.  We struggle more than is necessary.  We come to see our struggle as the “way of the world,” not subject to our own whims.  But if projection makes perception (as ACIM says), then we do have some choice in the manner of how we perceive the less enjoyable parts of this world.  We do not have to focus on the bad.  We can do what we can to help (and we should do that much), but we can remind ourselves that our brothers and sisters, on some level–the level of the Self–have chosen these experiences for reasons that we can only guess.  We ourselves, in the meantime, need to be certain that we do not attract into our personal space the things that hurt.  Attitude is everything.

3 – Lilies Do Not Work to Be Beautiful

It is important to note that ACIM wants our material needs met as well as our emotional.  We are reminded that lilies do not “work” to be beautiful.  We too can see that our way would be smoother if we were not our own worst enemy.  Let us pray today that we cease bringing trouble onto ourselves by default.  We can and must attract better living, and A Course in Miracles (and A Course of Love) are two of the many books that are here to help us.

4 – Our Help

Our help, of course, does not have to come solely through books.  Our brothers and sisters may offer words of encouragement, or even just a quick word said as an aside–and with these words we can see our way clear to living a better way.  God’s Way is always the best way, but (in a personal interpretation) I do not think that God requires that we accept more than we are ready to see.  If we have intellectual problems with a Deity, God will be patient with us.  And Jesus will help, a concept that we may find even more unlikely than the fact of God’s existence.  We need to realize that our way in this world can be a beautiful experience, especially when we live and walk in love and forgiveness.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Give me a soft voice today.  I sometimes think that I speak too authoritatively when I am right about something, something that somebody else is “wrong” about.  These can even be objective facts, not opinion.  But nobody appreciates being corrected.  I need to soften a bit, not to raise ire by being so “right.”  Would I rather be right or happy?  ACIM recommends being happy.

Help me not to fall too quickly into routines/ruts.  I think that I need a schedule to my day, so that I feel at the end that I have accomplished something.  But is this what the Holy Spirit would counsel me to do?  I think not.  I think that the flow of the day is more line with spiritual teaching.  And stopping often to help another, a brother or sister.

Be with me today as I seek to avoid routines/ruts.  Thank You for the morning that took me out of myself.  Ease my relationships in this new place for me.  

Thank You.

Amen