Starting Again

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Day is a time for resolutions and the hope of starting again – doing whatever or not doing whatever. I don’t know about you, but my resolutions have never lasted very long. Stop drinking. Stop smoking my pipe.  Start meditating more regularly and more often. Stop raising my voice when irritated or angry. Regardless, I don’t have a good track record when it comes to keeping New Year’s resolutions.

That’s one of the reasons I love A Course in Miracles (ACIM). Since the world I see is illusionary, it doesn’t really exist in the mind of God. The “sins” I think I have committed are not recognizable by the God of my understanding. They are simply errors of judgment. They are simply wrong or unhelpful decisions I’ve made. They are only decisions that reinforce – to me – the “reality” of my egoic or illusionary world I perceive.

So, in effect, I can use every day of the rest of my life as I normally would use January 1^st – a time for starting again – over and over.  God isn’t just turning a blind eye to my perceived misdeeds. He doesn’t see them. I can remember watching my son toss, turn and thrash as he slept through a bad dream. I had no idea what his dream was about. The only way to help him was to wake him. That’s exactly what God is doing in ACIM. God literally cannot see my illusionary world. My perceived misdeeds are simply that – my perception of my created reality. His love for me is the only reality there is. But I’m too mired in my EGOIC ME to recognize that reality.

His will for me is to begin understanding the blocks I, as an individual and as a member of the human race, have created that obscure my awareness of His love. Please notice, my issue is not to try with all my might and will power to force myself to perceive differently. I am too entrenched in this egoic world to accomplish that. I can, however, begin to train my mind to “see” when my ego (which I call Felix) is driving me and stop and ask for the willingness to see with Spirit’s vision rather than with my optic nerves. That’s all I need to do – be honest, open, willing.

I think that’s what I’ll do this New Year’s Day: Ask for openness and willingness to see things differently. Be honest about implementing the direction His vision provides. Thank Him for my sobriety. Start each day anew. On my knees.

I can do that.

When I misstep – I’ll simply start again.

Although these messages are mostly for me, thanks for listening. As always – feel free to forward this message to your friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.

I wish each of you a superb 2015.

Don

#3 December 2014

Copyright, 2014