Day 30

Today's Lesson:

God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

Today we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there. We are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way we see.

Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend upon the body's eyes at all. The mind is its only source. So as we're thinking about and practicing today's lesson, we are to think of things beyond our present range as well as those we can actually see.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I met with my business partner last night and we had an amazing dialogue over dinner. He is not studying this Course, but we were able to discuss everything I'm learning here in a way that I think he was able to comprehend. I felt very comfortable telling him how I'm interpreting what I'm learning, and it was a great opportunity for me to articulate the distinctions the Course is teaching.

We also talked about the future for our business, and he challenged me to get focused on writing the business plan, which I've known I need to do for several months now. I'm kind of excited to work on the plan next Tuesday and Wednesday and get the ideas down so we can start looking for funding for our marketing materials and new website. I understand more how I need to talk about my ideas first before I can get them on paper (or in the computer). The process works best for me when I can share my ideas and get feedback. The miracle for me continues to be the people in my life who appear just when I seem to need a jumpstart and provide just what I need, even though I don't realize it.

I'm truly blessed and grateful to have all the support I have in my life - and to recognize how they appear - physically - in my space just when I need them! It is truly a reinforcement of today's lesson because I am seeing how the world is opening up before me and I'm beginning to see in it what I have never seen before.

UPDATE:

I've just come from my ACIM group and a lot of things appeared as miracles for me there. Today's lesson became especially real to me as I shared with the group a situation with my mom which has troubled me for some time. I'll try to keep this brief, but I'd love feedback from anyone who reads this and might have some ideas for me.

I was raised in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) and have felt an adversarial relationship with church and religion as far back as I can remember. I haven't been able to articulate what this uneasiness has been until the past few years. My mother is a woman of very strong and rigid faith, and this has caused more than a little consternation for each of us over the years. This past week she sent me a packet of information from the LCMS explaining their views on topics like The Gospel, Death, Communion, and the differences between the LCMS and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which is the denomination I converted to several years ago. When I received this package in the mail this past week, I automatically reverted to the child who felt she needed to stop asking questions because it meant she didn't really have faith in God. I guess I was put out because my mother is still trying to get me to believe the way she believes and that's just not me.

I brought this up to my group tonight, and we talked about it a little - they helped me see that this is really not about my mother at all - it's about me. What is she showing me that I haven't forgiven in myself? So as we started reading today's lesson together, it occurred to me that if God is in everything I see because God is in my mind, then God must be in these brochures I received as well. God isn't limited to only the way I see Him or the way my mother sees Him - He is much bigger than either of our ideas. This was validation to me that my limited vision in the past has been about my ego, and not about Spirit.

So we went on to read the text for today and it was as if it had been written specifically for me. Here is just a taste of what it said:

"A good teacher clarifies his own ideas and strengthens them by teaching them. Teacher and pupil are alike in the learning process. They are in the same order of learning, and unless they share their lessons, conviction will be lacking. A good teacher must believe in the ideas he teaches, but he must meet another condition; he must believe in the students to whom he offers the ideas.

"Many stand guard over their ideas because they want to protect their thought systems as they are, and learning means change. Change is always fearful to the separated, because they cannot conceive of it as a move towards healing the separation. They always perceive it as a move toward further separation, because the separation was their first experience of change."

Wow. That gave me a whole new perspective on the way my mother probably sees her faith, but also gave me validation on the way I see my own faith.

Here's another part of the text:

"Egos can clash in any situation, but spirit cannot clash at all. If you perceive a teacher as merely 'a larger ego' you will be afraid, because to enlarge an ego would be to increase anxiety about separation."

So I see this as a miracle - a shift in perception from fear to love - for my understanding of my mom's actions toward me. When I allow myself to fall into the fear trap - the former belief that I'm not good enough and I don't trust my own Knowing enough - I recognize that as fear. But beginning to understand that in her own perception, she is simply showing her love and concern for my well-being, helps me shift to love and appreciation.

I'm very grateful to Michael, Susan, Gina, Ross, Sharon, Sheri, Jodie, Darcy, Carolyn, Jonathan, and Jennifer for their support in this conversation tonight!