Day 153

Today's Lesson:

In my defenselessness my safety lies.

If we are feeling threatened by this changing world, its twists of fortune, its brief relationships and ll the "gifts" it merely lends to take away again, this lesson is especially important for us. The world provides no safety. It is rooted in attack, and all its "gifts" of seeming safety are illusions. It attacks, and then attacks again. No peace of mind is possible where danger threatens like this.

The world only creates defensiveness. Threat brings anger, anger makes attack seem reasonable, honestly provoked, and righteous in the name of self-defense.. Yet is defensiveness a double threat. For it attests to weakness, and sets up a system of defense that cannot work. Now are the weak still further undermined, for there is treachery without and still a greater treachery within. The mind is now confused, and knows not where to turn to find escape from its imaginings.

Attack, defense; defense, attack, become a vicious circle. There seems to be no break nor ending in the ever-tightening grip of the imprisonment upon the mind.

Defenses are the costliest of all the prices which the ego would exact. In them lies madness in a form so grim that hope of sanity seems but to be an idle dream, beyond the possible. The sense of threat the world encourages is so much deeper, and so far beyond the frenzy and intensity of which we can conceive, that we have no idea of all the devastation it has wrought.

We are its slaves. We know not what we do, in fear of it. We do not understand how much we have been made to sacrifice, who feel its iron grip upon our hearts. We do not realize what we have done to sabotage the holy peace of God by our defensiveness.

Defenselessness is strength. It testifies to recognition of the Christ in us. The choice is always made between Christ's strength and our own weakness, seen apart from Him. Defenselessness can never be attacked, because it recognizes strength so great attack is folly, or a silly game a tired child might play, when he becomes too sleepy to remember what he wants.

Defensiveness is weakness. It proclaims we have denied the Christ and come to fear His Father's anger. What can save us now from our delusion of an angry god, whose fearful image we believe we see at work in all the evils of the world? What but illusions could defend us now, when it is but illusions that we fight?

We realize today that we need no defense because we are created unassailable, without all thought or wish or dream in which attack has any meaning. Now we cannot fear, for we have left all fearful thoughts behind. And in defenselessness we stand secure, serenely certain of our safety now, sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill our chosen purpose, as our ministry extends its holy blessing through the world.

While we fail to teach what we have learned, salvation waits and darkness holds the world in grim imprisonment. We will not learn that light has come to us, and our escape has been accomplished. For we will not see the light, until we offer it to all our brothers.

Let this day bring the last chapter closer to the world, that everyone may learn the tale he reads of terrifying destiny, defeat of all his hopes, his pitiful defense against a vengeance he can no escape, is but his own deluded fantasy. God's ministers have come to waken him from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused, bewildered memory of this distorted tale. God's Son can smile at last, on learning that it is not true.

Today we will begin to think about the lesson as long as possible. Five minutes now becomes the least amount of time we give to preparation for a day in which salvation is the only goal we have. Each hour adds to our increasing peace, as we remember to be faithful to the Will we share with God. At times, perhaps, a minute, even less, will be the most that we can offer as the hour strikes. Sometimes we will forget. At other times the business of the world will close on us, and we will be unable to withdraw a little while, and turn our thoughts to God.

But when we can, we will observe our trust as ministers of God, in hourly remembrance of our mission and His Love. And we will quietly sit by and wait on Him and listen to His Voice and learn what He would have us do the hour that is yet to come; while thanking Him for all the gifts He gave us in the one gone by.

Today our theme is our defenselessness. We clothe ourselves in it, as we prepare to meet the day. We rise up strong in Christ, and let our weakness disappear, as we remember that His strength abides in us. We will remind ourselves that He remains beside us through the day, and never leaves our weakness unsupported by His strength.

Our practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love, to help us keep our minds from wandering from the intent. Be not afraid nor timid. There can be no doubt that we will reach our final goal. We can never fail, because the love and strength and peace that shine from all of us to all our brothers comes from God. These are His gifts to us. Defenselessness is all we need to give Him in return. We lay aside but what was never real, to look on Christ and see His sinlessness.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson was very profound for me as we are struggling with the deaths of two more local soldiers. As I think about the war, I see how today's lesson is so profound, whether we are talking about actual war, or the wars we see around us every day - wars with our co-workers, with our customers and clients, with our employers, our family members, the media, the government, etc. etc. etc.

The world as we currently see it really does provide no safety. After all, it's the world we've made by all our talk. We hear all over the place how gloomy and negative and upsetting the world is - just watch the news or read the paper. How can we possibly find comfort in that world? The answer is not in the defenses we create against this world; it's in focusing our attention on another world. It's the difference between seeing with our mind's eye and seeing with our body's eye.

I've just finished Wallace Wattles' book The Science of Getting Rich, which was the book that inspired Rhonda Byrne to create The Secret. In that book Wattles talks about the distinction between competition and creation. We can't possibly get "ahead" for real in a world of competition. It is only when we tap into our creativity that we can get "out of this world" results.

To me, that's what today's lesson means when it says the world - the world of competition which makes offense and defense - provides no safety. When we can get into the space of creativity - creation - connection with our Creator - that's where we will find the comfort and ability to rise above.

The distinction is huge, because it will help us see that we really can't create new results if we're using the same mindset that got us into this in the first place. When we continue to play the game, we stay in that endless loop. The only way to stop a game is to stop, because then there will be nothing to push against.

So let's all choose to stop the game that makes for defensiveness and offensiveness and choose a game of creativity instead. When we stop pushing back - being defensive - we will soon find that there is no reason to push at all.

Wow - I'm totally jazzed about this and am excited to build the buzz about the Summit for Bigger Small Talk, where I'm confident conversations like this will be abundant. Come to Fargo June 27-28 and see for yourself what we can create when we get out of the competition mode!