What You Are Entitled To

by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff

Have you ever felt locked in by your circumstances? Maybe it’s a job you don’t like. Maybe you feel overworked by the activities of raising a family and juggling work and home life. Or maybe you are being confronted by a chronic illness. How do we live like the spiritual beings we are, when we feel so locked into the world?
Some well-meaning Course students would simply say the world is not real and that is that! Your body is not real and sickness is an illusion. One student said recently, “I don’t want to focus on illusions and my friend’s sickness is an illusion, but that approach doesn’t seem to help my friend who is sick.” And, she is absolutely right — that approach, frankly, is not helpful. When we deny something that we believe in, we only reinforce the thing we deny. Plus, the fact that we are experiencing the thing that we are trying to deny only makes us feel more guilty. In this way, we use the Course (whose purpose is to lead us out of guilt) as a tool to reinforce our guilt.
It would help us (and the person going through the sickness) far more to focus on the truth instead of making the problem real by our adamant denial of it. As the supplement to the Course, The Song of Prayer says, “There are decisions to make here [in the world], and they must be made whether they are illusions or not.” And, in the Course’s text, it says, “The best defense is not to attack another position, but to protect the truth.”
So, when faced by the things of the world that seem to imprison us, we must inject the solution into the circumstance and not simply deny its existence — that is an unhelpful type of denial. True denial, from the Course’s perspective, states that nothing that is not of God has any power over you. Thus the limitations of the world, whether they be financial, job problems or family cannot rob you of your joy or happiness (which in the end is our real ultimate goal in pursuing any of our worldly things) unless we let them. A mind focused on God and His good pleasure to give you the Kingdom is the only thing you are really entitled to!

http://www.miraclecenter.org/wp/the-sustaining-love-of-god/

The Sustaining Love of God

by Beverly Hutchinson McNeff

When I was young, Easter was a big deal. We always got new outfits for church and mine always included a hat or bow for my hair. Everyone I knew celebrated Easter with baskets, bonnets and smiles.
Think about the people, though, who lived during the time of Jesus. He was their savior, and he had been killed. In their minds, their hopes had been killed as well. His disciples not only could not save him, they actually abandoned him. They were frightened that they might be killed too. They weren’t out shopping for Easter bonnets, and there wasn’t much to smile about.
You see, we know the end of the story. We know that there was nothing to fear. Death could not end love; the Son of God would arise in glory. But, the disciples and people of that time, however, did not have that awareness. It’s easy to not fear when you know the outcome, isn’t it?
What do you fear in your life? You already know the final outcome. You have been and forever will be sustained by the love of God. Now is the time to arise in glory and affirm this truth in the face of whatever is occurring. Life is not to be feared but lived, and lived fully.
Jesus told us to be of good cheer for he had overcome the world, and so can we. He was not just talking about the fact that death could not end life, but that no matter what fear befalls us, we can move through it to the truth.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.” This is not just part of the 23rd psalm, but a statement of truth. The “shadows of death” are our fearful thoughts that make us feel alone, and yet we are never alone. God is here and with us now.
We may deny the truth and cower in fear, but that does not stop the fact that God is here and with us now. We know how the story turns out. The greatest threat of this world … death … was overcome by love. Do you not think, then, that love can overcome whatever is concerning you now?
Let us not dwell on the crucifixions in our lives but move on to the resurrection, the miracles that await us. You are sustained by the love of God. There is nothing to fear. So, put on your Easter bonnet and smile!