Hello and Happy New Year! Again!
I was just reviewing my blog in an attempt to blog, and I see that not only did I post the Epilogue last night, but I also posted it four blogs ago. I also noticed that these alleged epilogues weren't saying the same thing.
That was baffling to me, so I started searching through my brand-new, just got it for Christmas, paperback, combined volume, third edition of A Course in Miracles that is published by the Foundation for Inner Peace. And I see that the epilogue I posted last night is for the Workbook and the epilogue I posted four blogs ago is for the Clarification of Terms.
I have to wonder where the heck my mind was all those times I read the book?
In any event, how lovely that there are two epilogues! Especially, since Jesus is obviously such a fantastic Epilogue-er!
Thanks ten million, J!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year!
Wow, today is the last day of 2010!
Tomorrow, I'm going to begin the Course's Workbook for the second time using the commentary by Ken Wapnick called Journey through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles.
I've always wanted to do the Workbook again with Ken, and 2011 seems like the perfect year to do it! I was thrilled to unwrap Ken's 8 book set on Christmas Eve. I've read all the preliminaries, and I'm ready to roll in the morning.
Since today is the last day of the year, some students are finishing the Workbook and treating themselves to the Epilogue. I happened to read it online last night, twice. I had forgotten how beautiful it is, and I thought today would be the perfect day to post it here. Enjoy!
EPILOGUE
This Course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.
You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between. Indeed, your pathway is more certain still. For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom God has called to Him. Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need. His is the Voice for God and also yours. And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth.
No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead. He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word. His is the Word that God has given you. His is the Word you chose to be your own.
And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real. Nor will He give you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good. Let Him prepare you further. He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and your brother and your Self. He will continue. Now you walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe arrival in the end.
The end is certain, and the means as well. To this we say "Amen." You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. Joy attends our way. For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us.
We trust our ways to Him and say "Amen." In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. He loves God's son as we would love him. And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God's angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless.
Tomorrow, I'm going to begin the Course's Workbook for the second time using the commentary by Ken Wapnick called Journey through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles.
I've always wanted to do the Workbook again with Ken, and 2011 seems like the perfect year to do it! I was thrilled to unwrap Ken's 8 book set on Christmas Eve. I've read all the preliminaries, and I'm ready to roll in the morning.
Since today is the last day of the year, some students are finishing the Workbook and treating themselves to the Epilogue. I happened to read it online last night, twice. I had forgotten how beautiful it is, and I thought today would be the perfect day to post it here. Enjoy!
EPILOGUE
This Course is a beginning, not an end. Your Friend goes with you. You are not alone. No one who calls on Him can call in vain. Whatever troubles you, be certain that He has the answer, and will gladly give it to you, if you simply turn to Him and ask it of Him. He will not withhold all answers that you need for anything that seems to trouble you. He knows the way to solve all problems, and resolve all doubts. His certainty is yours. You need but ask it of Him, and it will be given you.
You are as certain of arriving home as is the pathway of the sun laid down before it rises, after it has set, and in the half-lit hours in between. Indeed, your pathway is more certain still. For it can not be possible to change the course of those whom God has called to Him. Therefore obey your will, and follow Him Whom you accepted as your voice, to speak of what you really want and really need. His is the Voice for God and also yours. And thus He speaks of freedom and of truth.
No more specific lessons are assigned, for there is no more need of them. Henceforth, hear but the Voice for God and for your Self when you retire from the world, to seek reality instead. He will direct your efforts, telling you exactly what to do, how to direct your mind, and when to come to Him in silence, asking for His sure direction and His certain Word. His is the Word that God has given you. His is the Word you chose to be your own.
And now I place you in His hands, to be His faithful follower, with Him as Guide through every difficulty and all pain that you may think is real. Nor will He give you pleasures that will pass away, for He gives only the eternal and the good. Let Him prepare you further. He has earned your trust by speaking daily to you of your Father and your brother and your Self. He will continue. Now you walk with Him, as certain as is He of where you go; as sure as He of how you should proceed; as confident as He is of the goal, and of your safe arrival in the end.
The end is certain, and the means as well. To this we say "Amen." You will be told exactly what God wills for you each time there is a choice to make. And He will speak for God and for your Self, thus making sure that hell will claim you not, and that each choice you make brings Heaven nearer to your reach. And so we walk with Him from this time on, and turn to Him for guidance and for peace and sure direction. Joy attends our way. For we go homeward to an open door which God has held unclosed to welcome us.
We trust our ways to Him and say "Amen." In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. He loves God's son as we would love him. And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God's angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless.
Friday, December 17, 2010
What We Want...What We Really, Really, Want!
It's that time of year again! The kids have made their lists, and checked them way more than twice, and in fact, are still in the process of adding on and on and on!
I certainly think that I want a whole bunch of stuff which I've simplified by narrowing it down to just a winning lottery ticket, preferably a really big one!
It seems that our whole lives are spent in a state of want. Since studying the Course, it occurs to me that I don't really know what I want. One of my favorite Workbook Lessons is number 24, "I do not perceive my own best interests."
This hasn't really stopped me from thinking that I want stuff, but it has helped me to think differently about this entire subject.
I think that maybe all the stuff we want, be it tangible or intangible, for ourselves or for others, is really symbolic of wanting our Father in Heaven. Maybe it really is our Home in Heaven that we miss.
As always, Jesus says it best, "For still deeper than the ego's foundation, and much stronger than it will ever be, is your intense and burning love of God, and His for you." T-13:III:2:8.
Amen and Thank God!
I certainly think that I want a whole bunch of stuff which I've simplified by narrowing it down to just a winning lottery ticket, preferably a really big one!
It seems that our whole lives are spent in a state of want. Since studying the Course, it occurs to me that I don't really know what I want. One of my favorite Workbook Lessons is number 24, "I do not perceive my own best interests."
This hasn't really stopped me from thinking that I want stuff, but it has helped me to think differently about this entire subject.
I think that maybe all the stuff we want, be it tangible or intangible, for ourselves or for others, is really symbolic of wanting our Father in Heaven. Maybe it really is our Home in Heaven that we miss.
As always, Jesus says it best, "For still deeper than the ego's foundation, and much stronger than it will ever be, is your intense and burning love of God, and His for you." T-13:III:2:8.
Amen and Thank God!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
So Beautiful!
I just picked up my Course book...you know the one that was published by the Foundation for Inner Peace, which for the record, is the only one that I care to read on account of it is the only one that Jesus and Helen and Bill along with Ken and Bob and Judy published for me to read.
Anyway, I got the urge to pick it up just a moment ago, and I happened to read the Epilogue and me oh my! It is such a beautiful thing, and so, I'm passing it along right now!
EPILOGUE
1. Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way will come and go and go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk with Him and with His Word upon your heart. Who could despair when hope like this is his? Illusions of despair may seem to come, but learn how not to be deceived by them. Behind each one there is reality and there is God. Why would you wait for this and trade it for illusions, when His Love is but an instant farther on the road where all illusion end? The end is sure and guaranteed by God. Who stands before a lifeless image when a step away the Holy of the Holies opens up an ancient door that leads beyond the world?
2. You are a stranger here. But you belong to Him Who loves you as He loves Himself. Ask but my help to roll the stone away, and it is done according to His Will. We have begun the journey. Long ago the end was written in the stars and set into the Heavens with a shining Ray that held it safe within eternity and through all time as well. And holds it still; unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.
3. Be not afraid. We only start again an ancient journey long ago begun that but seems new. We have begun again upon a road we travelled on before and lost our way a little while. And now we try again. Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked till now. Look up and see His Word among the stars, where He has set your Name along with His. Look up and find your certain destiny the world would hide but God would have you see.
4. Let us wait here in silence, and kneel down an instant in our gratitude to Him Who called to us and helped us hear His Call. And then let us arise and go in faith along the way to Him. Now we are sure we do not walk alone. For God is here, and with Him all our brothers. Now we know that we will never lose the way again. The song begins again which had been stopped only an instant though it seems to be unsung forever. What is here begun will grow in life and strength and hope, until the world is still an instant and forgets all that the dream of sin had made of it.
5. Let us go out and meet the newborn world, knowing that Christ has been reborn in it, and that the holiness of this rebirth will last forever. We had lost our way but He has found it for us. Let us go and bid Him welcome Who returns to us to celebrate salvation and the end of all we thought we made. The morning star of this new day looks on a different world where God is welcomed and His Son with Him. We who complete Him offer thanks to Him, as He gives thanks to us. The Son is still, and in the quiet God has given him enters his home and is at peace at last.
Anyway, I got the urge to pick it up just a moment ago, and I happened to read the Epilogue and me oh my! It is such a beautiful thing, and so, I'm passing it along right now!
EPILOGUE
1. Forget not once this journey is begun the end is certain. Doubt along the way will come and go and go to come again. Yet is the ending sure. No one can fail to do what God appointed him to do. When you forget, remember that you walk with Him and with His Word upon your heart. Who could despair when hope like this is his? Illusions of despair may seem to come, but learn how not to be deceived by them. Behind each one there is reality and there is God. Why would you wait for this and trade it for illusions, when His Love is but an instant farther on the road where all illusion end? The end is sure and guaranteed by God. Who stands before a lifeless image when a step away the Holy of the Holies opens up an ancient door that leads beyond the world?
2. You are a stranger here. But you belong to Him Who loves you as He loves Himself. Ask but my help to roll the stone away, and it is done according to His Will. We have begun the journey. Long ago the end was written in the stars and set into the Heavens with a shining Ray that held it safe within eternity and through all time as well. And holds it still; unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.
3. Be not afraid. We only start again an ancient journey long ago begun that but seems new. We have begun again upon a road we travelled on before and lost our way a little while. And now we try again. Our new beginning has the certainty the journey lacked till now. Look up and see His Word among the stars, where He has set your Name along with His. Look up and find your certain destiny the world would hide but God would have you see.
4. Let us wait here in silence, and kneel down an instant in our gratitude to Him Who called to us and helped us hear His Call. And then let us arise and go in faith along the way to Him. Now we are sure we do not walk alone. For God is here, and with Him all our brothers. Now we know that we will never lose the way again. The song begins again which had been stopped only an instant though it seems to be unsung forever. What is here begun will grow in life and strength and hope, until the world is still an instant and forgets all that the dream of sin had made of it.
5. Let us go out and meet the newborn world, knowing that Christ has been reborn in it, and that the holiness of this rebirth will last forever. We had lost our way but He has found it for us. Let us go and bid Him welcome Who returns to us to celebrate salvation and the end of all we thought we made. The morning star of this new day looks on a different world where God is welcomed and His Son with Him. We who complete Him offer thanks to Him, as He gives thanks to us. The Son is still, and in the quiet God has given him enters his home and is at peace at last.
Monday, September 20, 2010
One Time
I remember this one time when I was a teenager growing up on an Indian Reservation in Salamanca, New York. I was shopping at the local mall which at the time consisted of maybe two stores and a snack counter.
Anyway, one of the stores was called McCrory's which was a popular five and dime chain. Inside were bins and bins full of different odds and ends. I came across this bin full of giant butterflies. They looked like the Monarchs I see flying around the back yard all summer, but they were fake of course and huge like the size of a basketball.
I walked up to that bin and thought, "What are these for?"
I picked one up and saw that underneath it had a metal ring on it, and so, I slipped it on my finger. The idea of wearing this huge thing as an actual ring for your finger was so ridiculous that it cracked me right up. I laughed my freakin' head off.
My laughter became uncontrollable. I couldn't seem to stop no matter how hard I tried, and I hadn't even been drinking or anything. I started to get embarrassed and ended up having to leave the store because there was just no stopping this laughter. Tears were streaming down my face. I think I was truly hysterical.
When I think about that day now, I am reminded of J's counsel for us to learn to ask the question, "What is it for?" in conjunction with everything. I am also reminded of that section in the Course called The Hero of the Dream where J says, "No one believes there really was a time when he knew nothing of a body, and could never have conceived this world as real. He would have seen at once that these ideas are one illusion, too ridiculous for anything but to be laughed away."
LOL!
Anyway, one of the stores was called McCrory's which was a popular five and dime chain. Inside were bins and bins full of different odds and ends. I came across this bin full of giant butterflies. They looked like the Monarchs I see flying around the back yard all summer, but they were fake of course and huge like the size of a basketball.
I walked up to that bin and thought, "What are these for?"
I picked one up and saw that underneath it had a metal ring on it, and so, I slipped it on my finger. The idea of wearing this huge thing as an actual ring for your finger was so ridiculous that it cracked me right up. I laughed my freakin' head off.
My laughter became uncontrollable. I couldn't seem to stop no matter how hard I tried, and I hadn't even been drinking or anything. I started to get embarrassed and ended up having to leave the store because there was just no stopping this laughter. Tears were streaming down my face. I think I was truly hysterical.
When I think about that day now, I am reminded of J's counsel for us to learn to ask the question, "What is it for?" in conjunction with everything. I am also reminded of that section in the Course called The Hero of the Dream where J says, "No one believes there really was a time when he knew nothing of a body, and could never have conceived this world as real. He would have seen at once that these ideas are one illusion, too ridiculous for anything but to be laughed away."
LOL!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Crazy
I was just chatting with my little brother, Brian. He told me he thinks I'm the craziest person he's ever even heard of. I was shocked. I said, "Crazier than that guy who took the Discovery Channel employees hostage today?" And he said, "Yes."
So then I tried to prove to him that I'm really not crazy by pointing out how very open minded I am and how stable and how my behavior is so normal and consistent. Then he had to go do something, and so he asked me to call him back in five minutes to which I said I needed and hour.
So, I forgave it and realized it doesn't really matter what he thinks of me. It just matters what I think of him. I called him back in an hour and the subject didn't even come up again, and that was that.
Although, I'm thinking he was probably right. I mean if I wasn't crazy I wouldn't think I was here in the first place, right?
All I can say is thank God for true forgiveness which apparently leads away from crazy rather than towards it. Good God, I hope I'm doing it right.
So then I tried to prove to him that I'm really not crazy by pointing out how very open minded I am and how stable and how my behavior is so normal and consistent. Then he had to go do something, and so he asked me to call him back in five minutes to which I said I needed and hour.
So, I forgave it and realized it doesn't really matter what he thinks of me. It just matters what I think of him. I called him back in an hour and the subject didn't even come up again, and that was that.
Although, I'm thinking he was probably right. I mean if I wasn't crazy I wouldn't think I was here in the first place, right?
All I can say is thank God for true forgiveness which apparently leads away from crazy rather than towards it. Good God, I hope I'm doing it right.
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