The Road to Peace is Paved With Trust
Lately I’ve been speaking with students who feel they are doing something wrong because when they invite the Holy Spirit into a situation it often seems that the situation gets worse. Shouldn’t it be all happy-happy peaceful when you turn something over to the Holy Spirit? Yes and no. “Yes” it will eventually be peaceful but “no” initially there are usually some things within you and in your outer life that need to be brought in line with your goal of Peace. If your external circumstances need to change then often you will experience a period of external turmoil that can be very uncomfortable. And if it’s your mind that needs to change then you might find yourself confused, disoriented, afraid, unhappy, and disturbed. Sometimes, of course, both your inner experience and your outer world need to change and then it’s extremely uncomfortable.
For example, you’ve accepted a path to God and you have invited the Holy Spirit into your life. Every one of us who is a student of A Course in Miracles has done this and we all go through a “period of undoing”. Initially, this period can be very peaceful and happy because of the Peaceful, Happy Goal that you have accepted. But soon all hell breaks loose as your life in the world is adjusted to fit this new Goal. For me, since I was only twenty and didn’t have much of a life yet, this consisted of leaving a job and moving back in with my family. It was not too uncomfortable because I didn’t feel I had much to lose. But for many, who often make the choice for God when they are older and have a more complicated life in which their identity is heavily invested, this can be downright excruciating. Divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, business loss, job loss, friends falling away, moving – sometimes all of these! This is when you most need to trust that you have accepted this new path and that the Holy Spirit will take you safely through all the changes that need to occur to line up your life with it. Even after the initial “undoing” you experience when you first accept a path to God varying degrees of “undoing” are going to happen in your outer life every time you experience a significant shift within yourself.
Relationships are an area where quite often the changes that need to occur are only in your own mind. When you invite the Holy Spirit into a relationship it can be quite rocky at the beginning as all of your past experiences and beliefs rise to the surface. The Course is quite explicit about this uncomfortable period, beginning in Chapter 17, Part 5 (The Healed Relationship). You are used to following the ego in relationships and the ego wants to project your past onto the other so it can seek for retribution for it on them. But now you have chosen Holiness as your goal and to attain this you have to first confront the fears that you project onto the other from your own past. When you choose Peace and Holiness you choose healing and you have to deal with every belief that stands in the way of your healing. All the pain that comes up in the relationship is not a sign of trouble but an opportunity to heal. Again, all you need to do is trust the Holy Spirit to carry you through the discomfort and out the other side to Peace. Peace is always right here waiting for you to overcome your obstacles to It.
For example, you’ve accepted a path to God and you have invited the Holy Spirit into your life. Every one of us who is a student of A Course in Miracles has done this and we all go through a “period of undoing”. Initially, this period can be very peaceful and happy because of the Peaceful, Happy Goal that you have accepted. But soon all hell breaks loose as your life in the world is adjusted to fit this new Goal. For me, since I was only twenty and didn’t have much of a life yet, this consisted of leaving a job and moving back in with my family. It was not too uncomfortable because I didn’t feel I had much to lose. But for many, who often make the choice for God when they are older and have a more complicated life in which their identity is heavily invested, this can be downright excruciating. Divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, business loss, job loss, friends falling away, moving – sometimes all of these! This is when you most need to trust that you have accepted this new path and that the Holy Spirit will take you safely through all the changes that need to occur to line up your life with it. Even after the initial “undoing” you experience when you first accept a path to God varying degrees of “undoing” are going to happen in your outer life every time you experience a significant shift within yourself.
Relationships are an area where quite often the changes that need to occur are only in your own mind. When you invite the Holy Spirit into a relationship it can be quite rocky at the beginning as all of your past experiences and beliefs rise to the surface. The Course is quite explicit about this uncomfortable period, beginning in Chapter 17, Part 5 (The Healed Relationship). You are used to following the ego in relationships and the ego wants to project your past onto the other so it can seek for retribution for it on them. But now you have chosen Holiness as your goal and to attain this you have to first confront the fears that you project onto the other from your own past. When you choose Peace and Holiness you choose healing and you have to deal with every belief that stands in the way of your healing. All the pain that comes up in the relationship is not a sign of trouble but an opportunity to heal. Again, all you need to do is trust the Holy Spirit to carry you through the discomfort and out the other side to Peace. Peace is always right here waiting for you to overcome your obstacles to It.
Comments
Blessing and Peace and Love to each of us.