“What stands between you and God?”
Dear Friends
The valuable teaching of Divine Science is not exclusive and includes a practice of spiritual principle that embraces all traditions. This will become evident in the message this month which involves two stories, culminating in a new way of: BEING – LIVING – EXPERIENCING LIFE – IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
The first story is our own perception or outlook on life, and what we carry in our conscious minds as being true for ourselves. At this point our stories (individually) would pertain to no-one else but ourselves.
Holding to this first story we often focus on our seeming incompleteness. There is something we still need to get; there is some achievement to which we still aspire; and something to “beat” or resist and overcome.
We may even think: “If only I had this or that, things would be different.” Perhaps we are alluding to more time in the day; better friends, better health, or even money. And when we bring any of these issues to mind, we are not able to remain clinical and unfeeling, so emotions surface and actually support, and to a degree, can keep us locked-in to that which we are keeping in mind.
What is most important to mention at this point is that any emotion, feeling, or thought we have is in this present moment. We cannot live yesterday today; we cannot live tomorrow today. This moment now is our gift.
And these (our stories) are what stand between you and God; between me and God. These thoughts of anxiety, lack, and doubt and “what if’s” capture our attention, and we remain stuck in a place (in consciousness) that we do not find comfortable or comforting.
Now…………..we come to the second story, which paradoxically is really the first story! And here we have a big proviso! We cannot grow spiritually while we are imprisoned in our stories. Are we holding on to our own view of who we are perhaps, and mired deeply in what has happened to us?
What transpires when we give up, or let go of our stories? Take note that in every aspect, we are dealing with the present moment. The whole of Divine Science is the PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD…in every moment.
It all comes back to the present moment. Jesus spoke of the kingdom that is not of this world – in the present tense, as an ever-present reality, while the Zen tradition asks the question: “What in this moment is missing?” And the Sufis declare that one clear moment is all it takes.
The French Jesuit Priest, Jeanne Pierre de Caussade said: “If we knew how to greet each moment as the manifestation of the divine will, we would find in it all that the heart could desire.”
Jesus stated that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom; and your Father knoweth what things you have need of. Not in the future but in the present moment. We are being alerted to awaken to “what is”, the “what is” common to all traditions.
While the “noises” of our own stories are going round and round in our heads and hearts we will miss out on what is truly the gift of God to (and within) each and every soul created.
When we do align with It, then we are making way for It to work through us. And in those moments of full awareness, our story is dropped, and does not come between us and God. And when we are aligned in the present moment with Truth, we are under no laws but God’s.
In Closing…..
“Why will we always substitute our own action for that of the Divine Worker in us, ceaselessly working in us to achieve God’s perfect plan? What progress there would be if we made it our study not to get in the way of His Action, but rather to abandon ourselves to Him and await His guidance.”
Jeanne Pierre de Caussade
Bountiful blessings,
Mallory