Holiday Message
As we enjoy the holidays, we may be yearning for a deeper experience in our celebrations. It’s not that we have to celebrate any differently or change family traditions, but we can hold a new purpose in our hearts. The following thoughts from Course in Miracles are offered for the upcoming observances to provide a deepening guide.
Thanksgiving
Although the Course does not speak of Thanksgiving, and some of our readers don’t live in the United States, where this is a major holiday, I would like to offer insight into the spirit of this holiday. Traditionally, we in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving as a time when our forefathers, after a hard struggle to survive in a new land, came together to celebrate the fact that they did survive — they made it! Other countries may have a similar type of day with a slightly different form of observance, but what is constant is the desire to celebrate overcoming the struggle and to give thanks.
Perhaps you are going through a struggle right now. Maybe you are exploring a new experience, and you feel like you are on shaky ground. Let us take a moment to give thanks, not necessarily for the struggle but for the fact that we do not go through this alone. We have each other, and we have the power of our Higher Power to transform any struggle in our lives. The Course asks us not to use these struggles as a sign that we are separate from our Higher Power (which is what our egos would like us to do) but as a reminder to give the struggle to Him, who would show us how everything is an opportunity for healing and peace. We might use this affirmation as an invocation for help and healing:
Let me not see it as a sign of sin and death, nor use it for destruction.
Teach me how not to make of it an obstacle to peace, but let You use it for me, to facilitate its coming.”
(T-19.IV.C.11)
In admitting this and coming to Him with open hands, we place our Higher Power in control of what we so incapably tried to control. By our release, He will work through our life situations and relationships to help us feel His peace and power. Let us give thanks for His love that is eternal and for His creations of love, which are each of us. “For love cannot be far behind a grateful heart and a thankful mind.” (M-23.4)
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