I could see peace instead of this

WHAT an appropriate thought for today!!! I've already expressed my reservations about The Course, but have learned to eat the fish and throw away the bones. And the meat I have for today is that I really needed to see this message again. I'm annoyed by a number of things, not the least of which is a woman who insists upon attempting to hold business meetings after church, creating confusion while Bible Study is going on. It bothers me.

But it doesn't have to. Yes, she's reneged on her word, and yes, she gives the impression that it's all about her, and yes, I'm annoyed that she waltzes in, holds a meeting during Bible study and then waltzes out without attending Bible study. But you know what, maybe that's a sign that she needs to be taught.

So anyway, today's idea "begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the other way of seeing. Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises." That's what the Course says. I get to choose peace or not. The instructions say that "It is your inner world to which the applications of today’s idea should be made." The peace has to be an inner peace; it has to come from deep inside me.

So in a practical sense (because that's how we grow), I need to make a bunch of shorter applications of this principle. and I need to make them "whenever I feel my peace of mind is threatened in any way. The purpose is to protect myself from temptation throughout the day." What I need to do is remind myself that “I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.”"

OK, that's where I am today. I needed this. Law and Order SVU is on. It's the episode that was the take on the Ted Haggard story -- yet another story about a gay cleric. I could see peace instead of this. Tried to have a conversation with the woman in the coffee shop. Before I could even get started, she put up the defense with "I don't do religion because I'm too much of a thinking person." I felt sad for her, but didn't have the energy or inclination to argue the point -- some of the brightest and sharpest minds I've known have grappled with questions of theology and religion. The fact that she continued on, unprompted, to justify her lack of belief "I'm a good person, I can read the Bible," etc, spoke, in my mind, to the need for a surgically precise way to get to these sorts of arguments. I know I can, and I know I can be really effective at it. Perhaps it's not my time yet, but I'll get there. I'm not talking about the kind of smug, bibliocentric bullying that coerces people, I'm talking about the ability to meet people in the midst of their objections, listen to those objections, and show them a more excellent way. Without relying on a book they don't believe in.

I could see peace instead of this.