Miracle #8 - Take Your Brother's Hand, For This is Not a Way We Walk Alone

Photo credit: Brooke Cagle

As I spend more time focused on my mission as a Teacher of God and listening for guidance from the Holy Spirit, more and more opportunities for healing make themselves apparent to me.

People who have never asked me for advice have been calling me and texting me and telling me their problems.

This is so funny to me, because when the ego ruled my world, all I wanted to do was "fix" everyone else.

I thought I was smarter than others and had unique insights that would benefit them, but no one ever asked to hear them.

As I have let go of the ego and allowed the Holy Spirit to use me, I no longer see anyone else as "in need of fixing". Everyone is a projection of my own mind and my holy partner in the Sonship.

All of my contacts and relationships are just healing opportunities. 

This miracle concerns my relationship with my only sister. We are just 11 months apart and, according to my mom, we were best friends and always played together as children, though I have scant memories of this. I remember more clearly big fights that we had as teenagers.

We had little contact for the 35 years after I moved away from home for college.

My sister had different friends, different interests, and - I felt - a disdain for my interests and friends. Whenever I reached out to her over the years, she never seemed to reciprocate.

I wrote letters to her that were never answered.

I visited her on my vacations, but she never came to see me on hers.

I emailed her, but she never replied.

Although I kept trying, I believe now that my efforts were not rewarded because I always had critical thoughts in my mind that she somehow perceived because - after all - all minds are joined.

Something strange happened while I was taking the 40-Day Program with the Teachers of God Foundation last spring. My sister decided to come on a business trip with her husband to Washington D.C. and visit me!

We spent one whole day touring Georgetown, shopping and eating out, and then my sister spent the night at my house in Virginia so that she could see my home and visit with my family the next day.

After her visit, my sister and I continued to stay in touch by text message, but most of our interactions were superficial.

However, when I went to the Summer Retreat in Maine, she texted to say how envious she was and how she wished she could come along.

I told her that I had already put down my deposit for next year and she said she was going to join me!

My sister - who has always been a militant atheist - had no interest in the ACIM conference, but wanted to spend a week at the beach with me! 

Yesterday I texted and asked what she was doing and she wasn't sure, so I suggested that she spend the day doing whatever made her happy, and refuse to feel guilty about it.

When she replied with the words "I'll try", I felt compelled to respond with the words of Yoda:

You must unlearn all that you have learned. Try not! Do. Or do not. There is no try.

My sister, who is the biggest movie buff I know, was highly amused, but then asked me how she can "unlearn all that she has learned"? 

She texted:  “I just don't know how.  Advice?  Where to start? And why were we taught all the wrong things to begin with?”

What followed was a half hour discussion about choosing to be right over choosing to be happy and how the ego tries to keep us trapped in misery by having us ask how and why all the time. How there is no lasting happiness in this world because idol worship always results in disappointment sooner or later. 

My sister, who has a life she hates, with a job she hates, co-workers she hates, a husband and children who don't appreciate her, and physical pain, has reached the end of her rope and wants to find a better way. 

I feel waves of gratitude that I have already found a better way and can shine a light for her and on her. 

Thank You, Holy Spirit

You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save the world. — Workbook, Lesson 171