Miracle #31 -Let Me Forget My Brother’s Past Today

 

Photo Credit: Roman Kraft

This morning I read my daily workbook lesson #288 from A Course in Miracles and thought about my stepfather.

He married my mom when I was 15 years old and we always had a great relationship.

I can't recall every being angry or annoyed with him, nor him with me.

Many people may have this kind of relationship, but what made it exceptional was that my stepfather had very difficult relationships with many other people in his life, including my mother, his friends, and his own children. When he passed away last May, two of his three children - who had not spoken to him in years - did not even show up for his funeral. 

As I came to understand what unconditional love is through A Course in Miracles, I began to see that I was able to love my stepfather in this way because we had no history together.

Although he self identified as bi-polar, I never thought of him as mentally ill. I always saw him as the guy who stepped in to help raise me when my father was not there for me.

I only lived in the same house with him for about a year and a half before I went away to college, so we were more like friends than relatives. 

My step-siblings and many of his friends were unable to forget the past they had with him, but for me there really was no past, and so we were always relating only in the present moment of enjoying one another's company. 

My goal is to be able to forget any experiences from my past or the past of any of my brothers, because the past doesn't even exist - except in my mind.

You cannot see it, taste it, touch it, feel it, or smell it.

It is truly just a part of your imagination. And you are always free to imagine anything else with the mind-control of ACIM. 

I love a movie that came out in 1992 called Housesitter, starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. 

In the movie, Goldie Hawn plays a serial liar who is constantly making up stories about her life. She is so charming and delightful, however, that everyone can't help but like her.

She moves into Steve Martin's vacant house and pretends to be his wife because she needs a place to live.

Before long, everyone in town, including Steve Martin's parents, believe her.

Meanwhile, Steve Martin is trying to get her out of the house so he can propose to another woman!

In the end (spoiler alert!) he too falls for Goldie Hawn.

But she won't have him if he is going to be a stick-in-the-mud, entrenched in "reality".

In order to win her heart, he too must live in a vivid imaginary world. 

We all have the option to focus on the "reality" of our grievances and past memories, or to choose to think with our right minds.

I have found that ignoring the "reality" of the ego always leads me to a place of love and peace - a daily miracle! 

Thank You, Holy Spirit

To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and those that were given you. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, based not on your selection. - ACIM Chapter 17, Section III