Holidays
Gratitude is saying thank you for a blessing. Can the ego get ahold of gratitude to promote
guilt and separation?  You bet it can!  With a desire to be in a state of true thankfulness and
gratitude this holiday, we take a close look at how we can use gratitude as an expression of
unity and guiltlessness. We talk about what we are really thankful for from a Course
perspective and end with a Prayer of thankfulness to our Creator
Our traditional understanding of Christmas and the ways in which we celebrate are
reinterpreted in this teaching from A Course in Miracles. We learn the true meaning of the
birth of Christ, the relationship of Jesus to us and how we too can make the great discovery
that he made during his earthly life; the discovery of the altar within where our true holiness
abides.  "Is he the Christ? O yes, along with you." There is a beautiful song at the end that
gently leads us into a silent meditation.  
W. #303 has a beautiful prayer to say on  Christmas morning.

Here is a link to an article on the meaning of Christmas:
This audio recording was a homily I gave as a guest speaker at Spiritus Christi Church in
2003.  When I was asked to speak I was knee deep in my feelings of inadequacies as a
mom and felt I did not have anything uplifting to offer the mom's in our community.  I took
the invitation to speak into prayer and asked the Holy Spirit what if anything could I offer that
would be helpful and supportive to other moms.  This homily is the result.  I experienced a
healing when I wrote this and when I spoke it to others.  It was my first experience of letting
the Holy Spirit speak through me and I was filled with gratitude when realizing that His
messages are always loving, never judging and will always lead to peace.  

Here is a link to an article I wrote
in 2009 on the same subject:  
Mother's Day
19 Minutes
New Year's Day
(not a recording)
This year try a better way to conduct your year-in-review and to make a New Year's
resolution.  This better way gives an account of the past year that will leave you hopeful and a
New Year's resolution  that will guarantee to lead you to  perfect happiness and peace.
Lent  and
Easter
The Christian season of Lent is based on the time when Jesus went into the desert for forty
days and nights and was tempted by the 'devil'.  Christians have taken the 40 days that
occurred after Jesus’ baptism by John and wrapped it around our Easter season which
symbolizes the sacrifice and atonement for our sins made by Jesus. Therefore, the 40 days
before Easter is meant to purify us of our sinful ways in order to be worthy to receive this gift
of self-sacrifice from Jesus and to be with God.  A Course in Miracles has a different plan
for salvation.  This plan is for our total acceptance of the idea that we never sinned therefore
there is nothing to atone for.  We were created in God’s perfect likeness and remain just as
He created us.  We are forever joined with the Father and no amount of dreaming will ever
change that.  As Course students why not use a traditional Christian season to illuminate
and reinforce this message? Here are five weekly practices that help us remove the blocks
to seeing our true nature and to help "bring Heaven nearer to our reach".
Relationships: The Ego's Playground or the Holy Spirit's Healing
Garden?   You Decide....
We all are in relationship in one form or another, whether it be with a partner, a parent, a
child, a co-worker or a friend.  Our relationships seem to vacillate between ego driven
goals which result in confusion and conflict and the goal of truly joining together in unity
and peace.  How can we be more consistent in choosing peace instead of conflict; unity
instead of separation? Is there a way to heal through our relationships?
In this teaching we learn of the ego purpose of relationship, how to change our minds
about what relationships  are for and how to notice and release the hidden beliefs that
block true communion with each other and with God.  
Seeing Jesus as a symbol of our truth   Click Here