The miracle of the 100th post

It’s my 100th post!  Whoop!  Whoop!  So much pressure to make this a good one…  🙂

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I was about 6 or 7 when I began to understand that because my family was Jewish, that meant that something about me was significantly different from my classmates.  It took me quite a while to figure out what that “something” was.

Around that time, one day I came home to my mom and asked, “Mommy, do Jews believe in Jesus?” I can only imagine the storm that must have developed in her brain as she tried to come up with some age-appropriate answer. What she came up with was something like this: “Jews think that Jesus was a teacher.”

I spent an embarrassing amount of my childhood and teenage years picturing Jesus teaching multiplication tables at a blackboard in front of a classroom full of kids. 🙂

I’ve always had an affinity for the idea of Jesus-the-Teacher.  I’ve never had an interest in the institutions that built up around Jesus-the-God, but since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by the idea that somewhere I could find a textbook of his teachings as he gave them, without all the hoopla.

A few years ago, I was blessed to be introduced to the books of Paul Ferrini, specifically Love Without Conditions.  I began to understand that “Christ” was a title of enlightenment, not a last name. Reading it, I felt like I had come home – here were the teachings of love and wholeness and forgiveness that I had yearned for my whole life.

When I attended the class with Sandee Mac two weeks ago, she said something I’d never heard stated in such a clear way.  She posited that the Old Testament gave us rules that told us the way to be good was to avoid doing bad – “Thou shalt not…”  They were essentially rules that used our fear of being punished to keep us in line.

Several thousand years later, times had changed.  In the New Testament, Jesus taught a new law to supplant all others – The Law of Love.  “You shall love God. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

This dichotomy between fear and love is the basis of many current-day spiritual teachings.  Most notably, A Course In Miracles says it very plainly – there are only two things at the base of everything we do, say, feel, and experience – Fear and Love.  Fear, in any of its many manifestations, is a lack of Love.

A couple of years ago I took a class in A Course In Miracles (with the fabulous Rev. Milton Clarke – oh how my little heart goes pit-a-pat when I think of his brilliance!)  Rev. Milton gave us the “50 Principles of Miracles” and here are a few of my favorites:

• There is no order of difficulty in miracles. One is not “harder” or “bigger” than another. They are all the same. All expressions of love are maximal.
• Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense everything that comes from love is a miracle.
• Miracles are natural. When they do not occur something has gone wrong.
• Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness.

So here we are at the 100th miracle.

As I reflect on the 99 that have come before this, I see a trend.  Some of them have been straight-up cool things that have happened in my world.  An even greater number of them have been a triumph of love over fear.

For instance, The Miracle of Amazing Men was a recognition that I need not be fearful that there will never be an amazing man in my life…because I already have MANY amazing men in my life!

A Dysfunctional Family Miracle was about forgiveness for myself and for others, which at its very root is a shift from fear to love.

The Miracle of Fluidity was a huge release of shame that allowed me to open a part of my heart that was scared to love

One of the biggest shifts that has occurred within me since January 1st is that I now go through my day actively looking for – and waiting for – miracles.  I know that something will happen each day that will bring me into a greater state of love with my world.  I have come to believe wholeheartedly that miracles are natural and I try to live each day in a miraculous state of mind…a state of miracle-readiness.

What an amazing journey.  I can hardly believe it’s been 100 miracles.  I can hardly wait to see what the Universe has in store for me next!

Here’s to the next 100!!!!