I have been trying to finish my lessons from A Course in Miracles. It has only taken me a couple of years to get to lesson 215! LOL! I keep dropping and picking it back up. Today’s lesson was “Love is the way I walk in gratitude.” Soon after sitting with that lesson for a minute, I pulled The Star and The Empress. Today’s reading invites us to let the gentle, yet powerful ways of love guide us in every step, so that we may witness how transformative a love-centered way of being can be. Even when we must set our boundaries with others, or when we have to speak our truth, or when we must assert ourselves, or even amidst conflict, we can let love guide the way. We let the truth that we have been loved since before we were born guide our every decision, and color our view of the world. We clear the fogs of hopelessness with forgiveness, patience, and kindness.
Have you ever noticed the grounded peace with which some of our living saints deal with the world? Think of Desmond Tutu, or the Dalai Lama. They are so deeply in touch with the suffering of this world, and with the hatred that is often encountered in our manifest reality. However, they remain loving, kind, and patient. There is a way of dealing with every conflict that is not borne out of hatred, or disregard, or anger, or resentment. For every situation, and even for life itself, we have always available to us the path of peace. This is not to say that there is no room for justice or restitution. However, in this world of make-believe, shifting reality, we can find great personal peace as we practice being guided by compassion and love. The Star speaks of transformation. The Empress sings of openness and love. Together, they call on us to be transformed by our connection to that love.