Let miracles replace all grievances.
Gary Renard, a teacher of the Course, describes what he calls “forgiveness opportunities.” We have hundreds of them a day. Forgiveness opportunities occur when we are annoyed, irritated, insulted, scared, disgusted, resentful, aggrieved. The issue is not what we think happened to us but how we handle it. The lesson today suggests a shift in perception from the attack to the Divine Spark in every person.
In Alcoholics Anonymous we are asked in the eighth step to make amends to people we have harmed where it would do no further harm. Most of all we have to make amends first to ourselves. What is the harm that we have done to ourselves which we then project outward in blaming others and life’s circumstances? Jesus, as He is being crucified, says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” In this extreme circumstance, if Jesus can rise above this grievous situation and replace it with the miracle of forgiveness, we can do likewise in the more minor grievances that we experience.
In Unitarian Universalism we covenant together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. How often do our grievances blind us from perceiving this inherent worth and dignity? To perceive this inherent worth and dignity takes a presence of mind, what nowadays we call mindfulness. Would that we be mindful and let miracles replace all grievances.
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