Today's quotation:

A miracle is nothing more or less than this:  anyone who
has come into a knowledge of their true identity, of
their oneness with the all-pervading wisdom and power,
this makes it possible for laws higher than the ordinary
mind knows of to be revealed to them.

Ralph Waldo Trine

Today's Meditation:

What would our lives be like if we could admit and accept our oneness with the "all-pervading wisdom and power," what most of us (including Ralph) would call God.  There was a man named Jesus on this planet a couple of thousand years ago who spent almost his entire lifetime trying to convince us that we are, indeed, one with God; for his attempts to empower people with knowledge of this reality, he was seen as a threat to the established religion of his area and was killed.

Imagine a series of computer processors all hooked up to a huge supercomputer.  On their own, the processors have very limited capabilities, but when they take advantage of their networking, their potential is unlimited.  Someone, though, has put a virus into the processors that causes them to close the connection to the supercomputer and to function individually, effectively rejecting the immense potential that they have when they're accessing the amazing potential of the supercomputer.

We're a lot like that.  In our lives we're taught by people that it's important to be independent, to do things on our own, to function without the presence or assistance of any power other than our own.  We thus reject the notion that any unseen, untouchable "deity" can in any way help us, and we spend our lives trying to deal with life and living without the benefit of any sort of connection to the higher power that is there for us.  He doesn't want to control us as if we were puppets; rather, he wants to give us access to the peace and wisdom that is his, making our lives much richer and fuller.

It really is a miracle when we are able to acknowledge, accept, and make use of this incredible power in our lives.  The miracle lies in the rejection of our weak and damaging egos and the acceptance of outside help, even if we can't actually see and touch our helper.  And when we take advantage of this connection, we really do start to see the higher laws that are helping to run our lives, and we're able to live our lives according to those higher laws rather than by the limited ones that our limited minds are able to access.

Why might we be more comfortable with limitations in our lives rather than seeking out connection with the unlimited?

Why do many religious leaders try to get people to focus on their "dependence" on a deity rather than on the potential and possibility that we have in this life?

How can we access and utilize the higher powers and laws in our lives?

Wistfully, we remember that once he said:  "Verily, I say unto you, they that believeth on me, the works that I do shall they do also; and greater works than these shall they do."  Why are we not "doing works" like that?  What is wrong?  His was a way of living that made weakness and trouble drop away like withered leaves in the fall.  Is it a lost art? How shall we find it again?
    If the art has been lost to many of us, what can we do?  The answer is, go back and examine it at its source.  And when we go back and analyze the life of Jesus, the source of his power, and of his Divine energy, we are impressed by his faith in God.  He believed God was near to him, using him.  He believed in God with the faith of a child.  He kept in close contact and communion with God and as a result he was an open channel for Divine energy.

Norman Vincent Peale