A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s. A Course in Miracles (M3)
Am I suggesting that if you decide to be a “teacher of God” you must do something big and dramatic?
Absolutely not. Your work in healing yourself through healing others might have a completely different spin on it.
My friend, Daniel, volunteers in a soup kitchen in a disadvantaged area of Chicago. He always asks me to join him.
I would hate doing that. I am a neatnik Virgo who hates mess. I would not enjoy scooping out portions from vats of mashed potatoes. It would be a big sacrifice to me. That is his work, not mine.
“But, you have done things so much harder,” Daniel argues. “You have dealt with drug pushers, murders, burglars, prostitutes!”
He doesn’t understand that those things were not hard for me. I enjoyed it. I liked those people. They are fascinating and I had fun dealing with them. Their ideas are so different from mine. I learned from them.
I see them as innocent children of God who are desperately looking for love in all the wrong places.
This is the key to your work as a teacher of God.
It is supposed to be easy. And it does not have to include anything dramatic like going to a jail or a soup kitchen. It is not something you should do. SHOULD is not a word from Spirit.
What’s easy for you? Perhaps it is writing a book for children. Painting a landscape. Composing music.
You can heal yourself and others by being a compassionate bus driver, waiting for someone who is running to get on your bus – a loving mother who is tired but kisses that little scratch and makes it all better one more time for her four year old – an aerobics instructor who helps someone heavy to find a way to exercise – a priest who counsels a couple an extra hour – a salesman who provides the best product for a customer even if there is little commission in it. Or even as an inmate in a prison who forgives a guard who is rude.
Do you think those things don’t count?
It’s the love with which you do the normal things in your life that sends the teaching. It infiltrates the energy of the world. People are attracted to that energy and are nourished.
We can be teachers of God anywhere we are. Healing and compassion are the objective. Starting where we are right now and extending a little extra love into whatever we do and to whomever we meet.
And to being open to guidance. If you are supposed to assist in a hospice or a homeless shelter, it will end up right in your lap. It will be put right in front of you. And it will feel easy. It will be your work.
You may be doing your work right now. The purpose of your life as a teacher of God may be already here.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE this article. Wow. Amazing. It’s exactly how I feel. Some people think what I do is difficult, but to me it is as easy as breathing, and like you, scooping out potatoes would be difficult for me!!! We each have our own gift, and I am terrifically grateful on this day for the reminder from you!!!
love, lisa
Thanks, Lisa! Back to you!
Your articles are priceless. Please everyone go over to Lisa’s blog (Just click on her name and it will take you there) and read her “Delete” article.
It may change your life.
She also has a book coming out very soon! Can’t wait to read it.
What I wonder is why do people attribute God to doing things that are compassionate or instructional? It’s like the missionary who says that he is doing God’s work by feeding the poor — those impoverished by alleged “Acts of God” such as famine or drought. It’s as if the only reason they do acts of kindness is to appease a god of some sort, a rather cynical motive.
Unless God is a metaphor of the best in humanity, the term does not fit those who voluntarily perform compassionate acts.
Corinne, Thanks for such a nice article. i don’t think I could have said it better. LOL….
I also liked Lisa’s site – thanks for the link. I agree we can be teachers of god wherever we are. And to answer Godless, by all means please continue to perform compassionate acts and use GOD as a metaphor. For me though, the mystery of GOD has added many dimensions to my own thinking and experiences of life.