To Be Truly Helpful, by Andy

I want the Peace, Love and Joy of God. Yet recently I found myself resenting my brother and showing some reluctance to be of service. Resentment and reluctance surely block me from experiencing love through service to God and from remembering my true Identity as His Son. But halleluiah! Holy Spirit just gave me an eye-opening experience. During the “Living a Course in Miracles” gathering recently held at the Casa, I asked David how I could detach from my personal self and enter a more abstract, spiritual state of mind. David gave me a beautiful answer, the truth of which resonated with me. Yet by the next day I had forgotten it. Fortunately, Spirit is a mighty teacher. I was assigned to edit the video footage of the gathering and there I re-experienced David’s answer. Here it is in the video:

David quoted this prayer from early in the Course:

You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way: I am here only to be truly helpful. I am here to represent Him Who sent me. I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me. I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me. I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. T-2.V.A.18. (8)

I saw and felt the wisdom of it right away. Focusing my mind on being truly helpful to my brother gets me out of my own egoic thinking. More than that, it allows me to relax and trust in the knowledge that I am doing God’s will for me. I am following guidance and not making autonomous decisions, which I would later feel guilty about. Just to confirm this I went and reread this in the Course:

To follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to let yourself be absolved of guilt. It is the essence of the Atonement. It is the core of the curriculum. The imagined usurping of functions not your own is the basis of fear. The whole world you see reflects the illusion that you have done so, making fear inevitable. To return the function to the One to Whom it belongs is thus the escape from fear. And it is this that lets the memory of love return to you. Do not, then, think that following the Holy Spirit’s guidance is necessary merely because of your own inadequacies. It is the way out of hell for you. M-29.3

Now I notice that I am happier about what I do. I feel that what I’m doing is for the good of the whole, no matter who tells me what to do or how to do it. I feel I’m being truly helpful and in this I rest happily. As reinforcement, we watched the movie, The Reluctant Saint, and I so admired Giuseppe’s constantly positive and willing attitude. He is supremely humble, and so the “reluctance” actually refers to his humility. He’s become my role model. I invite you to watch the whole movie, which is on YouTube.