Grace and awareness

The great mystics of all religions agree that in the very depths of the unconscious, in every one of us, there is a Living Presence that is not touched by time, place, or circumstance. Life has only one purpose, they add, and that is to discover that Presence.
The men and women who have done this-Francis of Assisi, for example, Mahatma Gandhi, Teresa of Avila, the Compassionate Buddha--are proof of the words of Jesus The Christ, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."~Easwaran
But every one of them would be quick to tell you that no one can enter the realm of that Kingdom and discover the One who lives there, who has not brought the movements of the mind under control. And, they do not pretend that our own efforts to tame the mind will suffice in themselves.
Grace, they remind us, is all important.
Thomas a Kempis prays, "that I may be able to fulfill they words, and to work out my own
salvation."
The Hallmark of the man or woman of God is gratitude: endless, passionate gratitude for the
precious gift of spiritual awareness.
It is as Christ analogized in his storytelling about life's deepest truths,
"Suppose one of you goes to a friend in the middle of the night and says, "Let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine has dropped in, and I don't have a thing for him to eat." And suppose your friend answers, "Don't bother me! The door is bolted, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you something." He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

So I tell you to "ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks."
Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg?
As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.

Can't you see that The Spirit of God dwelling within is indeed all that you need?
The gift of spiritual awareness is indeed that pearl of great price.
I am called today to be ever grateful for that gift, the essential self within, that faculty that The Lord has given me, in being able to see with the eyes of the Spirit and discern the grace gifts of the Father. Thank you, ever present, loving Lord for your irreplacable grace, and you provision of Light for the Path.
Help me, I pray to live from that inner essential Soul you have created within me and not to follow the compulsive desires of the false self.
My prayer is that it may be so, for you today as well.

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