2nd Week of Advent: Release Suffering, Accept Joy

by Beverly McNeff

Each year, when my brother and I were growing up, my mom would hang our stockings on the mantle. She had a stocking made for each of us with our names sewn on in a fancy stitch. They were made a very long time ago, when this type of specialty work was very precious and not found in every store or mail-order magazine as it is today. Those stockings always represented to me my parents’ love for us. Even though they did not have a lot in the way of finances when we were young, they always made sure we never felt lacking. We didn’t have much, but we thought we did, and it was our parents’ love that made the ordinary seem extraordinary.

As my brother and I got older, had our own families, and our parents passed into the experience of eternal life, I forgot about the stockings. My new stockings for my husband, our kids (from his first marriage), and our goddaughters took priority. When our little boy Jeffrey came along, I made sure he had his stocking with his name on it. My mom’s tradition of those special stockings continued, and now each grandchild and each adult kid’s partner or spouse has their own special stocking, too.

A few years back, when our son was still little, I had a surprising Christmas experience. As the day arrived, I was busy making sure everything was perfect before Jeffrey walked in for Santa’s morning surprise. However, when I walked into the living room, what should I see on the mantle of the fireplace, but my stocking from when I was a little girl!

My heart leaped with joy, and my eyes filled with tears. My logical mind wanted to figure out how it had gotten there and who had brought it, but those thoughts were quickly transcended for a moment by the real message of that stocking — I was loved. I was loved not just by my parents, my child, my husband, or my brother, who had found the stocking and gave it to my husband to hang. I was just loved. I felt release and joy filled my heart!

I was connected to something greater than myself. I was connected to every living thing … I was connected to God, and nothing could stop that connection …. not distance, not attitudes, not suffering, and not death. There was something greater at work in my life, and that stocking reminded me of that. Whenever life seems to be sad, hurtful, depressing, or anxious, God is still at work, and He loves me; He loves all of us. He wants all of us to release our suffering and accept His joy.

God is tireless in His Love and Will for us, and nothing can separate us from His care. Love is the answer, no matter the problem. Now, this may sound naive to our egos, but it’s because we have put our faith in everything else besides God’s loving care and His Will of joy for us. And, have those “other things” ever really given you the lasting result you desire? I know they haven’t because they haven’t for me. That special stocking, however, was the instrument that reminded me of God’s Love and that His Will for me is happiness! Even if only for a moment, I know this is true; that is enough. That moment was enough for God to get past my “sophisticated” ego mind and connect me with His infinite care.

God’s love and joy give so much comfort and purpose in our lives, and that is why we will focus on this joy by releasing our suffering for the second week of Advent. Our thought in the Prayer Ministry is workbook lesson 41, “God goes with me wherever I go.” This powerful lesson says that remembering this truth will…

“… eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering and intense fear of loss.

“The separated ones have invented many ‘cures’ for what they believe to be ‘the ills of the world.’ But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem. Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever. And foolishness it is, despite the serious and tragic forms it may take.”

We do believe in our suffering, and because of this truth, we can’t just ignore the hurt and sickness that is all around. So we must look at the devastation that is all around us with a focus on the truth: “God goes with me wherever I go.” As this lesson goes on to say…

“Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real, and suffered out of its allegiance to them.

“You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go. You can never suffer because the Source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. You can never be alone because the Source of all life goes with you wherever you go. Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go.”

The Course is telling us we are needed now. We are needed to become the miracle workers who can bring God’s healing Answer to all who suffer, including ourselves! For this second week of Advent, we will focus on releasing those thoughts of suffering and accepting the joy and helping answer, through the Holy Spirit, that God is holding out to us. He is with us now. To dispute this is to deny the power of God and His ability to be where He desires to be. How arrogant that is for us to think we know better than God! As lesson 41 says,

“It is quite possible to reach God. In fact it is very easy, because it is the most natural thing in the world. You might even say it is the only natural thing in the world. The way will open, if you believe that it is possible. …

“Throughout the day use today’s idea often, repeating it very slowly… Think of what you are saying; what the words mean. Concentrate on the holiness that they imply about you; on the unfailing companionship that is yours; on the complete protection that surrounds you.

“You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes with you wherever you go.”

How might you do this with all that is going on in your personal life and world? Perhaps you haven’t had a “special stocking” appear on your mantle this year (or maybe you just haven’t noticed it), but you can still remember you are loved, and God’s Will for you is happiness and joy. After all, isn’t this the real message of the Christmas season: to remember the birth of love and the joy this awareness brings? We cannot do this when our minds are focused on suffering and pain, so let us lift our minds above the battleground. Perhaps you can help someone in need remember God’s joyous love with a phone call, a card, an email, a text, or simply by sitting quietly with a loving thought for them. The “special stocking” of loving comfort you extend to another will be the blessing you receive, and perhaps just “the little willingness” that you can give to allow God’s Answer to get past your “logical” ego mind and connect you with His joy, love, and comfort always. As the Course so beautifully says,

“My Father supports me, protects me, and directs me in all things. His care for me is infinite, and is with me forever.” (W-58)

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