Tear it Down
As you may know, the West Coast of Florida was hit with back-to-back hurricanes this fall. The second one, Hurricane Milton, made landfall just a few miles south of where I live. Thankfully, my apartment community did not suffer much damage. There was a stunning amount of tree branches down, some shredded screen porches, and a few spots where trim under the roofs was torn off, but nothing major. I know many were not so fortunate and I pray those impacted greatly get all the resources they need to rebuild.
In addition to the trees and screens, one thing that did not fare well during the storms was the fence around the pool filter just outside my front porch. When I returned home from Atlanta after evacuating, white planks were scattered everywhere, as if a herd of elephants had come through and trampled the fence.
After a few days, the maintenance team did their best to resurrect the fence, but it was rickety at best. Not only did it look a little wonky, but one of the fence planks refused to stay in place. There were many mornings that I passed that plank lying on the ground as I walked to my car. I admired the maintenance team’s persistence. They nailed it back into place several times, only to find it on the ground again a day or two later.
Earlier this week, I was on a Spiritual Coaching call when I heard a racket outside. It sounded like heavy items were being unloaded right outside my window. Minutes later, I heard voices and lots of pounding coming from the other side of my apartment. I thought perhaps someone had come to fix that stubborn plank properly.
The pounding and the voices continued for the rest of the session so I knew something else must be happening. I hoped Zoom would filter out the noise, but unfortunately, my client could hear it. Thankfully, it wasn’t too distracting and I was able to incorporate the metaphor of construction noise into our closing prayer and meditation.
After the session, I closed my laptop and went to the window to investigate. To my surprise, that old rickety fence was mostly demolished! The builders were not repairing the old fence, they were knocking it down and building a brand new one. This felt incredibly symbolic given the conversation I just had with my client.
As often happens, that Coaching Session provided a timely message for me. And since I was inspired to write about it this week, I’m guessing someone reading this might need to hear it, too. Sometimes when we create something or are trying to maintain something that isn’t working, the best solution is to tear it down and build something completely new. This isn’t always the case, but a fresh start can be very liberating and energizing!
Does this speak to you? It did to me after a week of self-reflection and some heart-to-heart conversations with my prayer partners. I discovered some old beliefs of unworthiness that were still hiding deep in my unconscious mind. I’m grateful for the opportunity to look at them so they could be torn down and rebuilt with self-love. It's a work in progress!
By the way, this is how the Workbook of A Course in Miracles is set up. The first half of the 365 daily lessons helps us undo our false beliefs based on fear, and the second half helps us build a new thought system based on love. I’m just finishing another pass through the lessons this week. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done the workbook lessons since 2006, but I feel like I get more out of it each time.
For my fellow ACIM students reading this, maybe you’ll feel inspired to start the lessons again in 2025…or today! If you are curious about the Course, please join us on Tuesday evenings for our weekly online study group. We have a nice mix of new and longtime students. Each week we learn from each other while having a lot of fun! Click here to learn more.
If you could use some one-on-one assistance in disassembling the ego thought system of fear and building a new foundation on love, I would be honored to work with you. I offer a variety of Spiritual Coaching packages based on the profound teachings of A Course in Miraclesand the innovative concepts of Family Constellations. Now is a great time to let go of what no longer serves so you can begin the New Year with a fresh perspective. Please look around my website for more information about these healing opportunities and to book a session.
Until next time, consider what is not working in your life and ask yourself if it might be time to build something new.
The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you because it cannot build otherwise.
A Course in Miracles ~ T-4.I.11:1