You could not be nearer to the Divine Presence than you are right now. This I will remember today...

* To know God requires no effort whatsoever. When effort appears, struggle surfaces, I will know that is the ego in me. The real me, the higher self, would never struggle to reach God; it is one with God already. I could no more climb up to God than I could climb into my own skin. I am my body. I am with God. I am. It is the ego that wants to make what is natural a struggle, an effort, anything but the grace it is - a gift from the Divine hand. But, I will not fight the ego. THere is no need to do so. It is power powerless under the watchful light of my awareness. 

Consciousness...awareness IS the Holy Spirit Jesus spoke of as the continuing presence with me. So, I will remember today that darkness disappears when the light switch of my awareness is turned on. I will live in touch with my higher self - the real me, beyond the ego that craves attention, cries when it doesn't get it, and so creates drama virtually everywhere it shows up - in me and with those around me.

* I will remember that every impulse I feel for God, every thought that comes, every inclination to give myself away, rather than withhold myself from myself, from another, from you is the impulse of God's Spirit in me. It is that but it is more than that - it is GOD in ME. It is Me in God. It is the Oneness that I am. There is no effort here to be something more than I am already. God doesn't require perfection before she will take up residence in our consciousness. God requires nothing. When you know this, you are free. Grace abounds, as Saint Paul put it. Until you know this, you are constantly auditioning for God's approval. Not necessary. 

* With every sip of coffee, I will feel as if I'm drinking in the Presence; with every breath I will remember that God is the air I breathe; each time I step into the sunlight, rather than bitching and complaining about the heat, I'll embrace the Light as if I'm embracing God - the fact is, I am...am I not? Are you not? I will listen to the birds as they sing, not be so lost in thought that I hear only honking horns or get lost in the mental recitation of all the "stuff" I've got to do today and with people I really don't like.

* I will, at every break, work on committing to memory these immortal words of Thomas Merton: "As soon as I am disposed to being with God...I AM. No matter where I am...in the monastery, in the city, in the woods, in the streets. At the precise moment I would be inclined to think I'm somewhere in the middle of my journey, I will remember I have arrived at my destination already.

Where I am, God is. What could be better than this? This is the secret of happiness. Better yet, this IS happiness.