Can you imagine being an adopted child reunited with your birth mother after 60 years? My friend Diane signed up for a genealogy research service, did a DNA test, and found that she had a cousin unknown to her family. Diane contacted Sherry, who confirmed that she had been adopted and, through previous inquiry, knew that her mother’s name was Marcia. Diane’s aunt is Marcia, which sealed the match.
Deeper inquiry into secret family history revealed that Marcia had a child out of wedlock 60 years ago and gave her up for adoption. She later married and had several children, but never told her husband, children, or other family members about her older daughter.
Diane invited Sherry to come and meet her long-lost cousins. When Sherry arrived at her cousin’s home, she found a sign posted on the door: Welcome home, Sherry. Consider Sherry’s relief and reward to finally be reunited with her family, for whom she had searched for 60 years. The stage was set for a joyfully tearful weekend.
Before long, knowledge of Sherry’s family membership got around the clan. While Marcia initially denied the birth, her children convinced her to meet Sherry. You can imagine the intensity of that meeting. When Marcia held her daughter in her arms, she wept and said, “I should have kept you.” After many years of angst in the hearts of mother and daughter, the saga had a happy ending.
A Course in Miracles urges us to remember, “A happy outcome to all things is sure.” What a powerful affirmation to hold in mind when things seem to be going wrong! We all struggle with some relationships, and wonder if they will ever be resolved. Take heart. Somehow, somewhere, they will. The pain is just a chapter, not the conclusion. When Jesus dictated A Course in Miracles to Dr. Helen Schucman, he told her, “Midterm marks are not entered on the permanent record.” It is likewise said, “The record books do not show the score at halftime.”
Because love is our nature and destiny, eventually everything will be healed. “Nature bats last” does not apply only to the physical world. Our spiritual nature has the final say. Yet we tend to be fooled by appearances, which often indicate separation, lack, and brokenness. But appearances generally run contrary to reality. A Course in Miracles also tells us, “Only the creations of light are real.”
But what if someone with whom you have enmity dies, or leaves you, or you have lost touch with this person and you will never see them again? How in such a situation can a happy outcome be assured? The answer lies in the truth that our real nature is spiritual. Geography or even the end of the body does not stop our relationship. True relationship is not of the body; it is of the soul. It matters less what the bodies are doing, and more what spirits are doing. You can be living in the same house with someone, sleeping in the same bed, and have no real relationship. You can also be physically separated, with an ocean between you, but if there is love, you are together.
If someone has passed away or left your life, you can connect with them in spirit. In prayer or meditation, call this person to you and speak to their soul. Their reality does not depend on what their body is doing. Say what you would say to them if they were sitting in front of you and they fully received your communication. You will find that your connection with this person has not been severed by the absence of their body. Real communication is not of the body, but the spirit.
Many years ago a friend become upset with me and stopped speaking to me. I regretted the loss of our friendship. Yet over the years I have had many dreams of him, in which we are together, laughing, hugging, enjoying each other’s company. In my heart we are still connected. Our relationship is very much alive in spirit. It is only on the physical or personality level that there seems to be separation. Meanwhile only union exists.
If you look back on all the things you worried about in your life, you will realize that very few of them turned out as you worried they would. Usually things resolve themselves naturally. Even if some of your worries came true, they provided you with valuable life lessons that helped you grow, and they too were resolved. Why, then, would you think that your current worry is any more justified than your past worries? The ego tries to convince us that our current situation is an exception to universal truth. It is not. The same love that has always guided and taken care of you, will continue. The grace that has upheld you will not stop now. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life . . .”
February is Valentine’s month when we celebrate loving relationships. While we tend to focus the holiday on romantic relationships, all relationships are holy and important. Let us use this month to create happy outcomes, and know with deep certainty that one day only love will remain.
Alan Cohen is the bestselling author of the newly-released Spirit Means Business, illuminating how you can succeed with money and career without selling your soul. Become a certified professional life coach through Alan’s transformational Life Coach Training beginning September 1. For more information about this program, Alan’s books and videos, free daily inspirational quotes, online courses, and weekly radio show, visit www.alancohen.com.
