Gifts of Inner Guidance

By Ted Allen

A representative from a church group called me to get an estimate for rebuilding the steps to the main entrance of their sanctuary. I agreed to meet her and a couple other members of the building committee at the church to view the project.

What I saw was two old, broken stone treads, with iron railings and a stone landing, all closed off with a spiderweb of twine. The steps and landing needed extensive work.

“The bishop is coming soon,” they said, “so we need it done as soon as possible.”

“When’s he coming?” I asked.

“Our bishop is a she,” one of the members replied. “She will arrive in about a month.”

Would you like a quick Band-Aid type of repair, or would you rather it be reconstructed properly?”

“We want the job done right,” they affirmed.

“I’ll send a quote right out to you,” I said. “The job will require extensive demolition as well as time to order custom-cut bluestone treads and risers.”

They said their decision would be forthcoming immediately after they received my estimate.

But a week after I’d sent the estimate, I’d still heard nothing from them. I figured someone else had been chosen to do the work.

I happened to be in that small town a day or two later and drove by the church. I was surprised to see the same twine wrapped between the wrought-iron railings. Nothing had been done! I had more than enough work to do, though, so I put the thought of the church steps aside.

Late the following Sunday afternoon, I received a call from one of the committee members.

“Yes,” he told me. “We want you to proceed ASAP.”

“Well,” I replied, “now there are barely two weeks before your bishop arrives, and my schedule is nearly full.”

“We realize that,” he said. “We’d like you to do the best you can. If you can get it done on time, that would be great. If it takes a little longer, we understand.”

I agreed to see what I could do. After hanging up, I felt a bit chagrined that they had waited so long to approve the job. I wondered if I could really juggle my schedule and fit this project in. But immediately, I felt a distinct nudge that I should accept the job and do my best. It was also an honor for me, as a student of Eᴄᴋᴀɴᴋᴀʀ, to build steps that would allow others the freedom to worship God and Divine Spirit as they wished. With this new attitude, I gathered the materials and decided to really put my heart, love, and attention into the project.

As I worked, I discovered the church also functioned as a preschool each morning. The children took great delight in watching the daily progress as they made their way to and from the preschool. One day as I neared completion, the children were a bit late in being released. Consequently, I had about a dozen parents closely watching as I put finishing touches on the project.

On another occasion, a passing motorist pulled over, rolled down his window, and asked for directions to a bubbling spring where locals once filled their water containers. I replied that I knew of the spring, but it had been removed and was no longer functioning. At that moment, the fellow recognized me. We were both members of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). He asked me, “Did you know they hold a weekly AA meeting at this church?”

“I had no idea,” I replied, “but I’m glad to be working on the first two steps to make it easier for those members who wish to attend.” That was a double-entendre reference to AA’s twelve-step program.

Once my attitude had changed and I’d set to work following my nudge from the Inner Master (what we in Eᴄᴋᴀɴᴋᴀʀ refer to as the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ, and which others may recognize as Divine Spirit), the step building became an almost dreamlike experience. I realized I had been given a unique opportunity to build steps to help others on their spiritual journey.

The work became a living demonstration of the ECK, or Divine Spirit, in action for the parade of preschoolers, parents, church members, and the AA crowd. In addition, the experience furthered my realization that each moment is a gift from God—an opportunity to give back to life with creative action and expression.

And yes, the job was finished in time for the bishop to enjoy it!

By Sri Harold Klemp

This story has to do with a DC-9 emergency over West Africa. Deboee was a pilot on a DC-9 passenger plane. One day the plane was flying out of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with a full load of passengers, and they had an emergency during takeoff. They were headed for Monrovia, Liberia, which was to the west.

Suddenly there was a violent vibration. The copilot was flying, and Deboee said, “Go ahead with the takeoff.” The other choice would have been to abort. This was how the guidelines read. With the copilot flying, Deboee was very receptive to the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ, to the Inner Master, and he listened for any guidance that might come.

Now followed a series of life-or-death decisions. Deboee kept listening, and in some cases he did absolutely the wrong thing by the book. But it saved everybody’s life.

First was the decision to continue with the takeoff or not, and aborting meant they would have ended up in the sea. And he said, “Lives were saved right there.”

Deboee knew there was a tire problem, so he didn’t retract the undercarriage, because that would have damaged the hydraulic system. Later, the Abidjan air traffic control center confirmed that they had left part of a tire on the runway.

Now came the decision to divert to Accra, in Ghana. This was well to the east. With the undercarriage down, the extra drag meant there would be too little fuel to reach the original destination of Monrovia. Fuel consumption would have been twice as much, and they would never have made it.

Then on the way to Accra, the engine on the same side as the burst tire developed an oil leak. The procedure said to shut down the engine. But the plane was overloaded. And with the undercarriage down, there was all this drag.

A DC-9 has two engines. And if he had shut the engine down, one engine alone couldn’t keep the plane airborne. That would have been it. All lives lost.

Deboee brought the throttle back to idle just to see what would happen, and the plane lost altitude. So he had to choose here. He brought the throttle back up, pushed it forward, and they regained altitude. They kept flying in spite of the oil leak. And how did Deboee make these decisions? Well, the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ had given him a nudge—had said to do exactly what he’d done.

So now came the question Should he announce to the passengers what kind of a stew they’re in? And he realized, no, they’d panic, and they already have enough problems.

He just said, “We’ve got a tire problem, and we’ll be landing at Accra.” And the people were very calm. Once the DC-9 was over Accra, it had used up enough fuel to be well within a safe landing weight. They shut down the engine with the oil leak, and they made a perfect landing. Everyone was safe. Deboee credited this guidance 100 percent to the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ, the Inner Master. Deboee said that just a single wrong decision would have spelled disaster.

Then he added something very interesting. Deboee drew a parallel to other people who listened to the inner voice. He said Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, and Tchaikovsky, to name a few, were all vehicles who listened to this inner guidance and acted. And we are all witness to the result of their listening. We can all hear the results through the music they wrote. Just a beautiful connection.

By Sri Harold Klemp

The Australian bushmen, or aborigines, are a native people concerned with preserving nature to maintain a balanced life within it. They kill for food only when necessary for personal nourishment, and to do so, they use the creative imagination.

Long ago, the aborigines used the divine faculty of imagination in inventing the boomerang as a means of winning their prey.

A bushman would carefully fashion the instrument, then decorate it with paintings of the animal or fowl to be hunted. He went so far as to draw the detail of the prey. If it was a bird, he carefully described in picture form the type of bird he was hunting and how many he intended to catch. In other words, he clearly defined the object of his hunt by drawing pictures of it on his boomerang.

By being so direct, he was bound to get the food he needed to bring back to his family. Much of this understanding has been carried forward to the society of the aborigines today.

This is the use of the creative imagination which is the Divine Self within each of us, the God spark, or Soul. When the creative imagination is working in us, then life is happy and right. You wake up in the morning and everything is rainbows and sunshine. This means you are living and operating under the hand of God.

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This positive, creative nature may find expression in countless ways: cooking for loved ones, the needy, or as part of one’s profession. It may be in planting a garden and taking care of it. Or you may read a bedtime story to your child, grandchild, or neighbor.

You may put your love into starting a business. Or sewing clothes for yourself or others. It may be in stopping to chat with a neighbor or friend or dropping someone a note marking a special occasion. Or sharing another’s grief.

Ways upon ways.

As a matter of fact, most people express these positive and creative traits every day—but they do so unconsciously.

Doing something for another on a daily basis reflects God’s love for you. It’s the standard outside yourself.

What, then, is your mission?

It is to search for and discover your creative talents. For in finding and doing something of a positive nature, you love God.

By Eva Sutter

My mother-in-law wanted to visit her ninety-year-old cousin, Lucie, in the hospital. As she was about to leave, I felt a nudge from the Inner Master to suggest she take a rose with her. But she said no, thanks; it wasn’t worth it, because Lucie wouldn’t even notice.

Again, I felt the inner nudge. I put a small, portable vase and pruning shears out on the counter and said, “All you need do is cut the rose you like.”

Soon I saw her walking down the hallway and out the door, a rose peeking out of her purse.

When she returned, her eyes were sparkling. She said Lucie’s sister had been at the hospital and was so touched by the rose’s beauty that she had cried. She thanked my mother-in-law again and again.

A week later, Lucie’s sister called to say Lucie had translated (died). She said the rose had lasted an incredible eight days at Lucie’s bedside.

I realized that by listening to the Mᴀʜᴀɴᴛᴀ’s nudge, I had served as a vehicle for God’s love to bring comfort, via a rose, to this family during a difficult time.

Participating with the ECK in this way is so humbling and so awesome. I am so blessed.

By Peggy McCardle

This is the third year I’ve had my perfect job. It’s the most interesting and rewarding job I’ve ever had, because I asked Spirit to help me dream it up!

Four years ago, I taught speech-language pathology at a university, and I was fairly successful at it. Life was good.

One weekend I was about to enter a ten-kilometer race. I got out of the car and jogged over to the table to pick up my racing number, and I tripped over a speed bump in the parking lot. A simple little fall.

As I fell, a pinpoint of pain started in my heel, shot like lightning up my right leg, and exploded in my hip.

I don’t remember it hurting much, but I do recall wondering why I had fallen.

A few X-rays later, I discovered the fall had fractured my hip socket! I was in traction at home for six weeks.

Every day, I practiced the Spiritual Exercises of ECK. I had a lot of time to look within and think.

My husband’s job was ending in six months. We knew one of us had to find a job in a city where the other could also find work. Our small town had nothing further to offer my husband in his chosen profession, and I realized I wanted to move back to the East Coast, where my family lived.

My Perfect Job?

I began to imagine a game—like deciding how you’d spend a million dollars if you won a sweepstakes. This game was called My Perfect Job.

I asked the Inner Master, “What if I could design my own perfect job?  What would it look and feel like?”

Over the next several weeks, I decided my ideal job would be in a large metropolitan hospital, where I’d diagnose children’s speech problems. The hospital would also have a medical-school affiliation so I could do research.

I knew, as I dreamed, that such a job didn’t exist. Or if it did, I didn’t know where! But it was such a fun game to play.

Over and over again, I focused on the image of my ideal job, releasing it to Divine Spirit, the ECK, each time. Thy will be done!

As soon as I was up and around on crutches, life got busy and hectic again. I forgot about my game. I sent out a few job inquiries and even applied to a hospital in the Washington, DC, area.

A few weeks later, I got a notice in the mail, describing a job at a large medical center. I called the hospital, but I had a sinking feeling that the job would involve adult patients, because it was a military medical center.

Imagine my surprise when the personnel director said, “I don’t even have a job description to read you yet. It’s a brand-new position in pediatrics, though, working with children.”

Inside, I shouted, “This is my dream job!” I just knew it.

The next week, I flew there, interviewed, and got the job. It had everything I wanted—and lots of things I hadn’t even thought to ask for.

That’s the way Spirit works, when you dream with detachment. “Thy will be done.”

I guess folks get tired of hearing old clichés such as “Everything happens for a reason” or “Look for the silver lining.” But when things get rough, I remind myself I got the best job I ever had as a result of what everyone thought was the worst thing that ever happened to me!

I’ve learned to relax in the arms of Spirit. And to dream with love and a light heart.