By Valentine Laout
Asking for divine guidance can seem so serious, especially in hard times, but I have discovered over and over that God gets through to me in delightful ways full of merriment. He uses my abilities to answer when I remember to ask for His help. A lot of the guidance I receive comes through music, which makes perfect sense in my case. I have studied musicology, and I work in music, so what better way for Him to connect with me through what I understand so well? And it is really funny because when I ask for guidance, I can suddenly hear a song in my head that I had forgotten for years! When I take a closer look at the messages, I often have to laugh out loud. It was indeed a message made just for me – a fantastic, obvious, delightful communication! Sometimes I receive songs from my youth, which I had heard again and again on the radio, but back then, I took the lyrics for granted. Now the Holy Spirit uses this music to have me look closer into the meaning of the words.
Sometimes I must wait patiently for guidance to come. One day I was in my car listening to Robert Perry talking about one of the workbook lessons W-78 – “Let miracles replace all grievances.” When I got home, I took a few moments to reflect – to be still and listen for the Word of God. But I heard nothing. I just accepted this and did not feel guilty. I know that sometimes the Word or message comes later, and I trust that. I was sincere in my practice, so I trusted that the message would come later. And it did the very next day. As I woke up, an odd sound came out of my throat. It was like the sound of a dove. And then, at the same time, I saw the word ‘Dove’ in my mind’s eye. A second later, I heard an actual dove outside making his gentle, familiar noise. I knew this was not a coincidence, and it made me chuckle. This was The Word for me. And what a word – dove! I know the dove to be a symbol of the Holy Spirit, so for me, the message was that he is with me always. He wanted to let himself be known to me in a threefold way, making sure that I would listen. This made me smile, and I also felt energized.
After I knew that the dove was the Holy Spirit who was with me, He gave me another message through – yes, of course – a song! I heard ‘Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream’. I was so surprised. This old children’s song has two lines that fit perfectly in spirit with A Course in Miracles. And it was to be my mantra for that day. It is nice to keep track of songs the Holy Spirit sends to me, so I can always remember them. They are like little uplifting ‘prayers.’ They set me in the right direction.
Even in the hardest of times when I was sad and consumed with grief, Holy Spirit helped me look on the bright side. When I turned to Him with tears rolling down my cheeks, He sent that exact song to me, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” by Monty Python. As I studied the lyrics, I understood that even in deep misery, we could see beyond the dream. I felt pain, but I suddenly felt intense peace. Through my tears, I began to laugh when I listened to that familiar song from the movie “Life of Brian.” It gave me such confidence that all would be well. It was well already. I could feel it. My ego had tricked me into being deeply upset. In truth, everybody was totally fine and taken care of now and forever. I decided to really trust in this lighthearted process, even though I could not see an answer yet in my life. But then, very soon after this, all things indeed fell into place, and the miracle of deep peace settled perfectly in my mind.
Afterward, it struck me as hilarious that the Holy Spirit picked the song where, in the movie ‘Life of Brian,’ the main character hangs on the cross to sing this. It is a parody of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. Making it funny allowed me to laugh at my own misery. Knowing this message came from the Holy Spirit lightened up everything for me. Then He let me know that this joke- the song in this film- had far more truth to it than us believing that the crucifixion was all about sin, guilt, and death. The lyric “There’s something you’ve forgotten. And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing…” rings true. From ACIM, “Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea at which the Son of God remembered [i.e., forgot] to laugh.” (T-20.X.6:1)
That was amazing. It was not only a profound message, but it was one of those examples of humor and lightheartedness, and merriment that come through in the guidance I receive when I ask. Sometimes I forget to ask, and on one particular day, I was in heavy resistance.
I did not want to ask for guidance. Finally, when my day was going so badly for me, I shouted, “Please Jesus, give me something. I don’t know what to do.”
Then I heard in my head, ‘Just grab my hand.’ It was Jesus, and I saw an image in my mind’s eye of me taking Jesus’ hand. He then told me that I could and should just drop all things out of my hands and, instead, take his hand! Things would go better this way. Suddenly a song started playing in my head, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. At lunch that day, I turned on my TV to replay an old quiz show where a song was playing. It was “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”! Such a surprise but by no means a coincidence. Later that day, when I told this story to my 13 -year-old daughter, she laughed so hard. “Mum, Jesus has a great sense of humor.” And I agree.
I love my job, working with jazz and classical artists, making videos with them, promoting what they are doing, making new plans for music to record, etc. But it is a busy, hectic job, and it is difficult to stay calm. And sometimes I just lose it. I act on the impulse of what comes, work way too long, and get so tired. I had one of those hectic I-forgot-to-ask-for-guidance-days. The first thing that came through, when I did ask, was that I had to set the goal. Be clear on what kind of day I wanted. Then He reminded me that my function in my work is connecting the dots. It doesn’t even matter so much what I actually do, but in my work, I am a channel for connecting people to each other, bringing music to people, and much more. I set chain reactions in motion. When I thought about this, I felt relieved and could breathe much easier. And I got a song. It was “Gold” by Spandau Ballet and in the refrain of this song was the message for me.
“Always believe in your soul
You’ve got the power to know
You’re indestructible
Always believe in, ‘cos you are Gold
Glad that you are bound to return
There’s something I could have learned
You’re indestructible, always believing”
I was struck by the words “indestructible” but especially by “glad that you’re bound to return.” This very much feels like me consciously making the decision to take steps back home – back to God.
It gives me such a good feeling that asking for guidance becomes easier each time I do it. And I love the ways the Holy Spirit and Jesus use all the resources available to attract my attention. They just want me to sing, be joyful, playful, have fun with the words, and sing out aloud on my way home. I hope I can put out my hand to many other people in my life under divine guidance and ask them to come along with me: ‘Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road.’ This last song from the musical, The Wiz, based on the original Wizard of Oz, jumped into my head while I was writing this. Just read these words and feel the merriment as we link our arms and skip along together!
“Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road
Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road
Don’t you carry nothing that might be a load
Come on, ease on down, ease on down, down the road”
___________________________________________
He bids you bring each terrible effect to Him, that you may look together on its foolish cause, and laugh with Him a while. [CE T-27.X.9:3]
__________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed this story you might enjoy this one!
To learn more about our community of A Course in Miracles students, visit Course Companions.
