Mother Teresa and the Gold Coins

For two years, I attended a self-study group called “A Course in Miracles” that met weekly for spiritual transformation. I learned it was important to apply the ideas I listened to, whether I believed them or not. I liked sitting on the floor in a circle of low, fabric chairs in soft light, listening to each of our voices as we read from the workbook. And each week I questioned how to relate what I had heard to what I was experiencing in my family of two older daughters.

On this particular night, it was almost the end as we sat in meditation. My eyes were closed. I began to see a picture in the upper left part of my mind that was dark except for this color. Mother Teresa leaned toward me pouring gold coins out of her hands. How out-of-keeping. I knew her to hold a leper in her arms and call him, “My Beloved”—and that she had founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India for the poor and unwanted.

On the following day, I opened a regular envelope from my dad, typed, not written, as he had a hand tremor, and with the usual first class stamp. I unfolded a piece of typing paper to find a check for ten thousand dollars made out to me. It was June. My daughters’ dad, who provided excellent child support, was facing a change in the economy and had to suspend payments equal to the amount of the check. In two months, our younger daughter would begin her freshman year at a university.

My realization is, “There is a wealth we do not know of that exceeds our efforts. I call this source the “Father” or “God.” When help is truly needed, it is given.