By Tricia Bates Smith, Oct 2026
While in reflection on ACIM Workbook lesson 293, when saying of myself ‘holy Child of God’ I felt some resistance. I took my contemplation within to see if I could learn more about the part of me resisting the truth that the Course teaches me about my Self.
Going within (following an IFS method), I see a girl child curled up in a shadow. She yells ‘leave me alone’ as she swings her arms to ward me off.
Holy child, come. Sit on my lap that I may tell you a story of beauty. (I hold out a chocolate bars and she comes. Carefully I open it to hand it to her as she settles in my lap.) Eat and I will tell you.
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Once upon a time, a small yellow star was born from the great central Mother Sun. It opened its eyes to see it was one of millions of stars, many yellow like itself but also great big red ones, exciting orange ones, brightly shining white ones, and even ones that flashed across the galaxy. As a newborn, it heard the stories of the other stars as they talked about who was better then the next: big red ones wanted to lead over the others, the white one spoke proudly of their bright light, and the orange ones went off busily creating more beautiful stars.
Our little yellow star, seeing and hearing what all the others were doing, had thoughts about herself saying that she wished that she was more like the others. Her thoughts about herself remained negative as time passed in eons. At one point she noticed some rocks forming around her, but, being busy in her thoughts, she swatted at them to keep them from getting too close. They hovered around her for warmth.
More time passed and she noticed one rock turn blue and green. It was growing trees and plants and bugs. This gained her interest for a moment which caused her to look to compare her rock with the rocks around other stars. Perhaps, she thought to herself, that her rock might be special. She saw that most stars had rocks around them and they were all of beautiful colors. This made her feel bad about herself again as she still was not special.
Life flourished on her blue-green rock. The yellow star took little notice of it as her mind continued to think about all the ways she was not like the other stars she had heard were better than her. One day, she heard a sweet small voice singing a song. The sound was coming from her blue-green rock.
‘Twinkle-twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are.’
The yellow star listened more closely and she heard many small voices, all over her blue-green rock singing the same song to her.
‘They want to know what I am? I am a nobody of a star. I can’t shine as brightly or as boldly as the others here. But what am I to them, the children? How do they see me?’
The yellow star decided to think about this question. She thought about how she glowed for the blue-green rock and all of the life on it just like her great central Mother Sun shined on her. ‘How I love my Mother Sun!’
Yellow Star’s central light grew brighter as she realized that her rocks, and all of the life on them, must love her! ‘I am special here because I am connected to my rocks, my family!’
She looked out over at the other stars and realized that they were all suns to rocks carrying life and that love was connecting each sun to its children.
‘And each of those star groups are connected in love and light to me as we are all connected to Mother Sun. It is all one great web of love and light connecting everything!’
This told Yellow Star that no one is better than another, that each one is an important part of the web of life. And that within the web there is specialness in the form of the love that goes between those closest to her.
She decided to stop looking past her own place in the galaxy and to turn her mind to be with those she was most closely connected to. ‘This is where I will give and receive the love that I most want.’
From that day, Yellow Star spent each moment sending loving-light to her orbiting rock family. She watched as they grew. And when there were struggles, she opened her inner light more to receive the loving support of the web of light from her Mother Sun and sister stars.
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Little girl on my lap, in which way are you looking at yourself now?
With big eyes she looks at me. ‘I am connected to all of that?’
Oh yes, and just like Yellow Star you are part of the web of light. There is a branch of that web for your love and light where you are the special center of that loving system. There are people for you, and you are for those people.
We hug as the idea of the web of love enters our belief system. I feel this is a significant shift in belief for me. This part of me feels light and happy, now ready to re-join my inner divine child. Holy Child of God that we are.
Thank you HS for the gift of this story.