I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 106

Let Me Be Still and Listen to The Truth.

If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts, which give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, which has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in its messages.

2. Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice, Which silences the thunder of the meaningless, and shows the way to peace to those who cannot see. Be still today and listen to the truth. Be not deceived by voices of the dead,¹⁶⁷ which tell you they have found the source of life and offer it to you for your belief. Attend them not, but listen to truth.

3. Be not afraid today to circumvent the voices of the world. Walk lightly past their meaningless persuasion. Hear them not. Be still today and listen to the truth. Go past all things which do not speak of Him Who holds your happiness within His hand, held out to you in welcome and in love. Hear only Him today, and do not wait to reach Him longer. Hear one Voice today.

4. Today the promise of God’s Word is kept. Hear and be silent. He would speak to you. He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy and as wonderful as those you ever dreamed or wished for in your dreams. His miracles are true. They will not fade when dreaming ends. They end the dream instead, and last forever, for they come from God to His dear Son, whose other name is you.

5. Prepare yourself for miracles today. Today allow your Father’s ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept. Hear Him today, and listen to the Word which lifts the veil that lies upon the earth, and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. He calls to them through you. He needs your voice to speak to them, for who could reach God’s Son except his Father, calling through your Self?

6. Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all the multitude who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today. Be ready for salvation. It is here, and will today be given unto you. And you will learn your function from the One Who chose it in your Father’s Name for you.

7. Listen today, and you will hear a Voice That will resound throughout the world through you. The Bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first, and thus become the joyous giver of what you received. Thus does salvation start and thus it ends: when everything is yours and everything is given away, it will remain with you forever. And the lesson has been learned.

8. Today we practice giving, not the way you understand it now, but as it is. The longer exercises should begin with this request for your enlightenment:

I will be still and listen to the truth.

What does it mean to give and to receive?

     Ask and expect an answer. Your request is one whose answer has been waiting long to be received by you. It will begin the ministry for which you came, and which will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. And so the world becomes ready to understand and to receive.

9. Be still and listen to the truth today. For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth, and they will hear the Holy Word you hear. And when the hour is past, you can again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them along with you.

10. Today the Holy Word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away, so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of Him. Do not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the Word by this reminder, given to yourself as often as is possible today:

Let me be still and listen to the truth.

I am the messenger of God today.

My voice is His, to give what I receive.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 167. As we see in the next paragraph, the “voices of the dead” is a figurative way of talking about “the voices of the world.”

Personal Notes:

“Let me be still and listen to the truth.” I record and listen to this lesson on the hourly five-minute periods to accept and practice. I lay aside the ego’s voice no matter how loudly it many seem to call. God’s Will is my will, I choose to hear only one voice to be still and listen to The Truth. I am the messenger of God today. My voice is His, to give what I receive. To silence the thunder of the meaningless and show the way to peace. I will be still today to go past all things which do not speak of God who holds my happiness in His hand. The promises of God’s ‘Word are kept. He comes with miracles a thousand times as wonderful as I could have ever dreamed or wished. His miracles are true. They will not fade when dreaming ends but end the dream instead and last forever. I prepare myself for miracles today. I will be still and listen to the Truth. What does it mean to give and receive? I be still and listen, expecting the answer that has long been waiting for me to receive. It begins the ministry for which I came and will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. I seek to be taught how to receive to give that I may teach this too. And so the world becomes ready to understand and to receive because we all learn together as one in Christ Jesus. Let us all be still and listen to the truth today that we may hear the Holy Word of our Heavenly Father. Reminding ourselves as often as possible today: Let me be still and listen to the truth. I am the messenger of God today. My voice is His, to give what I receive. I pray for all my brother, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 105

God’s Peace and Joy are Mine.

God’s peace and joy are yours. Today we will accept them, knowing they belong to us. And we will try to understand these gifts increase as we receive them. They are not like to the gifts the world can give, in which the giver loses as he gives the gift; the taker is the richer by his loss. These are not gifts, but bargains made with guilt.

2. A truly given gift entails no loss. It is impossible that one can gain because another loses. This implies a limit and an insufficiency. No gift is given thus. Such “gifts” are but a bid for a more valuable return; a loan with interest to be paid in full; a temporary lending, meant to be a pledge of debt to be repaid with more than was received by him who took the gift.

3. This strange distortion of what giving means pervades all levels of the world you see. It strips all meaning from the gifts you give, and leaves you nothing in the ones you take. A major learning goal this course has set is to reverse your view of giving, so you can receive. For giving has become a source of fear, and so you would avoid the only means by which you can receive.

4. Accept God’s peace and joy, and you will learn a different way of looking at a gift. His gifts will never lessen when they are given away. They but increase thereby. As Heaven’s peace and joy intensify when you accept them as God’s gifts to you, so does the joy of your Creator grow when you accept His joy and peace as yours.

5. True giving is creation. It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to timelessness, and love unto itself. It adds to all that is complete already, not in simple terms of adding more, for that implies that it was less before. It adds by letting what cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever for itself.

6. Today accept God’s peace and joy as yours. Let Him complete Himself as He defines completion. You will understand that what completes Him must complete His Son as well. He cannot give through loss, nor can His Son. Receive His gift of joy and peace today, and He will thank you for your gift to Him.

7. Today our practice periods will start a little differently. Begin today by thinking of those brothers who have been denied by you the peace and joy that are their right under equal laws of God. Here you denied them to yourself. And here you must return to claim them as your own. Think of your “enemies” a little while, and tell each one as he occurs to you:

My brother, peace and joy I offer you,

that I my have God’s peace and joy as mine.

8. Thus you prepare yourself to recognize God’s gifts to you, and let your mind be free of all that would prevent success today. Now are you ready to accept the gifts of peace and joy which God has given you. Now you are ready to experience the joy and peace you have denied yourself. Now you can say “God’s peace and joy are mine,” for you have given what you would receive.

9. You must succeed today if you prepare your mind as we suggest, for you have let all bars to peace and joy be lifted up, and what is your can come to you at last. So tell yourself, “God’s peace and joy are mine,” and close your eyes a while and let His Voice assure you that the words you speak are true.

10. Spend your five minutes thus with Him each time you can today. But do not think that less is worthless when you cannot give Him more. At least remember hourly to say the words that call on Him to give you what He wills to give, and wills you to receive.

11. Determine not to interfere today with what He wills. And if a brother seems to tempt you to deny God’s gifts to him, see it as but another chance to let yourself receive the gifts of God as yours. Then bless your brother thankfully and say:

My brother, peace and joy I offer you,

that I may have God’s peace and joy as mine.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“God’s peace and joy are mine.” I record and listen to today’s lesson on the hourly five-minute periods, undoing the old ways of seeing and thinking, to know Truth to accept and know that God’s peace and joy are mine, the more I become aware of this the more these gifts increase. Teaching me True giving is creation, extending the limitless to the unlimited. The more I give God’s peace and joy, the more they increase in me to give once again. If I deny a brother these gifts I deny myself. I search my mind to see if there is any brother I may have denied God’s gifts of peace and joy, if Holy Spirit brings any to my mind I tell this brother: My brother, peace and joy I offer you, that I may have God’s peace and joy as mine. I let all bars to peace and joy be lifted up and what is mine can come to me at last. I have experienced a brother’s rejection of my attempt to offer God’s peace and joy, so as instructed in the course I blessed my brother anyway and continued to offer him peace and joy in my heart and mind, that I may have God’s peace and joy as mine. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson104

I Seek But What Belongs to Me in Truth.

Today’s idea continues with the thought that joy and peace are not but idle dreams. They are your right, because of what you are. They come to you from God, Who cannot fail to give you what He wills. Yet must there be a place made ready to receive His gifts. They are not welcomed gladly by a mind which has instead the gifts it made where His belong, as substitutes for them.

2. Today we would remove all meaningless and self-made gifts which we have placed upon the holy alter where God’s gifts belong. These are the gifts which are our own in truth. These are the gifts which we inherited before time was, and which will still be ours when time has passed into eternity.

3. These are the gifts which are within us now, for they are timeless. And we need not wait to have them. They belong to us today. Therefore we will to have them now, and know in choosing them in place of what we made, we but unite our will with what God wills, and recognize the same as being one.

4. Our longer practice periods today, the hourly five minutes given truth for your salvation, should begin with this:

I seek but what belongs to me in truth,

and joy and peace are my inheritance.

     Then lay aside the conflicts of the world, which offer other gifts and other goals made of illusions, witnessed to by them, and sought for only in a world of dreams. All this we lay aside, and seek instead that which is truly ours, as we request to recognize what God has given us.

5. We clear a holy place within our minds before His altar, where His gifts of peace and joy are welcome, and to which we come to find what has been given us by Him. We come in confidence today, aware that what belongs to us in truth is what He gives. And we would wish for nothing else, for nothing else belongs to us in truth.

6. So do we clear the way for Him today by simply recognizing that His will is done already, and that joy and peace belong to us as His eternal gifts. We will not let ourselves lose sight of them between the times in which we seek for them. This reminder will we bring to mind as often as we can:

I seek but what belongs to me in truth.

God’s gifts of joy and peace are all I want.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“I seek but what belongs to me in truth.”  I come to God asking that the altar of my mind be cleared to receive what belongs to me in truth, and joy and peace that are my inheritance. I lay aside the conflicts of the world, all illusions that would offer gifts or goals that oppose what God’s Will for me is, which is perfect Love, Peace and Joy, to seek only what belongs to me in Truth, God’s gifts of joy and peace are all I want. I record and listen to today’s lesson for the recommended five-minutes on the hour periods to remind myself; I seek but what belongs to me in truth, and joy and peace are my inheritance. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now.

Lesson 103

God, Being Love, is Also Happiness.

Happiness is an attribute of love. It cannot be apart from it, nor can it be experienced where love is not. Love has no limits, being everywhere, and therefore joy is everywhere as well. Yet can the mind deny that this is so, believing there are gaps in love where sin can enter, bringing pain instead of joy.

2. This strange belief would limit happiness by redefining love as limited, and introducing oppositions in what has no limit and no opposite. Fear is associated now with love, and its results become the heritage of minds which think what they have made is real. These images, with no reality in truth, bear witness to the fear of God, forgetting being love He must be joy.

3. This basic error we will try again to shift to truth today, teaching ourselves:

God being love, is also happiness.

To fear Him is to be afraid of joy.

     Begin your longer exercises for today with this association, which corrects the false belief that God is fear. It also emphasizes happiness belongs to you because of what He is.

4. Allow this one correction to be placed within your mind each waking hour today. Then welcome all the happiness it brings, as truth replaces fear and joy becomes what you expect to take the place of pain. God being love, it will be given you. Bolster this expectation frequently throughout the day, and quiet all your fears with this assurance, kind and wholly true:

God, being love, is also happiness.

And it is happiness I seek today.

I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“God, being love, is also happiness.” I record and listen to this truth on the hourly five-minute periods to learn and accept: God, being love, is also happiness. And it is happiness I seek today. I cannot fail, because I seek the truth. I ask Holy Spirit to help us learn and make this real to us today, to help us not to forget, God being love, is happiness. It is happiness we seek. We cannot fail because it is Truth we seek. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life, in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 102

I Share God’s Will for Happiness for Me.

You do not want to suffer. You may think it buys you something, and may still believe a little that it buys you what you want. Yet this belief is surely shaken now, at least enough to let you question it, and to suspect it really makes no sense. It has not gone as yet, but lacks the roots that once secured it tightly to the dark and hidden secret places of your mind.

2. Today we try to loose its weakened hold still further, and to realize that pain is purposeless, without cause, and with no power to accomplish anything. It cannot purchase anything at all. It offers nothing and does not exist. And everything you think it offers you is lacking in existence, like itself. You have been slave to nothing. Be free today to join the happy will of God.

3. For several days we will continue to devote our longer practice periods to exercises planned to help you reach the happiness God’s will has placed in you. Here is your home, and here your safety is. Here is your peace, and here there is no fear. Here is salvation. Here is rest at last. Begin the longer practice periods with this acceptance of God’s will for you:

I share God’s will for happiness for me,

And I accept it as my function now.

     Then seek this function deep within your mind, for it is there, awaiting but your choice. You cannot fail to find it when you learn it is your choice, and that you share God’s will.

4. Be happy, for your only function here is happiness. You have no need to be less loving to God’s Son than He Whose Love created him as loving as Himself. Besides these hourly five-minute rest, pause frequently today to tell yourself that you have now accepted happiness as your one function. And be sure that you are joining with God’s will in doing this.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“I share God’s will for happiness for me.” To record and listen to the lesson on the hourly five-minute periods, to accept and practice is very helpful in tearing out the roots of fear and lies that would try to tell me the opposite of what God’s Will is for me. I share God’s will for happiness for me, and I accept it as my function. The happiness of wellness, safety, security, confidence, holy friendships, love, loyalty; I choose God’s will for happiness for me that I would have no fear or concerns for all the things that would tempt me to turn away and suffer or be destressed. I choose to share God’s Will for happiness for me and accept it as my function to know as truth and be able to share truth in love and confidence, to share the true message of salvation, freedom, no longer a slave to nothingness but a partaker of the Pure and Perfect Love of my Heavenly Father. When temptation comes, I remind myself God’s will for me is happiness, I choose God’s Will to be one with my will and I accept it as my function to share. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 101

God’s Will for Me is Perfect Happiness.

Today we will continue with the theme of happiness. This is a key idea in understanding what salvation means. You still believe it asks for suffering as penance for your “sins.” This is not so. Yet you must think it so while you believe that sin is real and that God’s Son can sin. If sin is real, then punishment is just and cannot be escaped. Salvation thus cannot be purchased but through suffering.

2. If sin is real, then happiness must be illusion, for they cannot both be true. The sinful warrant only death and pain, and it is this they ask for, they know it waits for them and it will seek them out and find them somewhere, sometime, in some form that evens the account they owe to God. They would escape Him in their fear. And yet He will pursue, and they cannot escape.

3. If sin is real, salvation must be pain. Pain is the cost of sin, and suffering can never be escaped if sin is real. Salvation must be feared, for it will kill, but slowly, taking everything away before it grants the welcome boon of death to victims who are little more than bones before salvation is appeased. Its wrath is boundless, merciless, but wholly just.

4. Who would seek out such savage punishment? Who would not flee salvation and attempt in every way he can to drown the Voice Which offers it to him? Why would he try to listen, and accept Its offering? If sin is real, its offering is death, and meted out in cruel form to match the vicious wishes sin is born. If sin is real, salvation has become your bitter enemy, the curse of God upon you who have crucified His Son.

5. You need the practice periods today. The exercises teach sin is not real, and all that you believe must come from sin will never happen, for it has no cause. Accept Atonement with open mind, which cherishes no lingering belief that you have made a devil of God’s Son.

6. There is no sin.¹⁶² We practice with this thought as often as we can today, because it is the basis for today’s idea. God’s will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself.

7. Fear not the will of God. But turn to it in confidence that it will set you free from all the consequences sin has wrought in feverish imaginations. Say:

God’s will for me is perfect happiness.

There is no sin; it has no consequence.

     So should you start your practice periods, and then attempt again to find the joy these thoughts will introduce into your mind. Give these five minutes gladly, to remove the heavy load you laid upon yourself in the insane belief that sin is real.

8. Today escape from madness. You are set on freedom’s road, and now today’s idea brings wings to speed you on, and hope to go still faster to the waiting goal of peace. There is no sin. Remember this today, and tell yourself as often as you can:^[1]

God’s will for me is perfect happiness.

This is the truth because there is no sin.

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 162. 1 John 3:5 (RSV): “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” The above reference extends this state of sinlessness to everyone.

Personal Notes:

“God’s Will for Me is Perfect Happiness.” I accept atonement, I claim my freedom being free from consequences of sin, being of One Will with God. Salvation with perfect happiness is mine to have and share with the world. I remind myself of this often throughout the day that I may fulfill my function of sharing the love, peace and joy of God with all creation in Christ Jesus and help of Holy Spirit. Perfect happiness is God’s Will for me and all His sons. God’s Will and my will are united as One. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my Friend.

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 100

My Part is Essential to God’s Plan for Salvation.

Just as God’s Son completes his Father, so your part in it completes your Father’s plan. Salvation must reverse the mad belief in separate thoughts and separate bodies, which lead separate lives and go their separate ways. One function shared by separate minds unites them in purpose, for each one of them is equally essential to them all.

2. God’s will for you is perfect happiness. Why should you choose to go against His will? The part that he has saved for you to take in working out His plan is given you that you might be restored to what He wills. This part is essential to His plan as to your happiness. Your joy must be complete¹⁵⁸ to make His plan be understood by those to whom He sends you. They will see their function in your shining face, and hear God calling to them in your happy laugh.

3. You are indeed essential to God’s plan. Without your smile the world cannot be saved. While you are sad the light which God Himself appointed as the means to save the world is dim and lusterless, and no one laughs because all laughter can but echo yours.

4. You are indeed essential to God’s plan. Just as your light increases every light that shines in Heaven, so your joy on earth calls to all minds to let their sorrows go, and take their place beside you in God’s plan. God’s messengers are joyous, and their joy heals sorrow and despair. They are the proof that God wills perfect happiness for all who will accept their Father’s gifts as theirs.

5. We will not let ourselves be sad today. For if we do, we fail to take the part that is essential to God’s plan, as well as to our vision. Sadness is the sign that you would play another part, instead of what has been assigned to you by God. Thus do you fail to show the world how great the happiness He wills for you, and so you do not recognize that it is yours.

6. Today we will attempt to understand joy is our function here. If you are sad your part is unfulfilled, and all the world is thus deprived of joy along with you. God asks that you be happy, so the world can see how much He loves His Son, and wills no sorrow rise up to abate his joy; no fear beset him to disturb his peace. You are His messenger today. You bring His happiness to all you look upon; His peace to everyone who looks on you and sees His message in your happy face.

7. We will prepare ourselves for this today in our five-minute practice periods by feeling happiness arise in us according to our Father’s will and ours. Begin the exercises with the thought today’s idea contains. Then realize your part is to be happy. Only this is asked of you or anyone who wants to take his place among God’s messengers. Think what this means. You have indeed been wrong in your belief that sacrifice is asked. You but receive according to God’s plan, and never lose or sacrifice or die.

8. Now let us try to find that joy which proves to us and all the world God’s will for us. It is your function that you find it here and that you find it now. For this you came. Let this one be the day that you succeed! Look deep within you, undismayed by all the little thoughts and foolish goals you pass as you ascend to meet the Christ in you.

9. He will be there. And you can reach Him now. What could you rather look upon in place of Him Who waits that you may look on Him? What little thought has power to hold you back? What foolish goal can keep you from success when He Who calls to you is God Himself? He will be there. You are essential to His plan. You are His messenger today. And you must find what He would have you give.

10. Do not forget the idea for today between your longer practice periods. It is your Self Who calls to you today, and it is Him you answer every time you tell yourself you are essential to God’s plan for the salvation of the world.^[1]

[1] A Courses in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 158. John 15:11 (NRSV): “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Personal Notes:

“My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.” One function shared by separate minds unites them in one purpose, for each one of them is equally essential to them all. My part, all my brethren’s part is essential to God’s plan for salvation. So it is that salvation must reverse the mad belief in separate thoughts, separate bodies, separate lives, going their separate ways. Perfect happiness is God’s will for me. I choose for my will to be one with my Heavenly Father, to do my part in God’s plan for salvation, to put an end to separation. I choose light, I choose joy that I may be God’s messenger of the Good News of Salvation for all. If I am sad, I would fail to show the world the great happiness that He wills for us all.  I pray for Holy Spirit to help me to stay focused on the truth of the gift of Joy, Peace, and Love that the Father has given me, to know that happiness is mine to share with the world, that I would not fail at being God’s messenger, bringing His happiness to all I come in contact with and all that come to my mind. This is my function; this is the reason I am here. Let today be the day I succeed! I can not fail for it is God’s Will. I pray Dear Heavenly Father that you would help me and all that hear Your call to Really get this right today! In Jesus Name, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 99

Salvation is my Only Function Here.

Salvation and forgiveness are the same. They both imply that something has gone wrong: something to be saved from, forgiven for; something amiss that needs corrective change; something apart or different from the will of God. Thus do both terms imply something impossible but yet which has occurred, resulting in a state of conflict now between what is and what could be.

2. Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. The impossible becomes the thing you need forgiveness for, salvation from. Salvation is the borderland between truth and illusions. It reflects the truth because it is the means by which you can escape illusions: Yet it is not truth because it undoes what was never done.

3. How could there be a meeting place at all where earth and Heaven can be reconciled within a mind where both of them exist? The mind which sees illusions thinks them real. They have existence in that they are thoughts. And yet they are not real because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.

4. What joins the separated mind and thoughts with Mind and thought which are forever one? What plan could hold the truth inviolate, yet recognize the need illusions bring, and offer means by which they are undone, without attack and with no touch of pain? What but a thought of God could be this plan by which the never done is overlooked, and sins forgotten which were never real?

5. The Holy Spirit holds this plan of God exactly as it was received of Him within the Mind of God and in your own. It is apart from time in that its Source is timeless. Yet it operates in time, because of your belief that time is real. Unshaken does the Holy Spirit look on what you see: on sin and pain and death, on grief and separation and on loss. Yet does He know one thing must still be true: God still is love,¹⁵⁶ and this is not His will.

6. This is the thought which brings illusions to the truth, and sees them as appearances behind which is the changeless and the sure. This is the thought which saves and forgives, because it lays no faith in what is not created by the only Source it knows. This is the thought whose function is to save by giving you its function as your own. Salvation is your function, with the One to Whom the plan was given. Now are you entrusted with this plan, along with Him. He has one answer to appearances, regardless of their form, their size, their depth, or any attribute they seem to have.

Salvation is my only function here.

God still is love, and this is not His will.

7. You who will yet work miracles, be sure you practice well the idea for today. Try to perceive the strength in what you say, for these words in which your freedom lies. Your Father loves you. All the world of pain is not His Will. Forgive yourself the thought He wanted this for you. Then let the thought with which He has replaced all your mistakes enter the darkened places of  your mind which thought the thoughts that never were His will.

8. This part belongs to God, as does the rest. It does not think its solitary thoughts and make them real by hiding them from Him. Let in the light, and you will look upon no obstacle to what He will for you. Open your secrets to His kindly light, and see how bright this light still shines in you. Practice His thought today, and let His light seek out and lighten up all darkened spots, and shine through them and join them to the rest. It is God’s will that His one Son is you.

9. Think of these things in practicing today, and start your longer practice periods with this instruction in the way of truth:

Salvation is my only function here.

Salvation and forgiveness are the same.

     Then turn to Him Who shares your function here, and let Him teach you what you need to learn to lay all fear aside and know your Self as love which has no opposites in you. Forgive all thoughts that would oppose the truth of your completeness, unity, and peace. You cannot lose the gifts your Father gave. You do not want to be another self. You have no function that is not of God. Forgive yourself the one you think you made. Forgiveness and salvation are the same. Forgive what you have made, and you are saved.

10. You have a special message for today which has the power to remove all forms of doubt and fear forever from your mind. If you are tempted to believe them true, remember that appearances cannot withstand the truth these mighty words contain:

Salvation is my only function here.

God still is love, and this is not His Will.

11. Your only function tells you; you are one. Remind yourself of this between the times you give five minutes to be shared with Him Who shares God’s plan with you. Remind yourself:

Salvation is my only function here.

     Thus do you lay forgiveness on your mind and let all fear be gently laid aside, that love may find its rightful place in you and show you that you are the Son of God.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 156. 1 John 4:8, 16 (RSV): “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love….God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” In the above reference, the fact that God is love means that all the painful appearances of the world are not His will, and therefore are not real. This stands in stark contrast to the usual reassurance that a tragic event must be all right because it is God’s will.

Personal Notes:

“Salvation is my only function here.” I borrow personal application from fellow course studier Eckie F. because I felt it was so well put and wanted to share this excerpt from www.eckiefriar.com on lesson 99.

“.  The world overwhelms me at times with all its demands and pressures.  I just feel as if the pressure at times is too much to bear and that I must be a weak and stupid and perhaps lazy person not to be able to handle it like other people.  But salvation is truly my only function here.  I am to be saved and in being saved myself, I save others.  I do not take Holy Spirit’s grace toward me for granted, I so appreciate it because I am wayward and when I am wayward, I lead others to be wayward as well.  I ask to be reminded moment-by-moment that salvation is my only function.  Please keep my nose out of other people’s business and please keep me from putting my opinions out there and encouraging others to perform other functions besides Salvation.  This world is not my home and it is not anybody’s home.  Please help me not to worry about it then the way I do.  Always concerned about if I am measuring up – please help me to trust your opinion of me and not give a second thought to the opinions of others.  In Jesus name, I pray.  Amen.”             Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 98

I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

Today is a day of special dedication. We take a stand on but one side today. We side with truth and let illusions go. We will not vacillate between the two, but take a firm position with the one. We dedicate ourselves to truth today, and to salvation as God planned it be. We will not argue it is something else; we will not seek for it where it is not. In gladness we accept it as it is, and take the part assigned to us by God.

2. How happy to be certain! All our doubts we lay aside today, and take our stand with certainty of purpose and with thanks that doubt is gone and surety has come. We have a mighty purpose to fulfill, and have been given everything we need with which to reach the goal. Not one mistake stands in our way, for we have been absolved of errors. All our sins are washed away by realizing they were but mistakes.

3. The guiltless have no fear, for they are safe and recognize their safety. They do not appeal to magic, nor invent escapes from fancied threats without reality. They rest in quiet certainty that they do not doubt their own ability, because they know their function will be filled completely in the perfect time and place. They took the stand which we will take today, that we may share their certainty and thus increase it by accepting it ourselves.

4. They will be with us; all who took the stand we take today will gladly offer us all that they learned and every gain they made. Those still uncertain, too, will join with us and, borrowing our certainty, will make it stronger still. While those as yet unborn will hear the call we heard, and answer it when they have come to make their choice again. We do not choose but for ourselves today.

5. Is it not worth five minutes of your time each hour to be able to accept the happiness which God has given you? Is it not worth five minutes hourly to recognize your special function here? Is not five minutes but a small request to make in terms of gaining a reward so great it has no measure? You have made a thousand losing bargains at the least.

6. Here is an offer guaranteeing you your full release from pain of every kind, and joy the world does not contain. You can exchange a little of your time for peace of mind and certainty of purpose, with the promise of complete success. And since time has no meaning, you are being asked for nothing in return for everything. Here is a bargain where you cannot lose. And what you gain is limitless indeed!

7. Each hour today give Him your tiny gift of but five minutes. He will give the words you use in practicing today’s idea the deep conviction and the certainty you lack. His words will join with yours and make each repetition of today’s idea a total dedication, made in faith as perfect and as sure as His in you.

8. His confidence in you will bring the light to all the words you say, and you will go beyond their sound to what they really mean. Today you practice with Him, as you say:

I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

     In each five minutes that you spend with Him, He will accept your words and give them back to you all bright with faith and confidence so strong and steady they will light the world with hope and gladness. Do not lose one chance to be the glad receiver of His gifts, that you may give them to the world today.

9. Give Him the words, and He will do the rest. He will enable you to understand your special function. He will open up the way to happiness, and peace and trust will be His gifts, His answer to your words. He will respond with all His faith and joy and certainty that what you say is true. And you will have conviction then of Him Who knows the function that you have on earth as well as Heaven.¹⁵⁵ He will be with you each practice period you share with Him, exchanging every instant of the time you offer Him for timelessness and peace.

10. Throughout the hour, let your time be spent in happy preparation for the next five minutes you will spend again with Him. Repeat today’s idea while you wait for the glad time to come to you again. Repeat it often, and do not forget each time you do so, you have let your mind be readied for the happy time to come.

11. And when the hour goes and He is there once more to spend a little time with you, be thankful and lay down all earthly tasks, all little thoughts and limited ideas, and spend a happy time again with Him. Tell Him once more that you accept the part that He would have you take and help you fill. And He will make you sure you want this choice, which He has made with you and you with Him.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 155. Matthew 6:10 (RSV): “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Personal Notes:

“I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.” I side with truth and let illusions go, I do not want to waver between the two, I ask Holy Spirit to help me to stay focused on my part in God’s plan for salvation. I make it a point to remember in my guiltlessness there is no fear. I am safe, there is no place for doubt in my ability to fulfill my part in God’s plan for salvation because it is given me from Him to share with the world. I enter into oneness with God’s Will, I choose my will and His to be One and the same. I dedicate the first five minutes of every hour to be able to accept the happiness which God has given me. I depend totally on Him to give the words I use in practicing today’s idea the deep conviction and the certainty that I lack. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 97

I Am Spirit.

Today’s idea identifies you with your one Self. It accepts no split identity, nor tries to weave opposing factors into unity. It simply states the truth. Practice this truth today as often as you can, for it will bring your mind from conflict to the quite fields of peace. No chill of fear can enter, for your mind has been absolved from madness, letting go illusions of a split identity.

2. We state again the truth about your Self, the holy Son of God, Who rests in you whose mind has been restored to sanity. You are the spirit lovingly endowed with all your Father’s love and peace and joy. You are the spirit which completes Himself and shares His function as Creator. He is with you always,^151. as you are with Him.

3. Today we try to bring reality still closer to your mind. Each time you practice, awareness of the truth is brought a little nearer at least; sometimes a thousand years or more are saved. The minutes that you give are multiplied over and over, for the miracle makes use of time but is not ruled by it. Salvation is a miracle—the first and last; the first that is the last, for it is one.

4. You are the spirit in whose mind abides the miracle in which all time stands still; the miracle in which a minute spent in using these ideas becomes a time which all time stands still; the miracle in which a minute spent in using these ideas becomes a time which has no limit and which has no end. Give, then, these minutes willingly, and count on Him Who promised to lay timelessness beside them. He will offer all His strength to every little effort which you make. Give Him the minutes that He needs today to help you understand with Him you are the spirit that abides in Him, and that calls through His Voice to every living thing; offers His sight to everyone who asks; replaces errors with the simple truth.

5. The Holy Spirit will be glad to take five minutes of each hour from your hands and carry them around this aching world where pain and misery appear to rule. He will not overlook one open mind that will accept the healing gift they bring, and He will lay them everywhere He knows they will be welcome. And they will increase in healing power each time someone accepts them as his thoughts and uses them to heal.

6. Thus will your gift to Him be multiplied a thousandfold, and ten thousands more. And when it is returned to you, it will surpass in might the little gift you gave as much as does the radiance of the sun outshine the tiny gleam a firefly makes an uncertain moment, which then goes out. Yet will the steady brilliance of this light remain, and lead you out of darkness. Nor will you be able to forget the way again.

7. Begin these happy exercises with the words the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and let them echo round the world through Him:

Spirit am I, a holy Son of God,

Free of all limits, safe and healed and whole,

Free to forgive, and free to save the world.

     Expressed through you, the Holy Spirit will accept this gift which you received of Him, increase its power, and give it back to you.

8.  Offer each practice period today gladly to Him. And He will speak to you, reminding you that you are spirit, one with Him and God, your brothers and your Self. Listen for His assurance every time you speak the words He offers you today, and let Him tell your mind that they are true. Use them against temptation, and escape its sorry consequences if you yield to the belief that you are something else. The Holy Spirit gives you peace today. Receive His words and offer them to Him.^[1]

[1]. A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 151. Matthew 28:20 (RSV): “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

Personal Notes:

“I am spirit.” Today’s idea identifies me with my oneself, I accept no split identity. I am a spirit lovingly endowed with my Father’s love and peace and joy. I will remind myself of this many times today. Ever so joyful that the little effort I put in Holy Spirit will take and multiply thousands of times over and lay them where He knows they will be welcome. Spirit am I, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free o forgive, and free to save the world. How exciting to be blessed to bless. Knowing each time I practice this remembrance, awareness of truth is brought a little nearer, and the minutes I give are multiplied over and over, for the miracle makes use of time but is not ruled by it. I am as God Created me, I am spirit, a holy Son of God, free of all limits, safe and healed and whole, free to forgive, and free to save the world. I pray for all by brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 96

Salvation Comes From My One Self.

Although you are one Self, you experience yourself as two: as both good and evil, loving and hating, mind and body. This sense of being split into opposites must induce feelings of acute and constant conflict, and lead to frantic attempts to reconcile the contradictory aspects of this self-perception. You have sought many such solutions, and none of them has worked. The opposites you see in you can never be compatible. Only one exists.

2. The fact that truth and illusions cannot be reconciled, no matter how you try, what means you use, and where you see the problem, must be accepted if you would be saved. Until you have accepted this, you will attempt an endless list of goals you cannot reach; a senseless series of expenditures of time and effort, hopefulness and doubt, each one as futile as the one before, and failing as the next one surely will.

3. Problems which have no meaning cannot be resolved within the framework they are set. Two selves in conflict could not be resolved, and good and evil have no meeting place. The self you made can never be your Self, nor can your Self be split in two and still be what It is and must forever be.

4. A mind and body cannot both exist. Make no attempt to reconcile the two, for one denies the other can be real. If you are physical, your mind is gone from your self-concept, for it has no place in which it could be really part of you. If you are spirit, then the body must be meaningless to your reality.

5. Spirit makes use of mind as means to find its self-expression. And the mind that serves the spirit is at peace and filled with joy. Its power comes from spirit, and it is fulfilling happily its function here. Yet mind can also see itself divorced from spirit, and perceive itself within a body it confuses with itself. Without its function then, it has no peace, and happiness is alien to its thoughts.

6. Yet mind apart from spirit cannot think. It has denied its source of strength, and sees itself as helpless, limited, and weak. Dissociated from its function now, it thinks it is alone and separate, attacked by armies massed itself, and hiding in the body’s frail support. Now must it reconcile unlike with like, for this is what it thinks that is for.

7. Waste no more time on this. Who can resolve the senseless conflicts which a dream presents? What could the resolution mean in truth? What purpose could it serve? What is it for? Salvation does not make illusions real and solve a problem that does not exist. Perhaps you hope it can. Yet would you have God’s plan for release of His dear Son bring pain to him, and fail to set him free?

8. Your Self retains Its thoughts, and they remain within your mind and in the Mind of God. The Holy Spirit holds salvation in your mind, and offers it the way to peace. Salvation is a thought you share with God, because His Voice accepted it for you and answered in your name that it was done. Thus is salvation kept among the thoughts your Self holds dear and cherishes for you.

9. We will attempt today to find this thought, whose presence in your mind is guaranteed by Him Who speaks to you from your one Self. Our hourly five-minute practice will be a search for Him within your mind. Salvation comes from this one Self through Him Who is the bridge between your mind and it.

10. Wait patiently and let Him speak to you about your Self, and what your mind can do, restored to It and free to serve Its will. Begin by saying this:

Salvation comes from my one Self.

Its thoughts are mine to use.

     Then seek Its thoughts, and claim them as your own. These are your own real thoughts you have denied, letting your mind go wandering in a world of dreams to find illusions in their place. Here are your thoughts, the only ones you have. Salvation is among them; find it there.

11. If you succeed, the thoughts that come to you will teach you, you are saved, and that your mind has found the function that it sought to lose. Your Self will welcome it and give it peace. Restored in strength, it will again flow out from spirit to the spirit in all things created by the Spirit as Itself. Your mind will bless all things. Confusion done, you are restored, for you have found your Self.

12. Your Self knows that you cannot fail today. Perhaps your mind remains uncertain yet a little while. Be not dismayed by this.¹⁴⁹ The joy your Self experiences it will save for you, and it will yet be yours in full awareness. Every time you spend five minutes of the hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another treasure to be kept for you.

13. Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes from one Self, you add another treasure to your growing store. And all of it is given everyone who asks for it and will accept the gift. Think, then, how much is given unto you to give this day, that it be given you!^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 149. The phrase “Be not dismayed” occurs several times in the Bible. See, for example, Isaiah 41:10 (RSV): “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”

Personal Notes:

“Salvation comes from my one Self.” I determine to let go of all contradictory aspects of self-perception; I will not make any attempts to reconcile the two. Good and evil have no meeting place. As I lay down the voice of ego and choose to hear one Voice united with mine, identifying my one Self with God together as One, I am set free and here is my salvation found. Salvation comes from my one Self. Its thoughts are mine to use. I am as God created me. I am His Son eternally. That is who I am. That is what I am. I release all illusions of the many different things I thought I was and thought others were. I am as God created me, one Self united with God as One in Christ Jesus. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 94

I am as God Created Me.

Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation, the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless, the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone. You are as God created you. The sounds of this world are still, the sights of this world disappear, and all the thoughts that this world ever held are wiped away forever by this one idea. Here is salvation accomplished. Here is sanity restored.

2. True light is strength, and strength is sinlessness. If you remain as God created you, you must be strong, and light must be in you. He who ensured your sinlessness must be your guarantee of strength and light as well. You are as God created you. Darkness cannot obscure the glory of the Son of God.¹⁴⁴ You stand in light, strong in the sinlessness in which you were created, and in which you will remain throughout eternity.

3. Today we will again devote the first five minutes of each waking hour to the attempt to feel the truth in you. Begin these times of searching with these words:

I am as God created me.

I am His Son eternally.

     Now try to reach the Son of God in you. This is the Self Which never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. This is the Self Which knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death.

4. Nothing is required of you to reach this goal except to lay all idols and self-images aside, go past the long list of attributes—both “good” and “bad”—you have ascribed to yourself, and wait in silent expectancy for the truth.¹⁴⁵ God has Himself promised it will be revealed to all who ask for it. You are asking now. You cannot fail because He cannot fail.

5. If you do not meet the requirement of practicing for the first five minutes of every hour, at least remind yourself hourly.

I am as God created me.

I am His Son eternally.

6. Tell yourself frequently today that you are as God created you. And be sure to respond to anyone who seems to irritate you with these words:

You are as God created you.

You are His Son eternally.

7. Make every effort to do the hourly exercises today. Each one you do will be a giant stride toward your release, and a milestone in learning the thought system which this course sets forth.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 144. Matthew 25:31 (KJV): “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” In the above passage, of course, the Son is all of us.

Footnote 145. As with most of the five-minutes-per-hour practices, this one is a meditation exercise. Here, you lay aside all the attributes you have ascribed to yourself and then, rather than sinking down into your mind (as most earlier meditations), you simply “wait” in a state of stillness in which the only thing that occupies your mind is “expectancy”—the anticipation that your true Self will be revealed to you. This is an initial occurrence of a method of meditation that will become the Workbook’s predominate form in the second half of its year.

Personal Notes:

“I am as God created me.” I practiced this as often as I could today, applying it to myself and others one by one as someone would come to my mind or if I was tempted to be disturbed. I found it very centering and quite the aide to keeping peace and love in me and the atmosphere. I pray for all my sisters, brothers, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 93

Light and joy and peace abide in me.

You think you are the home of evil, darkness, and sin. You think if anyone could see the truth about you, he would be repelled, recoiling from you as if from a poisonous snake. You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck with horror so intense that you would rush to death at your own hand, living on after seeing this being impossible.

2. These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is hard to help you see that they are based on nothing. That you have made mistakes is obvious. That you have sought salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving, and afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed to idols made of dust—all this is true by what you now believe.

3. Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. These thoughts are not according to God’s will. He does not share these weird beliefs with you. This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do no perceive that this is so.

4. Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil which you think you did was never done, that all your “sins” are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? Your images of yourself cannot withstand the will of God. You think that this is death, but it is life. You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.

5. The self you made is not the Son of God. Therefore, this self does not exist at all. And everything it seems to do and think means nothing. It is neither bad nor good. It is unreal, and nothing more than that. It does not battle with the Son of God. It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin and love to hate. What power can this self you made possess when it would contradict the will of God?

6. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Over and over this must be repeated until it is accepted. It is true. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. Nothing can touch it, nor can change what God created as eternal. The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.

7. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought: You are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. Creation is eternal and unalterable. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.

8. In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, we will begin by stating the truth about our creation:

Light and joy and peace abide in me.

My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

     Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.

9. You are what God created or what you made. One Self is true; the other is not there. Try to experience the unity of your one Self. Try to appreciate Its holiness and the love in which It was created. Try not to interfere with the Self Which God created as you by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. Let It come into Its Own. Here you are; This is you. And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.

10. You may not be willing or even able to use the first five minutes of each hour for these exercises. Try, however, to do so when you can. At least remember to repeat today’s idea each hour in this form:

Light and joy and peace abide in me.

My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

ll. You can do much for the world’s salvation today. You can do much today to bring yourself closer to the part in salvation God has assigned to you. And you can do much to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“Light and joy and peace abide in me.” My sinlessness is guaranteed by God. I will not be deceived by self or the world of this truth of who my true Self is. It is God’s Will that Happiness is mine to have and mine to give. It is God’s gift to me to carry The Light, Joy and Peace inside me everywhere I go and to give It to everyone, everywhere I go. God’s Will and my will are one and the same. My sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light, joy and peace abide in me. Salvation is mine, I will forever be exactly as God created me. Light, Peace and Joy abide in me because God put it there. The choice of life and death is placed before us, I choose life everlasting, I am saved and not destroyed because this is God’s Will and God’s Will, and my will are one in Christ Jesus. Whatever mistakes I have made, whatever mistakes a brother might have made the truth about Us is unchanged. Creation is eternal and unalterable. Our sinlessness is guaranteed by God. I have and I am love, joy and peace and this is what I offer to all whom I encounter. All I have to give is love, joy and peace and there is nothing else but love, joy and peace, let me always be mindful of this truth. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 92

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.

The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. You do not think of light in terms of strength and darkness in terms of weakness. That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up with the body and its eyes and brain. This is why you believe that you can change what you see by keeping bits of glass or other clear material before your eyes, held in a frame or placed against the eyeball. These are among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body and the body’s eyes can see.

2. You also believe the body’s brain can think. If you but understood the true nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you had the universe imprisoned in your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body’s eyes can see; the brain can think.

3. It is God’s strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body’s eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself: the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.

4. Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with the light, of which it is part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there.

5. Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.¹⁴¹ Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself.

6. Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all, and so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.

7. Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in forgiveness and in love. It sees all others different from itself, and nothing in the world which it would share. It judges and condemns, but does not love. In darkness it remains to hide itself, and dreams that it is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations which but grow in darkness to enormous size. It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. No miracles are here, but only hate. It separates itself from what it sees, while light and strength perceive themselves as one.

8. The light of strength is not the light you see. It does not change and flicker and go out. It does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning comes again. The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away because it cannot give but to its Self. No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and joy abiding in his heart.

9. The strength in you will offer you the light and quide your seeing, so you do not dwell on idle shadows which the body’s eyes provide for self-deception. Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet your Self stands ready to embrace you as its Own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again and be as One.

10. Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting. Let yourself be brought unto your Self. Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body’s eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.

11. After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in hope and trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 141. Genesis 1: 3 (RSV): “And God said ‘ Let there be light’; and there was light.” Here, your perception of the world is “where God appointed that there should be light.” As the idea for the day says, you should see “in light.”

Personal Notes:

“Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.” I set aside twenty minutes twice today (and times in-between when available) to ask Holy Spirit to help me in God’s strength to look away from darkness, to see in light with eyes of Jesus in God’s Strength, God’s Mind, to unite with light. God appointed that there should be light. Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it. Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply, it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love. The light of strength does not change and flicker and go out. The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away because it cannot give but to its Self. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 91

Miracles are seen in light.

It is important to remember that miracles and vision necessarily go together. This needs repeating, and frequent repeating. It is a central idea in your new thought system and the perception which it produces. The miracle is always there. Its presence is not caused by your vision; its absence is not the result of your failure to see. It is only your awareness of the miracle that is affected. You will see it in the light; you will not see it in the dark.

     2. To you, then, light is crucial. While you remain in darkness, the miracle remains unseen. Thus you are convinced that it is not there. This follows from the premises from which the darkness comes. Denial of light leads to failure to perceive it. Failure to perceive light is to perceive darkness. The light is useless to you then, even though it is there. You cannot use it because its presence is unknown to you. And seeming reality of the darkness makes the idea of light meaningless.

     3. To be told that what you do not see is there sounds like insanity. It is very difficult to become convinced that it is insanity not to see what is there, and to see what is not there instead. You do not doubt that the body’s eyes can see. You do not doubt the images they show you are reality. Your faith lies in the darkness, not the light.

     4.  How can this be reversed? For you it is impossible, but you are not alone in this.¹³⁶ Your efforts, however little they may be, have strong support. Did you but realize how great this strength, your doubts would vanish. Today we will devote ourselves to the attempt to let you feel this strength. When you have felt the strength in you, which makes all miracles within your easy reach, you will not doubt. The miracles your sense of weakness hides will leap into awareness as you feel the strength in you.

     5. Three times today, set aside about ten minutes for quiet time in which you try to leave your weakness behind. This is accomplished very simply as you instruct yourself that you are not a body. Faith goes to what you want, and you instruct your mind accordingly. Your will remains your teacher, and your will has all the strength it needs to do whatever it desires. You can escape the body if you choose. You can experience the strength in you.

     6. Begin the longer practice periods with this statement of true cause and effect relationships:

Miracles are seen in light.

The body’s eyes do not perceive the light,

But I am not a body. What am I?

     7. The question with which this statement ends is needed for our exercises today. What you think you are is a belief to be undone, but what you really are must be revealed to you.The belief you are a body calls for correction, being a mistake. The truth of what you are calls on the strength in you to bring to your awareness what the mistake concealed.

     8. If you are not a body, what are you? You need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit uses to replace the image of a body in your mind. You need to feel something to put your faith in as you lift it from the body. You need a real experience of something else, something more solid and more sure; more worthy of your faith, and really there.

     9. If you are not a body, what are you? Ask this in honesty, and then devote several minutes to allowing your mistaken thoughts about your attributes to be corrected and their opposites to take their place. Say, for example:

I am not weak, but strong.

I am not helpless, but all-powerful.

I am not limited, but unlimited.

I am not doubtful, but certain.

I am not an illusion, but a reality.

I do not see in darkness, but in light.

     10. In the second phase of the exercise period, try to experience these truths about yourself. Concentrate particularly on the experience of strength. Remember that all sense of weakness is associated with the belief you are a body, a belief which is mistaken and deserves no faith. Try to remove your faith from it, if only for a moment. You will become accustomed to keeping faith with the more worthy in you as we go along.

     11. Relax for the rest of the practice period, confident that your efforts, however meager they may be, are fully supported by the strength of God and all His thoughts. It is from Them your strength will come to you. It is through Their strong support that you will feel the strength in you. They are united with you in this practice period, in which you share a purpose like Their own. Theirs is the light in which you will see miracles, because Their strength is yours. Their strength becomes your eyes, that you may see.

     12. Five or six times an hour, at reasonably regular intervals, remind yourself that miracles are seen in light. Also be sure to meet temptation with today’s idea. This form would be helpful for this special purpose:

Miracles are seen in light.

Let me not close my eyes because of this.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote 136. Mark 10:27 (RSV): “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men it is impossible, but no with God; for all things are possible with God.” In the Bible reference, what is possible with God is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Here, what is possible with God is to have our faith in what the body’s eyes see replaced by faith in the light of vision.

Personal Notes:

“Miracles are seen in light.” Miracles and vison go together. Miracles can only be seen in light. I choose today to see in light, to reverse faith in darkness. I understand I can not do this alone, but I am never alone God tells us with even the least amount of effort I put forth He meets me there with His strength to make the Light of Truth Possible in His Strength. I commit today to doing these exercises today with help of Holy Spirit, fully expecting a real experience of something else, something more solid and more sure, more worthy of my faith and really there. If I am not a body what am I? I am not weak, but strong. I am not helpless, but all-powerful. I am not limited, but unlimited. I am not doubtful, but certain. I am not an illusion, but reality. I do not see in darkness, but in light. God and all His thoughts is united with me. This is the light in which I will see miracles because Their strength is mine. Their strength becomes my eyes to see. Miracles are seen in light. Let me not close my eyes because of any illusions that might try to darken my vision. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 90

For this review we will use these ideas:

1. (79) Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.

     Let me realize today that the problem is always some form of grievance which I would cherish. Let me also understand that the solution is always a miracle with which I let the grievance be replaced. Today I would remember the simplicity of salvation by reinforcing the lesson that there is one problem and one solution. The problem is a grievance; the solution is a miracle. And I invite the solution to come to me through my forgiveness of the grievance, and my welcome of the miracle to take its place.

2. Specific applications of this idea might be in these forms:

This presents a problem to me which I would have resolved.

The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me.

The answer to this problem is the miracle which it conceals.

3. (80) Let me recognize my problems have been solved.

     I seem to have problems only because I am misusing time. I believe that the problem comes first, and that time must elapse before the problem can be worked out. I do not see the problem and the answer as simultaneous in their occurrence. That is because I do not yet realize that God has placed the answer together with the problem, so that they cannot be separated by time. The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I will let Him. And I will understand it is impossible that I could have a problem which has not been solved already.

4. These forms of the idea would be useful for specific applications:

I need not wait for this to be resolved.

The answer to this problem is already given me, if I will accept it.

Time cannot separate this problem from its solution.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.” The course teaches that there is one problem, no matter the form and one solution. I will ask my Heavenly Father what the problem is and wait for the

answer. He will tell me. Then I will ask for the solution to it. And I will be told. I invite the solution to come to me through forgiveness of the grievance, and I welcome the miracle that takes its place. “Let me recognize that my problems have been solved.” My one central problem has been solved. Salvation is accomplished. Freedom from conflict has been given me. In recognition of this I am opening the way for Holy Spirit to give me God’s answer. I have laid deception aside and choose only to see the light of truth. I have accepted salvation for myself by bringing the problem to the answer. I can recognize the answer because the problem has been identified. I am entitled to peace today. All problems are the same, their many forms will not deceive me as I remember, One problem, One solution. The problem must be gone because God’s answer cannot fail. Let me recognize this problem has been solved. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend.

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 89

These are our review ideas for today:

1. (77) I am entitled to miracles.

     I am entitled to miracles because I am under no laws but God’s. His laws release me from all grievances and replace them with miracles. And I would accept the miracles in place of the grievances, which are but illusions that hide the miracles beyond them. Now I would accept only what the laws of God entitle me to have, that I may use it on behalf of the function He has given me.

2. You might use these suggestions for specific applications of this idea:

Behind this is a miracle to which I am entitled.

Let me not hold a grievance against you, (name), but offer you the miracle that belongs to you instead.

Seen truly, this offers me a miracle.

3. (78) Let miracles replace all grievances.

     By this idea do I unite my will with the Holy Spirit’s and perceive them as one. By this idea do I accept my release from hell. By this idea do I express my willingness to have all my illusions be replaced with truth, according to God’s plan for my salvation. I would make no exceptions and no substitutes. I want all of Heaven and only Heaven, as God wills me to have.

4. Useful specific forms for applying this idea would be:

I would not hold this grievance apart from my salvation.

Let our grievances be replaced by miracles, (name).

Beyond this is the miracle by which all my grievances are replaced.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“I am entitled to miracles”. I am entitled to miracles because I am a child of God. I receive miracles because of what God is. I offer miracles because I am one with God. My claim to miracles does not lie in my illusions about myself or depend on any magical power, nor any rituals I may have devised, but only on what God my Father is. Guaranteed by the laws of God. I am under no laws but God’s. God ensures me that behind all illusions that would try to show me I am less than, lacking, alone, weak, or purposeless there is a miracle to which I am entitled to miracles. When ever a situation arises in need of a miracle, I am fully entitled to receive the miracle whenever I ask. I will not trade miracles for grievances. I want only what belongs to me. God has established miracles as my right. “Let miracles replace all grievances.” As I lay any and all grievances down and lift my eyes to see the Son of God, darkness will disperse, vision will be given me, I look toward Truth and away from fear, letting all grievances be replaced by miracles. I unite my will with Holy Spirit’s and see them as one. I accept my release from hell by my willingness to have all my illusions replaced with Truth, according to God’s plan for my salvation. I want all of Heaven and only Heaven, as God wills me to have. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen! Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend.

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 88

Today we will review these ideas:

1. (75) The light has come.

     In choosing salvation rather than attack, I merely choose to recognize what is already here. Salvation is a decision made already. Attack and grievances are not there to choose. That is why I always choose between truth and illusion; between what is there and what is not. The light has come. I can but choose the light, for it has no alternative. It has replaced the darkness, and the dark is gone.

2. These would prove useful forms for specific applications:

This cannot show me darkness, for the light has come.

The light in you is all that I would see, (name).

I would see in this only what is there.

3. (76) I am under no laws but God’s.

     Here is the perfect statement of my freedom: I am under no laws but God’s. I am constantly tempted to make up other laws and give them power over me. I suffer only because of my belief in them. They have no real effect on me at all. I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws save God’s. And His are the laws of freedom.

4. For specific forms for applying this idea, these would be useful:

My perception of this shows me I believe in laws which do not exist.

I see only the laws of God at work in this.

Let me allow God’s laws and not my own to work in this.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

[2] Excerpt lesson 88 from Eckie F.@ www.eckiefriar.com

Personal Notes:

“The light has come.” I choose to walk in the light of love, forgiveness, peace, in this choice darkness must disperse. I am healed to heal. The light has come. I am saved to bring salvation. I choose peace that I may bring peace with me wherever I go. As illusions of worldly lies try to present themselves to me, I remind my Self of these truths. This uproar of confusion, doubt, fear, cannot show me darkness, for the light has come. When dark shadows of unloving behaviors in my brother or in myself attempt to show their ugliness as real, I choose to look through the eyes of love and forgiveness to see the light within our true Self and darkness must go! The light has come. Today let us celebrate the happy ending to long dreams of disaster. New beginnings of the time of light for me and everyone. Today to see a new world as what we want to see. We will be given what we desire. We Will to see the light; the light has come. I have forgiven the world. Forgiveness entitles me to vision. Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. He will show me what true vision sees. I rejoice in the power of forgiveness to heal my sight completely. Without the darkness of the past upon my eyes, I cannot fail to see today. The light has come. It has replaced darkness and the darkness is gone. I have forgiven the world. True vision has come to replace the unforgiven world I thought was real. “I am under no laws but “God’s”. I have freedom in the recognition that I am not bound to all the strange and twisted laws that others and myself had set up to save me. “I can rest assured that when I spend time learning the Course and engaging my Mind with what is true and right and good and teaching others, sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning of Him and His ways and letting the Holy Spirit teach me.  When I am learning to know and love God and remembering the truth about Him, then I am free of the laws that I am tempted to make up for myself that would keep me rattled and distracted from the laws of God!  I suffer when I believe in them.  They have no real effect on me at all, but it does keep me in a state of chaos and stress and distraction.  I am perfectly free of the effects of all laws except for the laws of God.  And God’s laws are the laws of freedom.  Of love.  Of joy and liberty and creativity. 

When I let the laws that I create, the laws of this world, tempt me, I am believing in laws that do not exist.  I see only the laws of God at work in this situation”.^[2] Thinking I must obey the laws of medicine, economics, health to protect the body, is but madness not God’s law. The laws of God can never be replaced. We can rejoice in this truth today. Magic imprisons, but the laws of God set free. The light has come because there are no laws but God’s. I dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today and hold my mind silent in readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth to me. The One Who says there is no loss under the laws of God. Who tells me of my Father’s great love for me and the endless joy He offers me. I am under no laws but God’s. This is our statement of our freedom from all danger and tyranny. It is our acknowledgment that God is our Father and that His Son is saved. May we all, the family of the beloved brotherhood be so full and spilling over with The Love Light of forgiveness, love, peace, joy, freedom, fruitfulness, creativity, that our light united as one will light up the world with True Vision and freedom in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus. The light has come. I am under no laws but God’s. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 87

Our review today will cover these ideas:

1.(73) I will there be light.

     I will use the power of my will today. It is not my will to grope in darkness, fearful of shadows and afraid of things unseen and unreal. Light shall be my guide today. I will follow it where it leads me, and I will look on only what it shows me. This day I will experience the peace of true perception.

2. These forms of this idea would be helpful for specific applications:

This cannot hide the light I will see.

You stand with me in light, [name].

In the light this will look different.

3. (74) There is no will but God’s

     I am safe today because there is no will but God’s. I can become afraid only when I believe there is another will. I try to attack only when I am afraid, and only when I try to attack can I believe that my eternal safety is threatened. Today I will recognize that all this has not occurred. I am safe because there is no will but God’s.

4. These are some useful forms of this idea for specific applications:

Let me perceive this in accordance with the will of God.

It is God’s will you are His Son, [name], and mine as well.¹³⁴

This is part of God’s will for me, however I may see it.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote 134. “Mine” here means “my will.” In other words, “it is my will as well that you are His Son.” There is even a handwritten change in the Urtext replacing “mine” with “my will,” though this change was subsequently crossed out.

Persona Notes:

“I will there be light.” This is not the same as the ego’s idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise. The will I share with God has all the power of creation in it. Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world you see. The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego’s need for grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peopled it with figures which seem to attack you and call for “righteous” judgement. Holding on to these grievances, you do not know your brother or your Self. Grievances darken your mind, and you look out upon a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light. The barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and salvation. Do you really want to be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer and die? Forget the ego’s arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven. You know that it is not so. You cannot want this for yourself. There is a point beyond which illusions cannot go. Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want. Such is your will in truth. This (situation or circumstance) cannot hide the light I will see. In the light this will look different. I will there be light. Darkness is not my will. “There is no will but God’s.” When I have accepted this, I recognize that my will is His. The belief that conflict is possible must be gone. Peace replaces the strange idea that I am torn by confliction goals. There is no will but God’s. Let me perceive all things in accordance with the will of God. Without illusions conflict is impossible. I cannot be in conflict. I am at peace. Nothing can disturb me. My will is God’s. My will and God’s are one. God Wills peace for His Son. The moment the temptation of fear or grievances presents itself to me, I remind myself of these truths. I will there be light. There is no will but God’s. God’s will and my will are one in the same. I seek His peace today. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 86

These ideas are for review today:

1. (71) Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

     It is senseless for me to search wildly about for salvation. I have seen it in many people and in many things, but when I reached for it, it was not there. I was mistaken about where it is. I was mistaken about what it is. I will undertake no more idle seeking. Only God’s plan for salvation will work. And I will rejoice because His plan can never fail.

2. These are some suggested forms for applying this idea specifically:

God’s plan for salvation will save me in this.

This is no exception in God’s plan for my salvation.

Let me perceive this only in the light of “God’s plan for salvation.

3. (72) Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

     Holding grievances is an attempt to prove that God’s plan for salvation will not work. Yet only His plan will work. By holding grievances, I am therefore excluding my only hope of salvation from my awareness. I would no longer defeat my own best interests in this insane way. I would accept God’s plan for salvation and be happy.

4. Specific applications might be in these forms:

I am choosing between misperception and salvation as I look on this.

If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see the grounds for my salvation.

This calls for salvation, not attack.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

Today I would like to share (with permission) the personal applications for these two reviews from my study partner and author Eckie at www.eckiefriar.com. I felt they were so in depth and illuminating of today’s review ideas. Hope they will bring more light to these reviews for you as they did for me.

[15 minutes of meditating upon and writing the thoughts and ideas that come from Lesson 71:

Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

I have tried to find salvation in a lot of different things throughout my life, but I have found that only God’s plan of salvation will work.  I have tried to find my salvation through reading books.  I did not find salvation there.  I have tried to find salvation through getting an education.  I did not find salvation there.  I have tried to find salvation through relationships, and I did not find salvation there.  I have tried to find salvation through separation, and I did not find salvation there.  I have tried to find salvation through many different means.  Through money, through good food, through travel, through comforts and friends and when they did not bring me salvation, I tried to find salvation by tossing them to the side – friends, possessions, clothes, cars.  When travel did not bring me salvation, I stayed home.  Staying home did not bring me salvation, so I went back to school and finished my degree.  When that did not bring me salvation, I went back to work.  When that did not bring me salvation, I went and got a master’s degree.  When that didn’t bring me salvation, I joined clubs.  When that didn’t bring me salvation, I started to do workshops and programs and when that didn’t bring me salvation, I quit my job.  When quitting my job didn’t bring me salvation, I started, finally, to get serious about finding my salvation.  I started to study the Course.  I started to get right with God.  I started to realize that God’s plan for salvation is the only one – only God’s plan for salvation will bring me lasting joy and meaning and happiness.  Only God’s plan for salvation will work. 

God’s plan for salvation will save me from the ego’s perception of ????  God’s plan of salvation will give ??? and me real love and affection for one another.  God’s plan of salvation will offer forgiveness and forgetfulness and it-never-happened and heal our relationship.  God’s plan for salvation works.  Today when God told me to stop and see ???, I obeyed.  She was not home.  God’s plan of salvation works.  God will give me another opportunity to see ???? and give and receive from her salvation and forgiveness through Jesus Christ in us. 

There is no exception in God’s plan for my salvation.  I cannot hold on to any grievances in God’s plan for my salvation.  It doesn’t matter what someone said or what they did.  It doesn’t matter if they slandered me or beat me or left me for dead.  I must always let grievances go and let God’s plan of salvation shine its light in my mind.  Today I thought of ____ from work and how she ate that bag of nuts in front of me on our way home from grant-writing training in Reading.  She never offered me any and I had such a grudge toward her for her lack of good manners.  There is no exception in God’s plan for my salvation.  I cannot hold a grievance against ____ who has passed from this life into the next – let her enjoy her peanuts and let me always remember that nobody is obligated to offer me any of their nuts!  Let me have and be the Holy Spirit who shares only love and forgiveness with others.  Let me not be the voice for the attacker but let me be the Voice for God.  Let me be a holy spirit and not an unholy one that would hold grudges and bear ill will toward others.  I thought of how I held a grudge toward___ for “setting me up” at her friends’ art show, how she invited me to speak at her friend’s art show when it was clearly not about me or my book, and it made me look bad, as if I were trying to steal the limelight or something.  ___ had no ill-intent.  _____ only wanted me to share my book.  I will give the grudge no more energy and let it go. 

Now here is the thing about God’s plan for salvation.  When I am willing to let it go, it goes.  All the belief that fueled it is gone.  It may still seem to linger and bother me, but all I have to do is remind myself that I let that go.  That I must have perceived my sister ___ wrongly.  That she is loving and kind and good and never would hurt me intentionally or otherwise. 

God’s plan of salvation is the only one that works.  I can find all kinds of other things that will promise to fulfill me, but only God’s plan of salvation will save me.  Thank you, God.

Practice:

Lesson 72 Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

15 minutes of meditative writing about this lesson:

As I wrote above, grievances toward my brothers and sisters is at attack on God’s plan for Salvation.  God created us to love one another and to live in peace and joy and love with one another.  There is no other way that eternity can be than an everlasting love and communion between the created beings.  Eternity would not be eternity if there was fighting and blaming and scarcity and blight.  When I bear accusations against others and say mean things about them, this is an attack on God, and I hurt and attack myself.  I want this to be very real to me.  This was made real to me when I worked at Transitions.  I would tell God about XXXXXXXX, projecting all my own seeming failings and shortcomings on to her because I was jealous of her, no doubt.  I felt superior to her and smarter than her and more worthy than her, and I wanted to see her topple off her wobbly throne and be found out for whom she really was.  But the funny thing was when I would go to God and tell on her, God would remind me how much He loved XXXXXXXX.  I could hardly believe it!  I was so taken aback.  Why would He love XXXXXXX like that and not listen to my case against her?   I realize now of course that my Father wants me to, calls me to, insists upon my loving and holding dear all my sisters.  My Father wants me to love my sisters and brothers in Christ no matter what their shortcomings and failures may be in my eyes, because when I build cases against others, I am building them against myself.  I am projecting all my own ill will to others and hiding from myself.  I have learned this about grievances.  Okay but oh they seem so justified dear Lord at times.  I remember thinking of them yesterday – my precious grievances.  Oh let me hold on to a few of them, I thought facetiously, making a joke.  This is just a little one.  Surely, I can hold a little grudge.  But of course there are no levels of grievances as there are no levels of miracles or much of anything else.  A grievance is a grievance.  I must let them all go and hold nobody accountable for their sins and crimes and failures and shortcomings or I am held accountable for mine.  And all of us are in the same boat.  When my brother sins, I sin and so it is a great privilege to be able to deny sin in my brother because when I deny his sin, I am denying my own.  When I stand for a brother, I am standing for myself.  When I cast a stone at a brother, I am casting one at myself.  This has been made so real to me that it fills me with a certain dread because I see the ones I love casting stones and oh I want them to stop.  Please help me to stop the casting of stones, O Most High in a most final and everlasting way.  Let me forgive the sinner so that my sins are forgiven.  Let me love my brothers and sisters and bear them no grudge.  Let me not build cases against but build cases for my brothers and sisters.  I ask for a deep and abiding understanding of this and for fine illustrations of this and so I know, dear Lord, so I know how to accept it for my own life and convey the joy of this relinquishment and salvation to others.  Oh Most High.  Let me love my brothers and sisters.  Let me not bear grievances. 

When I hold a grievance, I am trying to prove that God’s way doesn’t work.  I never want to do this!

When I hold a grievance, it darkens my awareness and excludes my only hope for salvation from it.  I am lost when I hold a grievance.  There is no grievance worth prolonging my time in the hellish realm. 

I will accept God’s plan for salvation and give up my grievances and forgive my enemies and make peace with those who have hurt me. 

I am choosing between misperception (they are my enemies) and salvation (they are my brothers and sisters) as I look on any situation.

If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see the grounds for my salvation.] 

I thank you for sharing with me today and I hope you enjoyed the excerpt from our fellow ACIM study brother in adding to light The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 85

Today’s review will cover these ideas:

1. (69) My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

     My grievances show me what is not there and hide from me what I would see. Recognizing this, what do I want my grievances for? They keep me in darkness and hide the light. Grievances and light cannot go together, but light and vision must be joined for me to see. To see, I must lay grievances aside. I want to see, and this will be the means by which I will succeed.

2. Specific applications of the idea might be made in forms like these:

Let me not use this as a block to sight.

The light of the world can shine all this away.

I have no need for this. I want to see.

3. (70) My salvation comes from me.

     Today I will recognize where me salvation is. It is in me because its Source is there. It has not left its Source, and so it cannot have left my mind. Today I will not look for it outside myself. It is not found outside and then brought in. But from within me it will reach beyond, and everything I see will but reflect the light that shines in me and in itself.

4. These forms of the idea are suitable for more specific application:

Let this not tempt me to look away from me for my salvation.

I will not let this interfere with my awareness of the source of my salvation.

This has no power to remove salvation from me.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“My grievances hide the light of the world in me.” Because grievances hide the light of the world everyone stands in darkness with me beside him. But as the veil of my grievances is lifted, my brother and I will be released from the hell we made possible in darkness. I choose love, peace and joy over grievances. My salvation and the salvation of the world is much too precious a gift to throw away for grievances that are only an illusion which has No Truth in it to begin with. Salvation is our only need. There is no other purpose here and no other function to fulfill. Let us end the search today by finding the light in us and holding it up for everyone who searches with us to look upon and rejoice. “My salvation comes from me.” All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation to believe salvation, guilt and pain comes from someone or something outside of my-Self. My source of salvation lives in me. As nothing outside my-Self can give me peace, this also means nothing outside my-Self can hurt or disturb my peace or upset me in any way. Today I will practice remembering that God’s Will and mine are the same. He wants us to be healed and we do not really want to be sick, because it makes us unhappy. In accepting the idea for today we are in agreement with God. He does not want us to be sick. Neither do we. He wants us to be healed. So do we. Today I practice going through the clouds of illusions, lies, darkness to the Light of my Salvation. Nothing outside me can hold me back. Within me is the worlds salvation and my own. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 84

These are the ideas for today’s review:

1. (67) Love created me like Itself.

     I am in the likeness of my Creator.¹³² I cannot suffer, I cannot die, and I can experience no loss. I am not a body. I would recognize my reality today. I will worship no idles, nor raise my own self-concepts to replace my Self. I am in the likeness of my Creator. Love created me like Itself.

2. You might find these specific forms helpful in applying the idea:

Let me not see an illusion of myself in this.

As I look on this, let me remember my Creator.

My Creator did not create this as I see it.

3. (68) Love holds no grievances.

     Grievances are completely alien to love. Grievances attack love and keep its light obscure. If I hold grievances I am attacking love, and therefore attacking my Self. My Self thus becomes alien to me. I am determined not to attack my Self today, so that I can remember who I am.

4. These more specific forms for applying this idea would be helpful:

This is no justification for denying my Self.

I will not use this to attack love.

Let this not tempt me to attack myself.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote# 132. Genesis 1:26 (KJV) “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Personal Notes:

“Love created me like Itself.” This is why we are the light of the world. Holiness created me holy. Kindness created me kind. Helpfulness created my helpful. Perfection created me perfect. Any of the attributes of God is also a definition of who we are, if Love created me like Itself, this Self must be in me too. As I see this body in time, let me remember my Creator and who I really am, to remember to be a communication device for Love and welcome Holy Spirits perception of Truth and being and work through my body. This is the Voice of truth replacing everything the ego would tell me about myself and others, with the simple truth about the Son of God. Love Created me like Itself. “Love holds no grievances.” Grievances have no place in love. Grievances attack love and obscure the light. If I hold a grievance against any person, place or thing I am attacking my true self and contributing to separation for all creation. I am determined to not attack my Self today, to remember who I am. I am Love, to be love, to extend love, to share only love. With Love all things are possible. There is no justification for denying love, in denying love to a brother I become an alien to myself. It is a decision to let the ego rule the mind and to condemn the body to death. I invite Holy Spirit to help me never to be tempted to hold on to any grievance but to continually release them immediately to let them All go! To be the Masterpiece God created me to be True Self. To remember always, Love Created me like Itself, I am Love. I am the light of the world. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 83

Today let us review these ideas:

1. (65) My only function is the one God gave me.

     I have no function but the one God gave me. This recognition releases me from all conflict, because it means I cannot have conflicting goals. With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, say, and think. All doubt must disappear as I acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me.

2. More specific applications of this idea might take these forms:

My perception of this does not change my function.

This does not give me a function other than the one God gave me.

Let me not use this to justify a function God did not give to me.

3. (66) My happiness and my function are one.

     All things that come from God are one. They come from Oneness and must be received as one. Fulfilling my function is my happiness because both come from the same Source. And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy if I would find happiness.

4. Some useful forms for specific applications of this idea are:

This cannot separate my happiness from my function.

The oneness of my happiness and my function remains wholly unaffected by this.

Nothing, including this, can justify the illusion of happiness apart from my function.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Personal Notes:

“My only function is the one God Gave me.” The idea for today reaffirms our commitment to salvation and reminds us we have no other function. Knowing our only function is the one God gave us is the only way to find peace of mind. It offers escape from all perceived difficulties and places the key to the door to peace in our hand. I have no function but the one God gave me. This recognition releases me from all conflict. With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say, and what to think. All doubt must disappear as I acknowledge that my only function is the one God gave me. My function is to Always share love, peace, and joy.  “My happiness and my function are one.” The ego does constant battle with Holy Spirit on the fundamental question of what our function is and what our happiness is. This is Not a two-way battle, the ego attacks and Holy Spirit does not respond, He knows what our function is and is the Source of our happiness. They come from Oneness and must be received as one. Fulfilling my function is my happiness because they both come from the same source. God will show me my function and gives me all power and ability to fulfill it, because this is God’s will. God’s will and my will are One! I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 82

We will review these ideas today:

1. (63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.

     My forgiveness is the means by which the light of the world finds expression through me. My forgiveness is the means by which I become aware of the light of the world in me. My forgiveness is the means by which the world is healed, together with myself. Let me, then forgive the world, that it may be healed along with me.

2. Suggestions for specific forms for applying this idea are:

Let peace extend from my mind to yours, [name].

I share the light of the world with you, [name].

Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.

3. (64) Let me not forget my function.

     I would not forget my function, because I would remember my Self. I cannot fulfill my function if I forget it. And unless I fulfill my function, I will not experience the joy that God intends for me.

4. Suitable specific forms of this idea include:

Let me not use this to hide my function from me.

I would use this as an opportunity to fulfill my function.

This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.”

 Let peace extend from my mind to yours, Mother.

Let peace extend from my mind to yours, Father.

Let peace extend from my mind to yours, Brother.

Let peace extend from my mind to yours, Sister.

Let peace extend from my mind to yours, Friend.

I share the light of the world with you and you and you and you.

Through my forgiveness I can see this as it is.

“Let me not forget my function.” The purpose of the world I see is to obscure my function for forgiveness, and provide me with the justification for forgetting it. Let me not wander into temptation by any forms of distraction: work, play, entertainment, guilt, shame. Holy Spirit has another use for all the illusions we have made and sees another purpose in them. To Holy Spirit, the world is a place we learn to forgive ourselves what we thought of as our sins. My function here is to be the light of the world, a function given me by God. Only by fulfilling the function given me by God will I be happy. That is because my function is to be happy by using the means which happiness becomes inevitable. There is no other way. Every time I choose whether or not to fulfill my function, I am really choosing whether to be happy or not. Let me not forget my function. Let me not try to substitute mine for God’s. Let me forgive and be happy. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

REVIEW 2

Introduction

We are ready now for another review. We will begin where our last review left off and will cover two ideas each day. The earlier part of the day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the latter part of the day to the other. We will have one longer exercise period and frequent shorter ones in which we will practice each of them.

2. The longer practice periods will follow this general form: Take about fifteen minutes for each of them, and begin by thinking about the idea and the comments which are included in the assignments. Devote about two or three minutes to reading them over slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and listen. Repeat the first phase if you find your mind wandering, but try to spend the major part of the practice period listening quietly but attentively.

3. There is a message waiting for you. Be confident that you will receive it. Remember that it belongs to you, and that you want it. Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting thoughts. Realize that, whatever form they take, they have no meaning and no power. Replace them with your own determination to succeed. Do not forget that your will has power over all fantasies and dreams. Trust it to see you through and carry you beyond them all.

4. Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth, and the life. Refuse to be sidetracked into detours, illusions, and thoughts of death. You are dedicated to salvation. Be determined each day not to leave your function unfulfilled.

5. Reaffirm your determination in shorter practice periods as well, using the original form of the idea for general application and a more specific form when needed. Specific forms will be included in the comments. These, however, are merely suggestions. It is not the particular words you use that matter.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 81

Our ideas for today’s review are:

1. (61) I am the light of the world.

     How holy am I, who have been given the function of lighting up the world! Let me be still before my holiness. In its calm light let all my conflicts disappear. In its peace let me remember who I am.

2. Suggested specific forms for applying the idea, to be used when specific difficulties seem to arise, are:

Let me not allow my perception of this to obscure the light of the world in me.

Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.

This shadow will vanish before the light.

3. (62) Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

     It is through accepting my function that I well see the light in me. And in this light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight. My acceptance does not depend on recognizing what my function is, for I do not yet understand forgiveness. Yet I will trust that in the light I will see it as it is.

4. Specific forms for using the idea might be:

Let this help me learn what forgiveness means.

Let me not separate my function from my will by misperceiving this.

I would not use this for an alien purpose.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

Personal Notes:

Let me not allow my perception of this to obscure the light of the world in me. Let me walk in love and forgiveness that my light may shine on everyone and everything sharing the light, love, laughter, forgiveness. Shadows will vanish before the light. Holy am I who have been given the function of lighting up the world. I am still before my holiness and in this calm light, all conflicts disappear. In its peace I remember who I am, I am God’s and God is mine. Let the light of the world shine through this appearance. The shadows will vanish before the light. I am the light of the world. Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. In accepting my function I will see the light in me. Let me not separate my function from my will by misperceiving this. I will not allow grievances to block my light, I trust in the light and I will see it as it is. I would not use this for an alien purpose I belong to God, heart, mind, body and soul and God belongs to me in unity of Oneness the light of the world shines on and in me giving me, the truth, the way, the life all shadows and falsehoods must disperse! I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 80

Let Me Recognize My Problems Have Been Solved.

If you are willing to recognize your problems, you will recognize that you have no problems. Your one central problem has been answered, and you have no other. Therefore you must be at peace. Salvation thus depends on recognizing this one problem and understanding that it has been solved. One problem, one solution. Salvation is accomplished. Freedom from conflict has been given you. Accept that fact, and you are ready to take your rightful place in God’s plan for salvation.

2. Your only problem has been solved! Repeat this over and over to yourself today, with gratitude and conviction. You have recognized your only problem, opening the way for Holy Spirit to give you God’s answer. You have laid deception aside and seen the light of truth. You have accepted salvation for yourself by bringing the problem to the answer. And you can recognize the answer because the problem has been identified.

3. You are entitled to peace today. A problem which has been resolved cannot trouble you. Only be certain that you do not forget that all your problems are the same. Their many forms will not deceive you while you remember this. One problem, one solution. Accept the peace this simple statement brings.

4. In our longer practice periods today, we will claim the peace that must be ours when the problem and the answer have been brought together. The problem must be gone because God’s answer cannot fail. Having recognized one, we have recognized the other. The solution is inherent in the problem. You are answered and have accepted the answer. You are saved.

5. Now let the peace that your acceptance brings be given you. Close your eyes and receive your reward. Recognize that your problems have been solved. Recognize that you are out of conflict, free and at peace. Above all, remember that you have one problem and that problem has one solution. It is in this that the simplicity of salvation lies. It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work.

6. Assure yourself often today that your problems have been solved. Repeat the idea with deep conviction as frequently as possible. And be particularly careful to remember to apply the idea for today to any specific problem that may arise. Say quickly:

Let me recognize this problem has been solved.

7. Let us be determined not to collect grievances today. Let us be determined to be free of problems that do not exist. The means is simple honesty. Do not deceive yourself about what the problem is, and you must recognize it has been solved.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Persona Notes:

“Let me recognize my problems have been solved.” One problem, one solution. Freedom from conflict has been given me. Salvation is accomplished. I lay deception aside and see in the light of truth. Bringing the problem to the answer. I will not forget that all problems are the same, one problem, one answer. I am determined to Not collect grievances today! I am determined to be free of problems that do not exist. Let me recognize the problem has been solved! I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 79

Let Me Recognize The Problem So It Can Be Solved.

A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Even if it is actually solved already, you will still have the problem because you cannot recognize that it has been solved. This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved. But the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized.

2. Everyone seems to have his own special problems. Yet they are all the same, and must be recognized as one if the one solution which solves them all is to be accepted. Who can see that his problem has been solved if he thinks the problem is something else? Even if he is given the answer, he cannot see its relevance.

3. That is the position in which you find yourself now. You have the answer, but you are still uncertain about what the problem is. A long series of problems seems to confront you, and as one is settled the next one and the next arise. There seems to be no end to them. There is no time in which you feel completely free of problems and at peace.

4. The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation unsolved. The world seems to present you with a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer. This perception places you in a position in which your problem-solving skills must be inadequate and failure must be inevitable.

5. No one could solve all the problems the world appears to hold. They seem to be on so many levels, in such varying forms and with such varied content, that they confront you with an impossible situation. Dismay and depression are inevitable as you regard them. Some spring up unexpectedly, just as you think you have resolved the previous ones. Others remain unsolved under a cloud of denial and rise to haunt you from time to time, only to be hidden again but still unsolved.

6. All this complexity is but a desperate attempt not to recognize the problem and not to let it be resolved. If you could recognize that your only problem is separation, no matter what form it takes, you could accept the answer because you would not lose sight of its relevance. Perceiving the underlying constancy in all the problems that confront you, you would understand that you have the means to solve them all. And you would use the means because you recognize the problem.

7.  In our longer practice periods, we will ask what the problem is and what is the answer to it. We will not assume that we already know. We will try to free our minds of all the many different kinds of problems that we think we have. We will try to realize that we only have one problem, which we have failed to recognize. We will ask what it is, and wait for the answer. We will be told. Then we will ask for the solution to it. And we will be told.

8. Our exercises for today will be successful to the extent to which we do not insist on defining the problem. Perhaps we will not succeed in letting all our preconceived notions go, but that is not necessary. All that is necessary is to entertain some doubt about the reality of our version of what our problems are. We are trying to recognize that we have been given the answer by recognizing the problem, so that the problem and the answer can be brought together and we can be at peace.

9. The shorter practice periods for today will not be set by time but by need. You will see many problems today, each one calling for an answer. Our efforts will be directed toward recognizing that there is only one problem and only one answer. In this recognition are all problems resolved. In this recognition there is peace.

10. Be not deceived by the form of problems today. Whenever any difficulty seems to rise, tell yourself quickly:

Let me recognize this problem so it can be solved.

     Then try to suspend all judgment about what the problem is. If possible, close your eyes for a moment and ask what it is. You will be heard and you will be answered. ^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”  What is the problem? They seem to come in many different forms, big and small, yet all the same in God’s Hands, which is where we are to put them. I clear my mind of all preconceived ideas of what my problem is and ask God. He will give me the answer as I wait before Him. What is the answer? Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). Seeking the Kingdom first and foremost the separation is resolved being the core of all the many faces the “problems” appear to take. Entering into the Kingdom of God as One with Him, all other things take their rightful place, there are no worries, no cares, God promises He will take care of them all. As we seek to know Him, love Him, be one with Him. Become Love and let Love become us. I pray for all my brothers, sister and myself, Our Heavenly Father, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in these earthen vessels, in this earth, as it is in Heaven as One with You always and for ever in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 78

Let Miracles Replace All Grievances.

Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a miracle. Each grievance stands like a dark shield of hate before the miracle it would conceal. And if you raise it up before your eyes, you will not see the miracle beyond. Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you behold your grievances instead.

2. Today we go beyond your grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. We will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God.

3. He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will appear in shining light where each one stood before. For every grievance is a block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been. He stands in light, but you were in the dark. Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not see.

4. Today we will attempt to see God’s Son. We will not let ourselves be blind to him; we will not look upon our grievances. So is the seeing of the world reversed as we look out toward truth, away from fear.

5. We will select one person you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. Someone, perhaps, you fear or even hate; someone you think you love who angers you; someone you call friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating, or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his according to the role you set for him.

6. You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. He will be the one of whom we ask God’s Son be shown to us. Through seeing him behind the grievances that we have held against him, we will learn that what lay hidden while we saw him not is there in everyone and can be seen. He who was enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. Let him be savior unto you today. Such is his role in God your Father’s plan.

7. Our longer practice periods today will place him in this role. We will attempt to hold him in our mind, first as we now consider him. We will review his faults, the difficulties we have had with him, the pain he caused us, his neglect, and all the little and larger hurts he gave. We will regard his body, with its flaws and better points as well, and we will think of his mistakes and even of his “sins.”

8. Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth, that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light of true forgiveness, given unto us. We ask Him in the Holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as Himself:

Let me behold my savior in this one

You have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join him there.

9. The body’s eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances. What you have asked for cannot be denied. Your savior has been waiting long for this. He would be free, and make his freedom yours. The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in God’s Son. And what you see through Him will free you both.

10. Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. No dark grievances obscure the sight of him. You have allowed the Holy Spirit to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved. God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images aside and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed to you instead. The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one thought of God but must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you.

11. We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us as part of God’s salvation plan and not our own. Temptation falls away when we allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our grievances. To everyone you meet, and to each one you think of or remember from the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him. For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:^[1]

Let miracles replace all grievances.

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“Let miracles replace all grievances.” More than anything I want all God has for me and all that He has for me to do. I want to fulfill my purpose to bring healing and an end to separation, to Glorify God, to receive and distribute Miracles which is my inheritance, that I am entitled to along with all my brothers. Replacing grievances with miracles dissolves all temptation to “feel” fear, injured, abused, abandoned, betrayed, lacking, limited, to Laugh at all the lies the ego would try to present and hide under the dark shield of grievances, NOT TODAY devil. The Peace of God, The Love of God, The communication with God and my brothers through Holy Spirit surpasses the pain and darkness this lie has to offer me. In releasing all grievances, The Light of the world shines before me, in me, through me. My salvation comes from within me. Only God’s plan of salvation works. All other plans do not work. My will and God’s Will are one. I am entitled to Miracles to receive and give, in Jesus Name. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 77

I Am Entitled to Miracles.

You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. You will receive miracles because of what God is. And you will offer miracles because you are one with God. Again, how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true identity. It is this that we will celebrate today.

2. Your claim to miracles does not lie in your illusions about yourself. It does not depend on any magical powers you have ascribed to yourself, nor on the rituals you have devised. It is inherent in the truth of what you are. It is implicit in what God your Father is. It was ensured in your creation and guaranteed by the laws of God.

3. Today we will claim the miracles that are your right, since they belong to you. You have been given the correction for all your mistakes. You have been promised full release from the world you made. You have been assured that the Kingdom of God is within you,¹¹⁸ and can never be lost. We ask no more than what belongs to us in truth. Today however, we will also make sure that we will not content ourselves with less.

4. Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself quite confidently that you are entitled to miracles. Closing your eyes, remind yourself that you are asking only for what is rightfully yours. Remind yourself also that miracles are never taken from one and given to another, and that in asking for your rights you are upholding the rights of everyone. Miracles do not obey the laws of the world. They merely follow from the laws of God.

5. After this brief introductory phase, wait quietly for the assurance that your request is granted. You have asked for salvation of the world and for your own. You have requested that you receive the means by which this is accomplished. You cannot fail to be assured in this. You are but asking that the will of God be done.¹²⁰

6. In doing this, you do not really ask for anything. You state a fact that cannot be denied. The Holy Spirit cannot but assure you that your request is granted. The fact you accepted must be so. There is no room for doubt and uncertainty today. We are asking a real question at last. The answer is a simple statement of a simple fact. You will receive the assurance that you seek.

7. Our shorter practice periods will be frequent, and will also be devoted to a reminder of a simple fact. Tell yourself often today:

I am entitled to miracles.

     Ask for them whenever a situation arises in which they are called for. You will recognize these situations. And since you are not relying on yourself to find miracles, you are therefore fully entitled to receive from them whenever you ask.

8. Remember, too, not to be satisfied with less than the perfect answer. Be quick to tell yourself, should you be tempted:

I will not trade miracles for grievances.

I want only what belongs to me.

God has established miracles as my right.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote 118. Luke 17:21 (KJV): “Neither shall they say, Lo here! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” T-11.IX.7:3: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.”

Footnote 120. Matthew 6:10 (RSV): “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” By seeking to lay claim to the miracles that are yours, you are really saying “Thy will be done,” for it is through the miracles you accept and give that God’s will is done on earth.

Personal Notes:

“I am entitled to miracles.” I receive my inheritance of the Kingdom of God because I am a son of God. I offer miracles because I am one with God in Christ Jesus. I only ask for what God says is mine. His Will is my will, I do not want anything that is not mine. I ask for the miracle of peace, wholeness, unity, loyalty, The Oneness of God’s Will directed by Holy Spirit in my home, family, and all relationships, in the homes, families and circumstances of all my bothers and sisters, for an end to division & strife among us, that we might all ban together as one in Christ Jesus for our Salvation and the Salvation of the world. I will not content myself with less than this or limitations. That is not who my God, my Creator is, He is limitless and undefeated. So then so am I and my brothers, being all One with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am entitled to miracles. I will not trade miracles for grievances. I want only what belongs to me. God has established miracles as my right. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 76

I am under no laws but God’s.

We have observed before how many senseless things have seemed to you to be salvation. Each has imprisoned you with laws as senseless as itself. You are not bound by them. Yet to understand that this is so, you must first realize salvation lies not there. While you would seek for it in things which have no meaning, you would bind yourself to laws which make no sense. Thus do you seek to prove salvation is where it is not.

2. The idea for today tells you once again how simple is salvation. Look for it where it waits for you, and there it can be found. Look nowhere else, for it is nowhere else.

3 Think of the freedom in the recognition that you are not bound to all the strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. You really think that you will starve unless you have stacks of green paper strips and piles of metal discs. You really think a small round pellet or some fluid pushed into your veins through a sharpened needle will ward off death. You really think you are alone unless another body is with you.

4. It is insanity that thinks these things. You call them laws, and put them under different names in a long catalog of rituals that have no use and serve no purpose. You think you must obey the “laws” of medicine, of economics, and health. Protect the body, and you will be saved.

5. These are not laws but madness. The body is endangered by the mind that hurts itself. The body suffers that the mind will fail to see it is the victim of itself. The body’s suffering is a mask the mind holds up to hide what really suffers. It would not understand it is its own enemy; that it attacks itself and wants to die. It is from this your “laws” would save the body. It is for this you think you are a body.

6. There are no laws except the laws of God. This needs repeating, over and over, until you realize that it applies to everything that you have made in opposition to His will. Your magic has no meaning. What it is meant to save does not exist. Only what it is meant to hide will save you.

7. The laws of God can never be replaced. We will devote today to rejoicing that this is so. It is no longer a truth that we would hide. We realize instead it is a truth which keeps us free forever.¹¹³ Magic imprisons, but the law’s of God set free. The light has come because there are no laws but His.

8. We will begin the longer practice periods today with a short review of the different kinds of “laws” we have believed we must obey. These would include, for example, the laws of nutrition, of immunization, of medication, and of the body’s protection in innumerable ways. Think further: you believe in laws of friendship, of “good” relationships and reciprocity. Perhaps you even think that there are laws which set forth what is God’s and what is yours. Many “religions” have been based on this. They would not save but damn in Heaven’s name. Yet they are no more strange than other laws you hold must be obeyed to make you safe.

9. There are no laws but God’s. Dismiss all foolish magical beliefs today, and hold your mind in silent readiness to hear the Voice that speaks the truth to you. You will be listening to One Who says there is no loss under the laws of God. Payment is neither given nor received. Exchange cannot be made, there are no substitutes, and nothing is replaced by something else. God’s laws forever give and never take.

10. Hear Him Who tells you this, and realize how foolish are the laws you thought upheld the world you thought you saw. Then listen further. He would tell you more. About the love your Father has for you. About the endless joy He offers you. About His yearning for His only Son, created as His channel for creation; denied to Him be his belief in hell.

11. Let us today open God’s channels to Him, and let His will extend through us to Him. Thus is creation endlessly increased. His voice will speak of this to us, as well as of the joys of Heaven which His laws keep limitless forever. We will repeat today’s idea until we have listened and understood there are no laws but God’s. Then we will tell ourselves, as a dedication with which the practice period concludes:

I am under no laws but God’s.

12. We will repeat this dedication as often as possible today: at least four or five times an hour, as well as in answer to any temptation to experience ourselves as subject to other laws throughout the day. It is our statement of our freedom from all danger and tyranny. It is our acknowledgment that God is our Father and that His Son is saved.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

^{Footnote 113. John 8:32 (KJV) “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”}

Personal Notes:

“I am under no laws but God’s.” I am Thankful for God making Salvation Free and Simple by sending Holy Spirit to help me release the lies of being bound to laws made up by me, by man, by the world in error of thinking the illusions were, where Salvation was to be found. I am under no laws but God’s. I give up the made-up laws of thinking money, job, social status, man, medicine, possessions, will feed, clothe, protect and be my salvation. I am under laws but God’s. There are no laws except God’s laws which set me and my brothers free to live, love, laugh, and share this Truth with the world. God’s laws forever give and never take. Nothing is loss but only gain in God’s law. I am under no law but God’s. When dark lies of temptation try to present themselves to me, I make my declaration of True Salvation, freedom, from all danger, all tyranny, judgements, attacks of who I am, and Who I belong to and Who I am Part of. I am under no laws but God’s. God is my Heavenly Father and as a Son of God I am Saved, Sanctified, Consecrated, and set apart for His Purpose Only. Today I hear One Voice My Heavenly Father’s, Thank You Jesus. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Undoing The Way We See Things Now¹⁰⁹

Lesson 75

The Light Has Come

The light has come. You are healed and you can heal. The light has come. You are saved and you can save. You are at peace and you bring peace with you wherever you go. Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has come.

2. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster. There are no dark dreams now. The light has come. Today begins the time of light for you and everyone. It is a new era, in which a new world is born. The old one has left no trace upon it in its passing. Today you see a different world, because the light has come.

3. Our exercises for today will be happy ones, in which we offer thanks for passing of the old and the beginning of the new. No shadows from the past remain to darken our sight and the world forgiveness offers us. Today we will accept the new world as what we want to see. We will be given what we desire. We will to see the light; the light has come.

4. Our longer practice periods will be devoted to looking on the world our forgiveness shows us. This is what we want to see, and only this. Our single purpose makes our goal inevitable. Today the real world rises before us in gladness, to be seen at last. Sight is given us, now that the light has come. We do not see the ego’s shadow on the world today. We see the light, and in it do we see Heaven’s reflection lie across the world.

5. Begin the practice period by telling yourself the glad tidings of your release.¹¹⁰

The light has come.

I have forgiven the world.

     Dwell not upon the past today. Keep a completely open mind, washed of all past ideas and clean of every concept you have made. You have forgiven the world today. And you can look upon it now as if you never saw it before. You do not know yet what it looks like. You merely wait to have it shown to you.

6. While you wait, repeat several times, slowly and in complete patience:

The light has come.

I have forgiven the world.

     Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision. Understand that the Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. Believe He will not fail you now. You have forgiven the world. He will be with you as you watch and wait. He will show you what true vision sees. It is His will, and you have joined with Him. Wait patiently for Him. He will be there. The light has come. You have forgiven the world.

7. Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him. And tell yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you. From this time forth, you will see differently. Today the light has come. And you will see the world that has been promised you since time began, and in which is the end of time made sure.

8. The shorter practice periods, too, will be joyful reminders of your release. Remind yourself every quarter of an hour or so that today is a time for special celebration. Give thanks for mercy and the love of God. Rejoice in the power of forgiveness to heal your sight completely. Be confident that on this day there is a new beginning. Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today. And what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever. Say, then:

The light has come.

I have forgiven the world.

9. Should you be tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back to darkness:

The light has come.

I have forgiven you.

10. We dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have you be. Keep it in your awareness of yourself and see it everywhere today, as we celebrate the beginning of your vision and the sight of the real world, which has come to replace the unforgiven world you thought was real.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

^{Footnote 109. Isaiah 60:1-5 (RSV): “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” The next verses (2-5) continue with themes relevant to this lesson: Because the light of God has shined on you, it is now your light. This light banishes darkness and ushers in a new world.}

^{Footnote 110. Luke 1:19 (KJV): “And the angel answering said unto him, I am “Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.”}

Personal Notes:

‘The light has come.” I am healed and I can heal, Praise the Lord! I am a healed healer in Christ Jesus the Power of God in me that raises dead to Life. I am saved and I can save. I am at peace and I bring peace with me everywhere I go. Darkness and turmoil and death have disappeared. The light has come. Today begins the time of light for me and everyone. It is a new era, in which a new world is born. The Light has come. I offer thanks for the passing of dark dreams and the beginning of a new world born. The light has come. No shadows of the past remain to darken my sight and the world forgiveness offers me. Forgiveness entitles me to vision the Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to the forgiving. He will not fail me. I experienced a good work out in this exercise this morning

by briefly falling to the temptation of engaging in the illusion that darkness and turmoil offers, in offering forgiveness Holy Spirit did not fail to give me sight and remembrance that The light has come. Peace is with me and I bring peace everywhere I go. The light has come. I have forgiven the world and people. I dedicate this day to the serenity in which God would have me be. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 74

There is no Will but God’s.

The idea for today can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed. God’s is the only will. When you have accepted this, you have recognized that your will is His. The belief that conflict is possible has gone. Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. As an expression of the will of God, you have no goal but His.

2. There is great peace in today’s idea. And the exercises for today are directed toward finding it. The idea itself is wholly true. Therefore it cannot give rise to illusions. Without illusions conflict is impossible. Let us try to recognize this today and experience the peace this recognition brings.

3. Begin the longer practice periods by repeating these thoughts several times, slowly and with firm determination to understand what they mean and to hold them in mind.

There is no will but God’s.

I cannot be in conflict.

     Then spend several minutes in adding some related thoughts, such as:

I am at peace.

Nothing can disturb me. My will is God’s.

My will and God’s are one.

God wills peace for His Son.

4. During this introductory phase, be sure to deal quickly with any conflict thoughts that may cross your mind.¹⁰⁷ Tell yourself immediately:

There is no will but God’s.

These conflict thoughts are meaningless.

5. If there is one conflict area which seems particularly difficult to resolve, single it out for special consideration. Think about it briefly but very specifically, recognize the particular person or persons and the situation or situations involved, and tell yourself:

There is no will but God’s.

I share it with Him.

My conflicts about__________cannot be real.

6. After you have cleared your mind in this way, close your eyes and try to experience the peace to which your reality entitles you. Sink into it, and feel it closing around you. There may be some temptation to mistake these attempts for withdrawal, but the difference is easily detected. If you are succeeding, you will feel a deep sense of joy and an increased alertness, rather than a feeling of drowsiness and enervation.

7. Joy characterizes peace. By this experience will you recognize that you have reached it. If you feel yourself merely slipping off into withdrawal, quickly repeat the idea for today and try again. Do this as often as necessary. There is definite gain in refusing to allow retreat into withdrawal even if you do not experience the peace you seek.

8. In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken at regular and predetermined intervals today, say to yourself:

There is no will but God’s.

I seek His peace today.

     Then try to find what you are seeking. A minute or two every half hour, with eyes closed if possible, would be well spent on this today.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

^{Footnote 107. “Conflict thoughts” here appear to be thoughts about a situation in which your will seems to be clashing with someone else’s will—more specifically, thoughts that regard this clash as real.}

Personal Notes:

“There is no will but God’s.” I cannot be in conflict. I am at peace. Nothing can disturb me. My will is God’s Will. My will and God’s are one. God wills peace for His Son. There is no will but God’s. These conflict thoughts are meaningless. There is no will but God’s. I share it with Him. My conflict with Gene cannot be real. My conflicts about Gene’s bitter words and attitude towards our children are not real. There is no will but God’s. I seek His peace today. I ask today’s lesson be made real in my heart and that I know what to do and how to do it. I relinquish the ego. I offer only love and forgiveness. I do not forget my function, which is to save the world and thus be happy. There is no will but God’s. Love created me to be Love. I will NO grievances releasing all, I choose Love. Only God’s plan works. All others do not work. My will and God’s Will are one. There is no conflict in Christ Jesus. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 73

I will there be light.¹⁰¹

Today we are considering the will you share with God. This is not the same as the ego’s idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise. The will you share with God has all the power of creation in it. The ego’s idle wishes are unshared, and therefore have no power at all. Its wishes are not idle, in the sense that they can make a world of illusions in which your belief can be very strong. But they are idle in terms of creation. They make nothing that is real.

2. Idle wishes and grievances are partners or co-makers in picturing the world you see. The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego’s need for grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peopled it with figures which seem to attack you and call for” righteous” judgment. They become the middlemen the ego employs to traffic in grievances, and stand between your awareness and your brother’s reality. Beholding them, you do not know your brothers nor your self.

3. Your will is lost to you in this strange bartering, in which guilt is traded back and forth, and grievances increase with each exchange. Can such a world have been created by the will the Son of God shares with his Father? Did God create disaster for His Son? Creation is the will of Both together. Would God create a world that kills Himself?

4. Today we will try once more to reach the world which is in accordance with your will. The light is in it because it does not oppose the will of God. It is not Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines on it. Darkness has vanished; the ego’s idle wishes have been withdrawn. Yet the light which shines upon this world reflects your will, and so it must be in you that we look for it. Your picture of the world can only mirror what is within. The source of neither light nor darkness can be found without. Grievances darken your mind, and you look out upon a darkened world. Forgiveness lifts the darkness, reasserts your will, and lets you look upon a world of light.

5. We have repeatedly emphasized that the barrier of grievances is easily passed, and cannot stand between you and salvation. The reason is very simple. Do you really want to be in hell? Do you really want to weep and suffer and die? Forget the ego’s arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven. You know it is not so. You cannot want this for yourself.

6. There is a point beyond which illusions cannot go. Suffering is not happiness, and it is happiness you really want. Such is your will in truth. And so salvation is your will in truth. And so salvation is your will as well. You want to succeed in what we are trying to do today. We undertake it with your blessing and with your glad accord.

7. We will succeed today if you remember that you will salvation for yourself. You will accept God’s plan because you share in it. You have no will that can really oppose it, and you do not want to do so. Salvation is for you. And above all else, you want the freedom to remember who you really are. Today it is the ego which stands powerless before your will. Your will is free, and nothing can prevail against it.¹⁰⁴ Therefore we undertake the exercises for today in happy confidence, certain that we will find what it is your will to find, and remember what it is your will to remember. No idle wishes can detain us, nor deceive us with an illusion of strength.

8. Today let your will be done,¹⁰⁵ and end forever the insane belief that it is hell in place of Heaven that you choose. We will begin our longer practice periods with the recognition that God’s plan for salvation, and only His, is wholly in accord with your will. It is not the purpose of an alien power thrust upon you unwillingly. It is the one purpose here on which you and your Father are in perfect accord.

9. You will succeed today, the time appointed for the release of the Son of God from hell and from idle wishes. His will is now restored to his awareness. He is willing this very day to look upon the light in him and be saved.

10. After reminding yourself of this and determining to keep your will clearly in mind, tell yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:

I will there be light.

Let me behold the light that reflects God’s will and mine.

     Then let your will assert itself, joined to the power of God and united with your Self. Put the rest of the practice period under Their guidance. Join with Them as They lead the way.

11. In the shorter practice periods, again make a declaration of what you really want. Say:

I will there be light.

Darkness is not my will.

     This should be repeated several times an hour. It is most important, however, to apply today’s idea in this form immediately when you are tempted to hold a grievance of any kind. This will help you let your grievances go, instead of cherishing them and hiding them in darkness.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

^{Footnote 101. Geneses 1:3 (RSV): “And God said ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.}

^{Footnote 104. Matthew 16:18 (KJV): “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”}

^{Footnote 105. Matthew 6:10 (RSV): “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven.” In this case, rather than us praying to God that His will be done, Jesus is asking us to let our will (for salvation) be done.}

Personal Notes:

“I will there be light” Darkness, nothingness and powerlessness being the ego’s idle wishes are not something I want to share. Let me behold the light that reflects God’s Will and mine. I release all grievances which appear to attack me calling for righteous judgement that would blind me to awareness of myself and my brother’s reality. I will there be light. God’s Will is my will. I want the freedom to remember who I really am! The ego will stand powerless before my will. I will there be light and darkness must vanish. No idle wishes can detain me, nor deceive me with an illusion of strength. God’s plan for salvation and only His, is wholly in accord with my will. I will succeed today, the time appointed for my release of the son of God from hell and from all idle wishes. I will there be light. Darkness is not my will! Let me align and identify with only my true Self. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 72

Holding Grievances is an Attack on God’s Pan for Salvation

While we have recognized that the ego’s plan for salvation is the opposite of God’s, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active assault on His plan and a deliberate attempt to destroy it. In the attack, God is assigned the attributes which are actually associated with the ego, while the ego appears to take on the attributes of God.

2. The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of this wish. For it is this wish which seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone and unable to reach other minds except through the body which was made to imprison it. This, however, cannot be true communication. The limit on communication cannot be the best means to expand communication. Yet the ego would have you believe that it is.

3. Although the attempt to keep the limitations which the a body would impose is obvious here, it is perhaps not so apparent why holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation. But let us consider the kinds of things which you are apt to hold grievances for. Are they not always associated with something a body does? A person says something we do not like; he does something that displeases us; he “betrays” his hostile thoughts in his behavior.

4. We are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, we are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. We are doing more than failing to help in freeing him from its limitations. We are actively trying to hold him to it, by confusing it with him and judging them as one. Herein is God attacked, for if His Son is only a body, so must He be as well. A creator wholly unlike his creation is inconceivable.

5. If God is a body, what must His plan for salvation be? What could it be but death? In trying to present Himself as the Author of life and not of death, He is a liar and a deceiver, full of false promises and offering illusions in place of truth.

6. The body’s apparent reality makes this view of God quite convincing. In fact, if the body were real, it would be difficult indeed to escape this conclusion. And every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It overlooks entirely what your brother is. It reinforces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it. And it asserts that his salvation must be death, projecting this attack onto God and holding Him responsible for it.

7. To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and mercy enters not, the ego comes to save you. God made you a body. Very well. Let us accept this and be glad. As a body, do not let yourself be deprived of what the body can give you. Take the little you can get. God gave you nothing. The body is your only salvation.

8. This is the universal belief of the world you see. Some hate the body, and try to harm and humiliate it. Others love the body, and try to glorify and exalt it. But while it stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His creation, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as friend. Your chosen savior takes His place instead. It is your friend; He is your enemy.

9. We will try today to stop these senseless attacks on salvation. We will try to welcome it instead. Our upside-down perception has been ruinous to our peace of mind. We have seen ourselves in a body and the truth outside us, locked away from our awareness by the body’s limitations. Now we are going to try to see this differently.

10. The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. It is the body that is outside us and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. To see our Self as separate from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation and to accept it instead. And wherever it is accepted, it is accomplished already.

11. Our goal in the longer practice periods today is to become aware that God’s plan for salvation has already been accomplished in us. To achieve this goal, we must replace attack with acceptance. As long as we attack it, we cannot understand what God’s plan for us is. We are therefore attacking what we do not recognize. Now we are going to try to lay judgment aside and ask what God’s plan for us is:

What is salvation, Father?

I do not know.

Tell me, that I may understand.

     Then we will wait in quiet for His answer.

12. We have attacked God’s plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is. We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His Voice. We have used our grievances to close our eyes and stop our ears. Now we would see and hear and learn. What is salvation, Father? Ask and you will be answered. Seek and you will find.¹⁰⁰

13. You are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it. You are asking it of truth. Be certain, then that the answer will be true, because of Whom you ask. Whenever you feel your confidence wane and your hope of success flicker and go out, repeat your question and your request, remembering that you are asking them of the infinite Creator of infinity, Who created you like Himself:

What is salvation, Father?

I do not know.

Tell me, that I may understand.

     He will answer. Be determined to hear.

14. One or perhaps two shorter practice periods an hour will be enough for today, since they will be somewhat longer that usual. These exercises are as follows:

Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

Let me accept it instead.

What is salvation, Father?

     Then wait a minute or so in silence, preferably with your eyes closed, and listen for His answer.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition}

^{Footnote 100.Matthew 7:7 (RSV): “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”}

Personal Notes:

“Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.” I choose today to replace attack on God’s plan with acceptance of His plan. I do not hold any grievances in my mind or against anyone or anything, God’s plan for me and others is too important to me. What is salvation Father? I do not know. Tell me, that I may understand. I will repeat these questions in my practice periods today several times as instructed and wait patiently for my Father’s answer, I am confident it will come. Only God’s plan for Salvation works. All other plans do not work. I pray Heavenly Father, lead and guide me in Your Tender Loving, Mercy, Grace and Wisdom into All Truth in Jesus Name. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 71

Only God’s Plan for Salvation Will Work

You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in opposition to God’s. It is this plan in which you believe. Since it is the opposite of God’s, you also believe that to accept God’s plan in place of the ego’s is to be damned. This sounds preposterous, of course. Yet after we have considered just what the ego’s plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however preposterous it may be, you do believe it.

2. The ego’s plan for salvation centers on holding grievances. It maintains that if someone else spoke or acted differently, if some external circumstance or event were changed, you would be saved. Thus the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside yourself. Each grievance you hold is a declaration, and an assertion in which you believe, that says, “If this were different, I would be saved.”⁹⁴ The change of mind which is necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything except yourself.

3. The role assigned to your own mind, then, is simply to determine what, other than itself, must change if you are to be saved. According to this insane plan, any perceived source of salvation is acceptable, provided that it will not work. This ensures that the fruitless search will continue, for the illusion persists that although this hope has failed, there are still grounds for hope in other places and in other things. Another person will serve better, another situation will offer hope.

4. Such is the ego’s plan for your salvation. Surely you can see how it is strict accord with the ego’s basic doctrine, “Seek but do not find?” For what could more surely guarantee that you will not find salvation than to channel all your efforts into searching for it where it is not?

5. God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction, you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will, you must be willing to seek there only. Otherwise your purpose is divided, and you will attempt to follow two plans for salvation which are diametrically opposed in all ways. The result can only bring confusion, misery, and a deep sense of failure and despair.

6. How can you escape all this? Very simply. The idea for today is the answer. Only God’s plan for salvation will work. There can be no real conflict about this, because there in no possible alternative to God’s plan that will save you.

7. Let us practice recognizing this certainty today. And let us rejoice that there is an answer to what seemed to be conflict with no resolution possible. All things are possible to God.⁹⁶ Salvation must be yours because of His plan, which cannot fail.

8. Begin the two longer practice periods for today by thinking about today’s idea, and realizing that it contains two parts, each making equal contribution to the whole. God’s plan for your salvation will work, and other plans will not. Do not allow yourself to become depressed or angry at the second part; it is inherent in the first, and in the first is your full release from all your own insane attempts and mad proposals to free yourself. They have led to depression and anger, but God’s plan will succeed. It will lead to release and joy.

9. Remembering this, let us devote the remainder of the extended practice period to asking God to reveal His plan to us. Ask Him very specifically:

What would You have me do?

Where would You have me go?

What would You have me say, and to whom?

     Give Him full charge of the rest of the practice period, and let Him tell you what needs to be done by you in His plan for your salvation. He will answer you in proportion to your willingness to hear His Voice. Refuse not to hear. The very fact that you are doing the exercises proves you have some willingness to listen. This is enough to establish your claim to His answer.

10. In the shorter practice periods, tell yourself often that only God’s plan for salvation will work. Be alert to all temptation to hold grievances today, and respond to them with this form of today’s idea:

Holding grievances is the opposite of God’s plan for salvation.

And only His plan will work.

     Try to remember the idea for today some six or seven times and hour. There could be no better way to spend a half a minute or less than to remember the source of your  salvation, and to see it where it is.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

“Only God’s plan for salvation will work” The ego’s plan for salvation centers on holding grievances, which only lead to the fruitless ongoing search of failed illusions. The thought of holding on to a grievance is to accept the false voice of who I am, who my brother is, the false voice of being limited. Holding on to grievances is the opposite or God’s plan for salvation. I choose to hear one Voice the Voice of God my Heavenly Father and Creator. I am confident Only God’s plan for salvation will work. All things are possible with God. Salvation must be mine because of His plan, which cannot fail. I release all my own insane attempts to free myself because God’s plan will succeed, it will lead to release and joy. I ask my Heavenly Father very specifically: What would You have me do? Where would You have me go? What would You have me say and to whom? I am confident He will answer. Only God’s plan will work. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Footnote 94. A grievance is a complaint about a perceived wrong or hardship suffered—something that makes me unhappy. Without this hardship, I believe, “I would be saved” from this unhappiness. A grievance therefore is a statement that “If this were different, I would be happy—I would be saved.”

Footnote 96. Matthew 19:26 (RSV): “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” In the original statement, what is possible with God is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, even though this is harder than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In the Course’s version, what is possible with God is getting out of the conflict of feeling torn between two competing plans for salvation—God’s and the ego’s. Perhaps this sheds light on the original saying. Perhaps the difficult thing that God made it possible for the rich man to do was to stop serving two masters: “God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24 [RSV]).

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 70

My Salvation Comes From Me.

All temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe the idea for today. Salvation seems to come from anywhere except from you. So too does the source of guilt. You see neither guilt nor salvation as in your own mind and nowhere else. When you have realized that all guilt is solely an invention of your mind, you will also realize that guilt and salvation must be together in the same place. In understanding this you are saved.

2. The seeming cost of accepting today’s idea is this: It means that nothing outside yourself can save you; nothing outside yourself can give you peace. But it also means that nothing outside yourself can hurt you or disturb your peace or upset you in any way.

3. Today’s idea places you in charge of the universe, where you belong because of who you are. This is not a role which can be partially accepted, and you must surely begin to see that accepting it is salvation. It may not, however, be clear to you why the recognition that guilt is in your own mind entails the realization that salvation is there as well.

4. God would not have put the remedy for sickness where it cannot help. That is the way your mind has worked, but hardly His. He wants you to be healed, so He has kept the source of healing where the need for healing lies. You have tried to do just the opposite, making every attempt, however distorted and fantastic it might be, to separate healing from the sickness for which it was intended, and thus to keep the sickness. Your purpose to ensure that healing did not occur; God’s purpose was to ensure that it did.

5. Today we will practice realizing that God’s will and ours are really the same in this. He wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to be sick, because it makes us unhappy. Therefore, in accepting the idea for today, we are in agreement with God. He does not want us to be sick. Neither do we. He wants us to be healed. So do we.

6. We are ready for two longer practice periods today, each of which should last some ten to fifteen minutes. We will, however, still let you decide when to undertake them. We will follow this practice for a number of lessons, and it would again be a good time to lay aside for each of them, and adhere to your own decision as closely as possible.

7. Begin these practice periods by repeating the idea for today, and adding a statement signifying your recognition that salvation comes from nothing outside of you. You might put it this way:

My salvation comes from me.

It cannot come from anywhere else.

     Then devote a few minutes with your eyes closed to reviewing some of the external places where you have looked for it in the past—in other people, in possessions, in various situations and events, and in self-concepts which you sought to make real. Recognize that it was not there. Tell yourself:

My salvation cannot come from any of these things.

My salvation comes from me, and only from me.

8. Now we will try again to reach the light in you, which is where your salvation is. You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and it is in them you have been looking for it. It is not there. It is past the clouds and in the light beyond. Remember that you will have to go through the clouds before you can reach the light. But remember also that you never found anything in the cloud patterns you imagined that endured or that you wanted.⁹³

9. Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to remain in the clouds looking vainly for idols there, when you could so easily walk on into the light of real salvation. Try to pass the clouds by whatever means appeals to you. If it helps you, think of Me holding your hand and leading you. And I assure you this will be no idle fantasy.

10. For the short and frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that your salvation comes from you, and nothing but your own thoughts can hamper your progress. You are free from all external interference. You are in charge of the salvation of the world. Say then:

My salvation comes from me.

Nothing outside of me can hold me back.

Within me is the world’s salvation and my own.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote 93. Whereas the clouds in yesterday’s lesson were composed of your grievances, the clouds today are made of “the external places where you have looked for” salvation (7.5)

Personal Notes:

“My salvation comes from me.” Nothing outside myself can save me, nothing outside myself can give me peace. Nothing outside myself can hurt me, or disturb my peace or upset me. I have looked outside myself for peace, joy, safety, belonging, identity, purpose, love, commitment, loyalty, acceptance of who I am, approval, All the many gifts and fruits of salvation in family, friends, hobbies, sewing, cooking, crafts, gardening, serving others, fixing up the house, learning new skills, travel, church, small group studies and outings, All “Good” things but does not silence or comfort the aching longing in my heart for Salvation of The Lord in Christ Jesus which is not outside of me or in anything external, My Salvation comes from inside me where God placed my Salvation through Jesus, my savior, my Holy Brother. I am part of and have always been part of the Sonship of God, the Brotherhood of Christ Jesus. I have felt the darkness of the clouds hovering over me, the fear of many illusions I’ve created and believed. But No more! The light of the World lives inside me. My Salvation comes from within me. Nothing outside me can hold me back. Within me is the world’s salvation. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 69

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

No one can look upon what your grievances conceal. Because you grievances are hiding the light of the world in you, everyone stands in darkness, and you beside him. But as the veil of your grievances is lifted, you will be released with him. Share your salvation now with him who stood beside you when you were in hell. He is your brother in the light of the world which saves you both.

2. Today let us make another real attempt to reach the light in you. Before we undertake this in our more extended practice period today, let us devote several minutes to thinking about what we are trying to do. We are literally attempting to get in touch with the salvation of the world. We are trying to see past the veil of darkness that keeps it concealed. We are trying to let the veil be lifted, and see the tears of God’s Son disappear in the sunlight.

3. Let us begin our longer practice period today with the full realization of all this, and real determination to reach what is dearer to us than all else. Salvation is our only need. There is no other purpose here and no other function to fulfill. Learning salvation is our only goal. Let us end the ancient search today by finding the light in us and holding it up for everyone who searches with us to look upon and rejoice.

4. Very quietly now, with your eyes closed try to let go of all content which generally occupies your consciousness. Think of your mind as a vast round area, surrounded by a layer of heavy dark clouds. You can see only the clouds because you seem to be standing outside the whole area and quite apart from it.

5. From where you stand, you see no reason to believe there is a brilliant light hidden by the clouds. The clouds seem to be the only reality. They seem to be all there is to see. Therefore you do not attempt to walk through them and past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance. We will make this attempt today.

6. After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you today—now. Determine to go past the clouds. Reach out and touch them in your mind. Brush them aside with your hand. Feel them resting on your cheeks and forehead and eyelids as you go through them. Go on—clouds cannot stop you.

7. If you are doing the exercises properly, you will begin to get a sense of being lifted up and carried ahead. Your little effort and small determination call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will raise you from darkness into light. You are in accord with His Will. You cannot fail because your will is His.

8. Have confidence in your Father today, and be certain that He has heard you and has answered. You may not recognize His answer yet, but you can indeed be sure that it is given you and you will yet receive it. Try, as you attempt to go through the clouds to the light, to hold this confidence in your mind. Try to remember that you are at last joining your will to God’s. Try to keep the thought clearly in mind that what you undertake with God must succeed. Then let the power of God work in you and through you, that His will and yours be done.⁹⁰

9. In the shorter practice periods which you will want to do as often as possible in view of the importance of today’s idea to you and your happiness, remind yourself that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your awareness. Remind yourself also that you are not searching for it alone, and that you do know where to look for it. Say, then:

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

I cannot see what I have hidden.

Yet I want to let it be revealed to me, for my salvation and the salvation of the world.

Also, be sure to tell yourself,

If I hold this grievance, the light of the world will be hidden from me.

If you are tempted to hold anything against anyone today.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition.

Footnote #90. Matthew 6:10 (RSV) “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” The difference in the Course allusion is that God’s will is our will as well. God’s will is for us to reach the light in us today, and that is our will too.

Personal Notes:

“My grievances hide the light of the world in me.” With a resolute determination to what is dearer to me than anything else, Salvation for me, my brothers, sisters and the world as our only need, purpose and function, I seek and reach to See and Touch The Light calling on the power of Holy Spirit and the universe to help me! And my God Himself lifts me up from darkness into light, I am in one accord with His Will. I cannot fail because my will is His. I have confidence in my Father today and certain He has heard me and answered me. I hold no grievances, that the light of the world in me would Not be hidden from me or the world. I want and Choose to receive to give out, to walk in The Light, The Love, The Peace of God in Christ Jesus for all the world to see and join with me. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 67

Love created me like Itself.

Today’s idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are. This is why you are the light of the world. This is why God appointed you as the savior of the world.⁸⁶ This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation. He is saved by what you are.

2. We will make every effort today to reach this truth about you, and to realize fully, if only for a moment, that it is the truth. In longer practice periods for today, we will think about your reality and its wholly unchanged nature. We will begin by repeating this truth, and then spend a few minutes in adding some relevant thoughts, such as:

Holiness created me holy.

Kindness created me kind.

Helpfulness created me helpful.

Perfection created me perfect.

     Any attribute which is in accordance with God as He defines Himself is appropriate. We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own. We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.

3. After you have gone over several such related thoughts, try to let all thoughts drop away for a brief preparatory interval, and then try to reach past all your images and preconceptions about yourself to the truth in you. If Love created you like Itself, this Self must be in you. And somewhere in your mind It is there for you to find.

4. You may find it necessary to repeat the idea from time to time, to replace distracting thoughts. You may also find that this is not sufficient, and that you need to continue to add other thoughts related to the truth about yourself. Yet perhaps you can succeed in going past that, and through the interval of thoughtlessness, to the awareness of a blazing light in which you recognize yourself, as Love created you. Be confident, however, that you will do much today to bring that awareness nearer whether you feel you have succeeded or not.

5. It will be particularly helpful today to practice the idea for the day as often as you can. You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. Four or five times an hour, and perhaps even more, it would be most beneficial to remind yourself that Love created you like Itself. Hear the truth about yourself in this.

6. Try to realize in the shorter practice periods that this is not your tiny, solitary voice that tells you this. This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything the ego tells you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of God. You were created by Love like Itself.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote 86.– 1 John 4:14 (RSV): “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son as the Savior of the world.”

Personal Notes:

Love created me like Itself. This is why and how that I am the light to disperse darkness. I will take my list of any perceived weaknesses or lack of self, replacing with the attributes of God and claiming to be mine in Christ Jesus. Repeating as many times as I can today. I am confident reminding myself of these Truths often today will do much today to bring this awareness nearer to me whether I “feel” I have succeeded or not, I claim them and believe It. Love created me like Itself. I am in God and God is in me. The Light of the world lives inside me therefore I am the Light of the World. I pray in Jesus name for our Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit to help myself and all the family of the brotherhood to remember these Truths of self at all times and to fan the Light in us to Grow Brighter and Brighter, day by day! Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 66

My happiness and my function are one.

You have surely noticed an emphasis throughout our recent lessons on the connection between fulfilling your function and achieving happiness. This is because you do not really see the connection. Yet there is more than just a connection between them; they are the same thing. Their forms are different, but their content is completely one.

2. The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental question of what your function is. So does it do constant battle with the Holy Spirit about what your happiness is. It is not a two-way battle. The ego attacks and the Holy Spirit does not respond. He knows what your function is. He knows that it is your happiness.

3. Today we will try to go past this wholly meaningless battle, and arrive at the truth about your function. We will not engage in ceaseless arguments about what it is. We will not become hopelessly involved in defining happiness and determining the means for achieving it. We will not indulge the ego by listening to its attacks on truth. We will merely be glad that we can find out what truth is.

4. Our longer practice period today has as its purpose your acceptance of the fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave you and your happiness, but that they are actually identical. God gives you only happiness. Therefore the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it appears to be different. Today’s exercises are an attempt to go beyond these differences in appearance, and recognize a common content where it exists in truth.

5. Begin the ten-to-fifteen-minute practice period by reviewing these thoughts:

God gives me only happiness.

He has given my function to me.

Therefore my function must be happiness.

     Try to see the logic in this sequence, even if you do not yet accept the conclusion. It is only if the premises are wrong that the conclusion could be false. Let us, then, think about the premise for a while as we are practicing.

6.  The first is that God gives you only happiness. This could be false, of course, but in order to be false it is necessary to define God as something He is not. Love cannot give evil, and what is not happiness is evil. God cannot give what He does not have, and He cannot have what He is not. Unless God gives you only happiness, He must be evil. And it is this definition of Him which you are believing if you do not accept the first premise.

7. The second premise is that God has given you your function. We have seen that there are only two parts of your mind. One is ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions. The other is the home of the Holy Spirit, where truth abides. There are no other guides but these to choose between, and no other outcomes possible as the result of your choice but the fear which the ego always engenders and the love which the the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it.

8. Thus it must be that your function is established by God through His Voice in you, or is made by the ego which you have made to replace Him. Which is true? Unless God gave your function to you, it must be the gift of the ego. Does the ego really have gifts to give, being itself an illusion and offering only the illusion of gifts?

9. Think about this during the longer practice period today. Think also about the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the many ways in which you have tried to find salvation under the ego’s guidance. Did you find it? Were you happy? Did they bring you peace?

10. We will need great honesty today. Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable to expect happiness from anything the ego has ever proposed. Yet it is the only alternative to the Holy Spirit’s voice. You will listen to madness or hear truth. Try to make this choice as you think about the premises on which our conclusion rests. We can share in this conclusion, but in no other. For God Himself shares it with us.

11. Today’s idea is another giant stride in the perception of the same as the same, and the different as different. On one side stand all illusions. All truth stands on the other. Let us try today to realize that only the truth is true.

12. In the shorter periods, which would be particularly helpful if undertaken twice an hour today, this form of application is suggested:

My happiness and function are one, because God has given me both.

     It will not take more than a minute, and probably less, to repeat these words slowly and think about them.^[1]

^{[1] A Course in Miracles Complete and Annotated Edition}

Personal Notes:

My happiness and my function are one. Although the ego does constant battle, according to paragraph 2, it is not a two-way battle because the Holy Spirit does not respond, knowing what our function is in truth, knowing that happiness is our God given gift. This tells me that should be my response also, to go past the meaningless battle, to not engage in ceaseless arguments, to not indulge the ego by listening or responding to attacks on truth. My happiness and function are one, because God has given me both. The Battle is not mine it has already been Won! I offer only love and forgiveness. I do not forget my function, offering salvation to the world in Christ Jesus. God gives my only happiness. I pray for all my brother, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 65

My Only Function is The One God Gave Me

The idea for today reaffirms your commitment to salvation. It also reminds you that have no other function but this. Both of these thoughts are obviously necessary for a total commitment. Salvation cannot be the only purpose you hold while you still cherish others.

2. The full acceptance of salvation as your only function necessarily entails two phases: the recognition of salvation as your function, and the relinquishment of all the other goals you have invented for yourself. This is the only way in which you can take you rightful place among the saviors of the world. This is the only way in which you can say and mean, “My only function is the one God gave me.” This is the only way in which you can find peace of mind.

3. Today, and for a number of days to follow, set aside ten to fifteen minutes during the day for a more sustained practice period in which you try to understand and accept what today’s idea really means. It offers you escape from all your perceived difficulties. It places the key to the door to peace, which you have closed upon yourself, in your own hand. It gives you the answer to all the searching you have done since time began.

4. Try, if possible, to undertake the daily extended practice periods at approximately the same time each day. Try also to determine this time today in advance, and then adhere to it as closely as possible. The purpose of this is to arrange your day so that you have set a time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals you will pursue. This is part of the long-range disciplinary training which your mind needs, so that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purpose He shares with you.

5. For this practice period, begin by reviewing the idea for today. Then close your eyes, repeat it to yourself again, and watch your mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it. At first make no attempt to concentrate on thoughts related to today’s idea. Rather, try to uncover each one that arises to interfere with it. Note each one as it comes to you with as little involvement or concern as possible, dismissing each one by telling yourself:

This thought represents a goal which is preventing me from accepting my only function.

6. After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. Try, however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the idle thoughts which slipped past your attention before, but do not strain or make undue effort in doing this. Then tell yourself:

On this clean slate, let my true function be written for me.

     You need not use these exact words, but try to get a sense of being willing to have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth.

7. Finally, repeat the idea for today once more, and devote the rest of the practice period to trying to focus on its importance, the relief its acceptance will bring to you by resolving your conflicts once and for all, and the extent to which you really want salvation in spite of your own foolish notions to the contrary.

8. In the shorter practice periods, which should be undertaken at least once an hour, use this form in applying today’s idea:

My only function is the one God gave me.

I want no other and I have no other.

     Sometimes close your eyes as you practice, and sometimes keep them open and look about you. It is what you see now that will be totally changed when you accept today’s idea completely.^[1]

^{[1]  A Course in Miracles Complete and Annotated Edition}

Personal Notes:

“My only function is the one God gave me.’ The idea for today of reaffirming my commitment to salvation being my only function and purpose, stating, it could not be while I held on to or still cherished others, prompted me to much soul searching. Knowing truly God’s purpose, His will for me is what I want above all else, because I know God loves me and wants only Good for me and through me. The word Salvation covers such a broad spectrum, I have to simplify it down to Everything good, lovely, beautiful, holy, prosperous, peaceful, joyful, loving, total complete freedom. As much as I do not want to hold on to or look at anything else, I find my mind going there to anxiousness and fear, so today I practice each time the thoughts of fear, anxiety, shame, loss, separation, I Choose to dismiss these lies and illusions of ego, remembering “this thought represents a goal which is preventing me from accepting my Only function.” I have been practicing this for some time now and will say it has gotten much more of a natural response to switch the mind set from lies and illusions to Truth, Light and Love. Today while preparing this lesson I perceived attack on myself and loved ones, was experiencing what I know to be untrue and couldn’t seem to shake it. I went to God and asked Him what I was missing, having some clue but still feeling such a heavy weight, I reached out to my study brother to pray with me in search of answers, not about someone or something else but about me and where I was missing the mark. After seeking God, collaborating with my dear brother in Christ once again I was shown to apply Love to the situation and the person, to see only love, to hear only love, to speak only love, to choose the Truth of Love to replace illusions, my only function is the one God gave me. I want no other and I have no other. In sharing this I’d like to encourage others that we don’t learn alone but together in unity of the brotherhood in Jesus. I am thankful for the reminder, teaching and encouragement of Holy Spirit. I am thankful for the Graciousness of God blessings us with brothers to learn together and encourage each other. I choose to release illusions that interfere with my God given purpose and the truth of my identity in Christ Jesus, “On this clean slate, let my true function be written.” I want no other and I have no other. God is always Good! Always faithful His Love knows No Boundaries! My God is limitless, multifaceted, therefore so am I. I am in God and God is in me, by the Grace of God I go, for Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 64

Let Me Not Forget My Function.

Today’s idea is merely another way of saying, “Let me not wander into temptation.” The purpose of the world you see is to obscure your function of forgiveness, and provide you with the justification for forgetting it. It is the temptation to abandon God and His Son by taking on a physical appearance. It is this which the body’s eyes look upon.

2. Nothing the body’s eyes seem to see can be anything but a form of temptation, since this was the purpose of the body itself. Yet we have learned that the Holy Spirit has another use for all of the illusions you have made and therefor sees another purpose in them. To the Holy Spirit, the world is a place where you learn to forgive yourself what you think of as your sins. In this perception, the physical appearance of temptation becomes the spiritual recognition of salvation.

3. To review our last few lessons, your function here is to be the light of the world, a function given you by God. It is only the arrogance of the ego that leads you to question this, and it is only the fear of the ego that induces you to regard yourself as unworthy of the task assigned to you by God Himself. The world’s salvation awaits your forgiveness because through it does the Son of God escape from all illusions and all temptation. The Son of God is you.

4. Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. That is because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness becomes inevitable. There is no other way. Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether to be happy or not.

5. Let us remember this today. Let us remind ourselves of it in the morning and again at night, and all through the day as well. Prepare yourself in advance for all the decisions you will make today by remembering that they are all really very simple. Each one will lead to happiness or to unhappiness. Can such a simple decision really be difficult to make? Let not the form of the decision deceive you. Complexity of form does not imply complexity of content. It is impossible that any decision on earth can have a content different from just this one simple choice. Therefore, it is the only choice there is.

6. Today, then let us practice these thoughts often:

Let me not forget my function.

Let me not try to substitute mine for God’s.

Let me forgive and be happy.

7. At least once, devote ten or fifteen minutes to reflecting on this with closed eyes. Related thoughts will come to help you, if you remember the crucial importance of your function to you and to the world.

8. In the frequent applications of today’s idea to be practiced throughout the day, devote several minutes to reviewing these thoughts and then to thinking about them and about nothing else. This will be difficult, at first particularly, since you are not proficient in the mind discipline which it requires. You may need to repeat “Let me not forget my function” quite often to help you concentrate.

9. Two forms of shorter practice periods are required. At times, do the exercises with your eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the thoughts you are applying. At other times, keep your eyes open after reviewing the thoughts, and look slowly and unselectively about you, telling yourself:

This is the world it is my function to save.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete and Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

Let me not forget my function. Let me not wander into temptation. I ask Holy Spirit to help me remember who I am and what I am here for. Not to take the bait of temptation of what my physical eyes may try to deceive me with, but to quickly call on Holy Spirit to help me see with the eyes of Jesus that my function is to walk in forgiveness, to bring light to darkness, to offer salvation, to help others remember The Kingdom of God who is Love resides in each of us and all of creation. By fulfilling my function, I am choosing to be happy which is God’s will for all his children. Let me not forget my function. Let me not try to substitute mine for God’s. Let me forgive and be happy. Let me encourage others to not forget their function and choose Happiness, choose Love. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I Choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 63

The Light of the World Brings Peace to Every Mind Through My Forgiveness.

How holy are you who have the power to bring peace to every mind! How blessed are you who can learn to recognize the means for letting this be done through you! What function would you want but this? What purpose could you have that would bring you greater happiness?

2. You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son of God looks to you for his redemption. It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you. Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget your purpose and leave God’s Son in hell. This is no idle request that is being asked of you. You are asked to accept salvation that it may be yours to give.

3. Recognizing the importance of this function, we will be happy to remember it very often today. We will begin the day by acknowledging it, and close the day with the thought of it in our awareness. And throughout the day, we will repeat this as often as we can:

The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.

I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world.

4. You will probably find it easier to let related thoughts come to you in the minute or two you should devote to considering this if you can close your eyes. However, do not wait for such an opportunity. No chance should be lost for reinforcing today’s idea. Remember that God’s Son looks to you for his salvation. And who but your Self must be His Son.^[1]

Personal Notes:

The light of the world brings peace to every mind through forgiveness. I am the means God has appointed for the salvation of the world. I closed my eyes to consider this proclamation and talk it over with God. He showed me how I have always looked on this idea like a pretty picture in a book or on a movie screen that was so beautiful, but in my mind it appeared as something magical, mystical, unattainable, like a beautiful dream I could not touch or physically be a part of till the “sweet by and by” but deep in my heart I truly believed it to be possible. Thank you Jesus, thank you Holy Spirit for leading me to this Course, to light my way, guiding and directing me to Truth. I ask my Heavenly Father to help me not to fall into any kind of deception of trivial, meaningless purpose, but to replace my illusions with True identity and purpose that would lead me to not forget my function. I definitely recognize the importance of this function being at the top of my priority list with all thanks, praise, honor, glory to my Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Oh how all of creation is so desperately crying out for the Love Light of Jesus to shine upon them, on us, to bring Peace, Love, Joy, Unity through my forgiveness, through your forgiveness. There is all this Beauty, Abundance, Love, Peace, Joy, just hanging out in front of us trying to break forth. Please lets all do our part in being very  generous in our giving of forgiveness that is so freely received, which in-turn encourages each other to enter in. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself, for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete and Annotated Edition

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now.

Lesson 62

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth about yourself return to your memory. Therefore in your forgiveness lies your salvation.

2. Illusions about yourself and the world are one. That is why forgiveness is a gift to yourself. Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your identity by attacking creation and its Creator. Now you are learning how to remember the truth. For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death.

3. Remember that in every attack you call upon your own weakness, while each time you forgive you call upon the strength of Christ in you.⁷⁹ Do you not then begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you? It will remove all sense of weakness, strain, and fatigue from your mind. It will remove all fear and guilt and pain. It will restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son to your awareness.

4. Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today’s idea, and to use it as frequently as possible throughout. It will help to make the day as happy for you as God wants it to be. And it will help those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this happiness with you.

5. As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself:

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

I would fulfill my function, that I may be happy.

   Then devote a minute or two to considering your function, and the happiness and release it will bring you.

6. Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness that they are true. Should your attention wander, repeat the idea and add:

I would remember this because I want to be happy.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote Para. 3,#79; “You always choose between your weakness and the strength of Christ in you.”

Personal Notes:

Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. I would fulfill my function that I may be happy. Our goal in remembering our identity as sons of God in Christ Jesus is revealed as we give up attack thoughts replacing them with forgiveness so thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death. As we call on the strength of Jesus to replace our weakness forgiveness is received, removing all fear, guilt and pain, to restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son to our awareness. So, I am only too happy to hop on board of the forgiveness train, receiving it and eagerly dispersing it. What a blessing to be blessed to give blessings. God is so good to involve us in His mission to bring light to the world. How wonderful it feels to see a heavy darkened face lifted & shining with the Love light of Jesus on their face in forgiveness, to see light come into the world where heavy darkness had taken up residence, that is what I call Happy. Happy is what I want to be, Happy is what I want for the world and everyone in it. Joyfully I receive and joyfully I give forgiveness that healing and restoration of separation my be accomplished in this earth as it is in Heaven. I pray for all my brothers, sisters and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 61

I am the light of the world.

Who is the light of the world except God’s Son?⁷⁴ This, then, is merely a statement of the truth about yourself. It is the opposite of a statement of pride, of arrogance, or of self-deception. It does not describe the self-concept you have made. It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you have endowed your idols. It refers to you as you were created by God. It merely states the truth.

2. To the ego, the idea for today is the epitome of self-glorification. But the ego does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement. Humility consists in accepting your role in salvation and in taking no other. It is not humility to insist that you cannot be the light of the world, if that is the function God assigned to you. It is only arrogance that asserts this function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego.

3. True humility requires that you accept today’s idea because it is the Voice for God Himself which tells you it is true. This is a beginning step in accepting your real function on earth. It is a giant stride in taking your rightful place in salvation.⁷⁵ It is a positive assertion of your right to be saved, and an acknowledgment of the power that is given you to save others.

4. You will want to think about this idea as often as possible today. It is the perfect answer to all illusions and therefore to all temptation. It brings all images you have made about yourself to the truth, and helps you to depart in peace,⁷⁶ unburdened and certain of your purpose.

5. As many practice periods as possible should be undertaken today, though each one need not exceed a minute or so. They should begin with telling yourself:

I am the light of the world.

That is my only function.

That is why I am here.

     Then think about these statements for a short while, preferably with your eyes closed if the situation permits. Let a few related thoughts come to you, and repeat the idea to yourself if your mind wanders away from the central idea.

6. Be sure both to begin and end the day with a practice period. Thus you will awaken with an acknowledgment of the truth about yourself, reinforce this acknowledgment throughout the day, and turn to sleep as you reaffirm your function and your only purpose here. The first and last practice periods may be somewhat longer than the rest, if you find them helpful and want to extend them.

7. Today’s idea goes far beyond the ego’s petty views of what you are and what your purposes is. As a bringer of salvation, this is obviously necessary. This is the first of a number of giant strides we will

take in the next few weeks. Try today to begin to build a firm foundation for these advances. You are the light of the world. God has built His plan for the salvation of His Son on you.^[1]

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Footnote Heading 73. Matthew 5:14 (RSV): “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hid.” In the Bible reference, Jesus says this to the crowd gathered to hear him speak. Here in the Course, He has us proclaim it to ourselves.

Footnote Para. 1, 74. John 8:12 (RSV): “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Traditionally, Jesus is God’s Son who is the light of the world. In this Course line, all of us are God’s Son.

Footnote Para. 4. 76. Luke 2:29-30, 32 (KJV) “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation….A light to lighten the Gentiles.” This is said by Simeon, who having seen the infant Christ, the light of the world, declares that he can now die in peace. In the above passage, because we have seen that our true nature is the light of the world, we can depart in peace from our false self-images, no longer burdened with them, and walking forward certain of our purpose of saving the world.

Personal Notes:

I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here. Paise the Lord! This is exactly what I have been wanting, and praying for many years, searching, seeking, studying, longing to be a light in the world, to be a healed healer, an instrument of God’s Peace, to bring the Good News of Salvation to a hurting world by living it out in day to day life, by word, thought and deed. Although I have desired this with all my heart, mind, and soul, I kept missing the mark. Not having knowledge, recognition or understanding of the part ego played in deception, of thought processing, vision, identity, truth in general. I am thankful for the practices and lessons of the Course to show me how. I am as God created me. I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Live in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing the Way We See Things Now

Lesson 60

Review of Lessons 46-50

1. (46) God is the love in which I forgive.

     God does not forgive, because he has never condemned. The blameless cannot blame, and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God’s love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the love of God can reach down to me and raise me to my home.

2. (47) God is the strength in which I trust.

     It is not my own strength through which I forgive. It is through the strength of God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive. As I begin to see, I recognize His reflection on earth. I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. And I begin to remember the love I choose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.

3. (48) There is nothing to fear.

     How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look anything like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest friend. What could there be to fear in a world which I have forgiven, and which has forgiven me?

4. (49) God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.

     There is not a moment in which God’s Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions, and lead my feet.⁷²  I am walking steadily on toward truth. There is nowhere else I can go, because God’s Voice is the only voice and the only guide that has been given to His Son.

5. (50) I am sustained by the Love of God.

     As I listen to God’s Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I open my eyes, His Love lights up the world for me to see. As I forgive, His Love reminds me that His Son is sinless. And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember that I am His Son.^[1]

Footnote Para.4, #72 Luke 1:79 (KJV): “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition

Personal Notes:

God is the love which I forgive. Forgiveness is the means by which I recognize my innocence and that of the world. God is the strength in which I trust. In remembering and leaning on His strength which is in me. I can begin to see and recognize His reflection on the earth. There is nothing to fear, it is God’s Strength I trust and lean on that replaces my strength, actually the spirit of fear tried to grip me as I was reviewing this lesson, what good timing, so I stopped reread what I know to be true, letting it sink into every fiber of my being. In pausing to let Holy Spirit remind me who I am, what God is to me, what Truth is, True Vision was given me as I invited Christ Vision and help of Holy Spirit. God is with us everywhere, all the time, we just have to stop, look and listen. God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day. Looking away from illusions, I choose to see through the eyes of Jesus, to think through the mind of Jesus, hear with the ears of Jesus the one and only True Voice. There is nothing to fear, God is in control! I am in God and God is in me, Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. I am sustained by the Love of God. As I listen to God’s Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I choose to see through the eyes of Christ Jesus, His Love lights up the world for me to see. As I look upon the world with the vision He gives me, I remember I am His son, safe and secure from all alarm. Loved, Protected, totally enveloped by the Great Love of my Creator, Heavenly Father, Christ Jesus and power of Holy Spirit. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way The Truth, The Live in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 59

Review of Lessons 41-45

1. (41) God goes with me wherever I go.

     How can I be alone when God always goes with me? How can I be doubtful and unsure of myself when perfect certainty abides in Him? How can I be disturbed by anything when He rest in absolute peace? How can I suffer when love and joy surround me through Him? Let me not cherish illusions about myself. I am perfect because God goes with me wherever I  go.

2. (42) God is my strength. Vision is His gift.

     Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. Let me be willing to exchange my pitiful illusions of seeing for the vision that is given by God. Christ’s vision is His gift, and He has given it to me. Let me call upon this gift today, so that this day may help me to understand eternity.

3. (43) God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.

     I can see what God wants me to see. I cannot see anything else. Beyond His will lie only illusions. It is these I choose when I think I can see apart from Him. It is these I choose when I try to see through the body’s eyes. Yet the vision of Christ is given me to replace them. It is through this vision that I choose to see.

4. (44) God is the light in which I see.

     I cannot see in darkness. God is the only light. Therefore, if I am to see, it must be through Him. I have tried to define what seeing is, and I have been wrong. Now it is given me to understand that God is the light in which I see. Let me welcome vision and the happy world it will show me.

5. (45) God is the Mind with which I think.

     I have no thoughts which I do not share with God. I have no thoughts apart from Him because I have no mind apart from His. As part of His Mind, my thoughts are His and His thoughts are mine.^[1]

Personal Notes:

God goes with me wherever I go. All doubt, uncertainty, fear, unrest of any kind must go, because God, Jesus, Holy Spirit is with me at All times wherever I go. Let me not look or hold onto any illusions about myself, I am perfect, surrounded by Love, Peace, Joy, Ability, and Creativity, because God goes with me wherever I go. God is my strength. Vision is His gift. I exchange my pitiful illusions of seeing for the Vision that is given of God. I receive Christ gift of Vison so that this day may help me and others to understand eternity. God is the Light in which I see. Therefore, if I am to see, it must be through Him. I have tried in self to define what seeing is and I have been wrong! I thank my Heavenly Father, my Jesus, my Holy Spirit for giving me new understanding, that God and only God is the Light with which I can see! I welcome Christ Vision and the Happy World it will show me. God is the Mind with which I think. I have been given the Mind of Christ which is what I choose to pull all my thoughts from. As part of His Mind, my thoughts are His thoughts and His thoughts are mine. I pray for all my brothers, sisters, and myself for continued guidance, wisdom, discernment, protection, and illumination of purpose in The Way, The Truth, The Life in Christ Jesus, Amen. Thank you for sharing with me. Walk in Love my friend!

God is Love

Love is God

I choose Love

[1] A Course in Miracles Complete & Annotated Edition