Part 1

Undoing The Way We See Things Now

Lesson 168

Your Grace Is Given Me. I Claim It Now.

God speaks to us. Shall we not speak to Him. He is not distant. He makes no attempt to hide from us. We try to hide from Him, and suffer from deception. He remains entirely assessable. He loves His Son. There is no certainty but this, yet this suffices. He will lose His Son forever. When his mind remains asleep, He loves him still. And when his mind awakes, He loves him with a never-changing love.^325.

2. If you but knew the meaning of His love, hope and despair would be impossible, for hope would be forever satisfied; despair of any kind unthinkable. His grace His answer is to all despair, for in it lies remembrance of His love. Would He not gladly give the means by which His will is recognized? His grace is yours by your acknowledgment. And memory of Him awakens in the mind which asks the means of Him whereby its sleep is done.

3. Today we ask God the gift He has most carefully preserved within our hearts, waiting to be acknowledged. This the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation’s final step Himself. All steps but this we learn, instructed by His Voice. But finally He comes Himself and takes us in His arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of our sleep. His gift of grace is more than just an answer. It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot, all certainty of what love’s meaning is.

4. God loves His Son. Request Him now to give the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. For in grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs. What now remains that Heaven be delayed an instant longer? What remains undone when your forgiveness rests on everything?

5. It is a new and holy day today, for we receive what has been given us. Our faith lies in the Giver, not our own acceptance. We acknowledge our mistakes, but He to Whom all error is unknow is yet the One Who answers our mistakes by giving us the means to lay them down and rise to Him in gratitude and love.

6. And He descends to meet us as we come to Him, for what He has prepared for us He gives and we receive. Such is His will, because He loves His Son. To Him we pray today, returning but the words he gave to us through His Own Voice, His Word, His Love:

Your grace is given me. I claim it now.

Father, I come to You. And You will come

to me who ask. I am the Son You love.^[1].

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

^{Footnote 325. Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV): “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”}

Personal Notes:

“Your grace is given me. I claim it now.”

It is a new and holy day today, for we receive what has been given us. Grace is usually seen in the Course as a free gift from God that asks nothing of the receiver, or as a state of pure innocence and ease in which no sacrifice is required. In this lesson it takes on a more specific meaning. It is what God gives us in the final step, where He reaches down and lifts us into the perfect knowledge of Him. The next lesson suggests that what we are really asking for is a foretaste of that final awakening, a temporary experience of divine union: “Experience that grace provides will end in time, for grace foreshadows Heaven yet does not replace the thought of time but for a little while. His grace is answer to all despair, restoring all memories the sleeping mind forgot. I pray for all my 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