A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights

To gain the most from A Course in Miracles Lesson Insights, we recommend
that you read the corresponding lesson in the Workbook of the Second or
Third Edition of A Course in Miracles published by the Foundation for Inner Peace.

Review: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.”
“I choose the joy of God instead of pain.”

What stands out to me in this lesson is that God’s Will for me is joy and only joy. If I am not experiencing joy, I must be choosing against God’s Will. Pain is my own idea, not a Thought of God. All the discomfort I experience — stress, anxiety, impatience, feeling hurried — are all the result of choosing against God’s Will. Choosing God’s Will must bring me joy because that is what His Will is.

Is it a sacrifice to accept the joy of God? Part of me must think it is because part of my mind tenaciously hangs on to this image I have made of myself that never feels quite secure or safe and seems to need to be constantly alert for hazards of some kind. This image of a vulnerable self hides from my awareness the Self that knows and is the joy of God.

The joy of God is already in me. In fact, the joy of God is me. I don’t need to do anything to experience His joy. I only need to stop maintaining a false image that obscures awareness of my true Self. That is why I must continue to repeat, “I am not a body. I am free. I am still as God created me.” As I reinforce this focus more and more, the false image of a limited self softens and fades. The way is gradually cleared to see the joyous Self God created one with Him. As I withdraw identification with the limitations of a body, I am free to choose the joy of God instead of pain.

I am willing today to continue to practice remembering I am not a body. I am free. I am still as God created me. I can choose the joy of God instead of pain. This choice is simply the choice to be what I am in truth. I am deeply grateful for these lessons, which help me release a false self-image and clear the way for return to my Self as God created me.


This morning I woke up with a sore muscle in my shoulder. In today’s lesson I am reminded that pain is my own idea. It is not a Thought of God. This is one more place where I need to open my mind to the healing presence of the Holy Spirit. The pain in my shoulder is an effect of a thought apart from Him and from His Will. My job now is to open my mind to the Holy Spirit’s healing perceptions and let myself be led to a change of mind.

On my own, I do not know. The Holy Spirit is the healer and the healing needs to happen in my mind. The sore shoulder is merely an effect of a thought still residing in my mind. Pain is not of God. It is through forgiveness or letting go of some form of thought of separation that needs to be loosened and undone in my mind.

Holy Spirit, You know the way. I am willing to relax and open to Your healing Light. This is what I choose instead of pain. I am not a body. I am free. I am still as God created me. Today I choose to remember this and return to it again and again to heal my mind.

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