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.
“I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear.”
It is becoming more and more clear to me that all suffering is self-inflicted. The moment I judge anything, I have given up my peace. Lack of peace is suffering. It seems sometimes that I have an inner gauge against which I measure the happiness I allow myself. Somewhere in the back of my mind I have decided how much happiness I am worthy of.
When I exceed that self-determined limit, I will do something to disrupt the happiness. It could be as simple as letting my wandering mind think of a conversation in which I felt criticized. The other person’s words did not cause discomfort or loss of peace. It was my interpretation of the words or the body language or the tone of voice that caused me to decide I was being criticized. The moment the memory of that experience reentered my mind, my level of happiness diminished. The only purpose of reviewing such events in my mind, to revisit old judgments, is to disrupt my peace, to reinforce my fear or guilt.
To experience the peace and joy of God I simply need to give up bringing these thoughts of the past to the present. By “sacrificing” these painful memories of nothing, of dreamed events that never truly happened, I open my mind to the memory of Love, my Self. That is all that is asked of me. Forgive the past. Let it go. In return for this “sacrifice,” the fullness of God’s gift of Love and joy and peace returns to me.
Today I ask Holy Spirit’s help to be vigilant with me to see these painful thoughts. I give them all to Him, knowing that He knows what to do with them. And I open my mind to the Thoughts of Love He gives me in return. O happy day! Thus will I receive the kind of day God intended for me. Thus will I prepare my mind to return to full awareness of Heaven, where I still reside in truth.
Letting go of the ego thought system is the cost of remembering God. The pain and suffering that comes with the ego thought system is not worth the cost. The belief in individuality, the belief in being separated from God, the belief in death, limitation and lack, is not worth the cost. The belief in specialness, in uniqueness, the belief in differences, is not worth the cost. The belief in time — the belief that there is a past or a future — closes off awareness of the holy instant in the eternal present. The belief in time is not worth the cost.
Looked at with clarity, the ego thought system is simply insanity. All these beliefs create images and experiences that have no substance in reality. They have not been true and never will be true. Belief in loss brings the experience of loss. This need not be.
Our job now is to let go of the ego thought system, not to sacrifice because letting it go will only bring us peace and joy, and a return of Love. Letting go of the ego thought system brings us to the awareness of Heaven.
We are God’s Creation. We are still Thought in the Mind of God. Laying down the ego thought system is the only really important thing we have to do while we still think we are here. As we let go of the ego thought system, we will see that we never really left God. The eternal present in God is all there is.
Today, “I gladly make the ‘sacrifice’ of fear.” I am willing to look at the ego thoughts that come into my mind today and hand them over to the Holy Spirit to be undone. I no longer choose to experience the painful effects that come with the belief in the ego thought system. I no longer choose to believe that I am separated from the oneness of God’s Love.
Thank you for reminding me that I set up my own agenda for happiness and that I have the power to make the necessary changes in my thinking which will allow me, along with Holy Spirit, to dwell in happiness and joy forever! It is so obvious now how I have sabotaged my happiness.
We do, so many times, allow ourselves just a certain amount of happiness. We’re so familiar with the insanity and unfamiliar with peace, that we actually feel uncomfortable when our lives are running smoothly.
How many times have you heard someone say “Everything is going so well, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall.” We feel like something’s wrong if everything is going right.
Because the Course is teaching me the definition of “right,” there is a freedom in the realization that all suffering is self-inflicted; it’s only at that very level that I can change that fact. The more I am willing to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me, the more I realize the only thing I am “sacrificing” is fear and that’s a miracle. Thank you, my Heavenly Divine Guidance, for walking through this awakening with me.
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