If all but loving thoughts have been forgotten, what remains is eternal. And the transformed past is made like the present. No longer does the past conflict with now. This continuity extends the present by increasing its reality and its value in your perception of it. In these loving thoughts is the spark of beauty hidden in the ugliness of the unholy relationship where hatred is remembered; yet [the loving thoughts are] there to come alive as the relationship is given to Him Who gives it life and beauty. That is why Atonement centers on the past, which is the source of separation, and where it must be undone. For separation must be corrected where it was made.
It is still up to you to choose to join with truth or with illusion. But remember that to choose one is to let the other go. Which one you choose you will endow with beauty and reality, because the choice depends on which you value more. The spark of beauty or the veil of ugliness, the real world or the world of guilt and fear, truth or illusion, freedom or slavery — it is all the same. For you can never choose except between God and the ego. Thought systems are but true or false, and all their attributes come simply from what they are. Only the Thoughts of God are true. And all that follows from them comes from what they are, and is as true as is the holy Source from which they came. (A Course in Miracles, T-17.III.5:3-9;9. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)
Time is one of the key concepts the ego uses to make separation seem real. Memories of the past seem to be permanent because the past is not here and cannot be changed. Yet hanging on to memories keeps the past alive in our perception of the present. The past is also used as the basis for our made up stories about what the future may bring. With the past held firmly in our minds, the loving, radiant present is blocked from our awareness. This is why undoing our grip on the past is essential to free us to live in God’s present moment of Love.
Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s lesson that helps us loosen our attachment to our memories. As the past is forgotten we experience increasing peace and happiness, which are God’s Will for us. In each moment we choose between opposing God’s Will or accepting It; between the hell of lack of Love or the joy of living in God’s Love.
Today we welcome the Holy Spirit’s lessons in forgiveness to release the past and to accept God’s present Love now.
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