Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Freeing Ourselves to Share God’s Joy

Only my condemnation injures me.

My condemnation keeps my vision dark, and through my sightless eyes I cannot see the vision of my glory. Yet today I can behold this glory and be glad.

It can be but my gratitude I earn.

Who should give thanks for my salvation but myself? And how but through salvation can I find the Self to Whom my thanks are due?

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 218, W-pI.218.1:1-3 & 217.1. See also ACIM Lesson 218 Insights.)

The body is like an anchor that keeps us stuck in the ego’s fantasy of separation. The way to release ourselves from this anchor is to forgive the thought that values separation and specialness over the unity and happiness of God’s Love.

The ego has disguised the thought of separation with many forms. Thus it seems that forgiveness must be repeated many times as we learn that forms are not real and cannot separate us from the reality of universal Love.

With practice we learn that these many forms have a common thread. Our forgiveness generalizes as it is applied to specific situations. The release from the ego’s anchor is magnified with each forgiven perception. We do not have to forgive the myriad forms the ego presents, for we increasingly recognize they are all the same. They are illusions that have no substance and no meaning. We lay them down in gratitude as we experience the happiness that comes with recognizing we are not a body.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Claiming Our Identity as Love

God’s Name [Identity] is holy, but no holier than yours. To call upon His Name is but to call upon your own [identity]. A father gives his son his name, and thus identifies the son with him. His brothers share his name, and thus are they united in a bond to which they turn for their identity. Your Father’s Name reminds you who you are, even within a world that does not know; even though you have not remembered it.

God’s Name can not be heard without response, nor said with­out an echo in the mind that calls you to remember. Say His Name, and you invite the angels to surround the ground on which you stand, and sing to you as they spread out their wings to keep you safe, and shelter you from every worldly thought [of separation] that would intrude upon your holiness.

Repeat the Name of God, and call upon your Self, Whose Name is His. Repeat His Name, and all the tiny, nameless things on earth slip into right perspective. Those who call upon the Name of God can not mistake the nameless for the Name, nor sin for grace, nor bodies for the holy Son of God. And should you join a brother as you sit with him in silence, and repeat God’s Name along with him within your quiet mind, you have established there an altar which reaches to God Himself and to His Son. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 183, W-pI.183.1-2;5. See also ACIM Lesson 183 Insights.)

While we identify with a body, we are identifying with a false identity that is a construct of the ego belief in separation. It is an illusion that could never be true and has no meaning, no real identity. While we identify with the body, we are unaware of the Identity we share with God. It is as though we tried to divorce God and change our name to take on a separate identity.

This can only seem to be accomplished in fantasies. As we shift our allegiance from a bodily identity to the Self God created one with Him, we remember we are not a body. We are Spirit. We are Love, united with every brother in the Love of God.

Our perception of the world shifts as we recognize the body is not what we are. The unity of Love shines through. The appearance of differences fades and the Light of Love shines through every brother as it lights our mind.

Today we call upon the Love that is God’s Identity to enlightened our mind and fill our hearts so that we may see the reality of Love in every brother.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to See Love Everywhere

All things are lessons God would have you learn. He would not leave an unforgiving thought without correction, nor one thorn or nail to hurt His holy Son in any way. He would ensure his holy rest remain untroubled and serene, without a care, in an eternal home which cares for him. And He would have all tears be wiped away, with none remaining yet unshed, and none but waiting their appointed time to fall. For God has willed that laughter should replace each [tear], and that His Son be free again.

Do not try to hold [forgiveness] off another day, another minute or another instant. Time was made for this. Use it today for what its purpose is. Morning and night, devote what time you can to serve its proper aim, and do not let the time be less than meets your deepest need.

There is a way to look on everything that lets it be to you another step to Him, and to salvation of the world. To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:

I will forgive, and this will disappear.

To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame words. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 193, W-pI.193.9;10:3-6;13:1-4. See also ACIM Lesson 193 Insights.)

We have taught ourselves that this world of conflict and loss, fear and guilt, is real. The lessons God would have us learn are that this world is not real; only Love is real. His lessons undo the mistaken lessons we have taught ourselves to believe. The ego is a hoax, a self-deception, not to be believed, but to be dismissed for the nothingness it is.

God has given us the Help we need to learn His lessons which free us to return to our Home in His Love.  To learn these lessons we need to be vigilant in every moment to hold our mind open to our inner Teacher. With an open mind, willing to be taught, we can learn to recognize the presence of Love everywhere. Perceptions of conflict and loss are replaced with the recognition of our need to accept God’s Love and see It everywhere.

Our fear and guilt are calls for Love; Love answers with the assurance that what we perceive is not real. Love shines Its Light to dispel the dark veil of separation and reveal the presence of Love that never left us.

Today’s practice leads to awareness of the peace and joy that is our Home in Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting and Giving Love to Our Brothers

It is impossible to let illusions be brought to truth and keep the illusions. Truth demonstrates illusions have no value.

Healing will always stand aside when it would be seen as threat. The instant it is welcome it is there. Where healing has been given it will be received. And what is time before the gifts of God? …No teacher of God should feel disappointed if he has offered healing and it does not appear to have been received. It is not up to him to judge when his gift should be accepted. Let him be certain it has been received, and trust that it will be accepted when it is recognized as a blessing and not a curse.

It is the relinquishing of all concern about the gift that makes it truly given. And it is trust that makes true giving possible. Healing is the change of mind that the Holy Spirit in the patient’s mind is seeking for him. (A Course in Miracles, M-6.1:2-3;2:1-4,7-9;4:1-3)

The Holy Spirit’s singular purpose in our mind is to heal our illusions which deny God’s gift of all His Love. He is our Guide to truth. As we accept the Holy Spirit’s lessons in Love, the ego’s illusions are recognized as valueless and freely let go.

This is the truth about everyone. When anyone exhibits behavior that is unloving, defensive, fearful or guilty, he is calling for the Holy Spirit’s lesson in Love. He has forgotten the truth that he is already Love and has all of God’s Love. He lacks nothing of value.

Forgiveness, letting go of illusions, is the way we heal our mind and offer healing to our brothers. Forgiveness brings our illusions to the Truth and dispels them in Its Light. With our clarified vision, we offer our forgiveness as a gift of Love to our brothers. It does not matter whether a brother accepts our gift of forgiveness, of Love. The gift is received by the Holy Spirit in his mind, for it comes from the Holy Spirit in our mind.

If our brother believes he is protected by his unforgiveness, he will not accept forgiveness for himself. But the Holy Spirit in his mind receives the gift for him and holds it for him until he is ready to accept it. Whether or not a brother acknowledges and accepts the gift of Love is not our concern. The healing has been given to our brother and to ourself. The Light has come.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Wonderful Gift of Forgiveness

How easily are God and guilt confused by those who know not what their thoughts can do. Deny your strength [Love], and weakness [guilt] must become salvation to you. See yourself as bound, and bars become your home. Nor will you leave the prison house, or claim your strength, until guilt and salvation are not seen as one, and freedom and salvation are perceived as joined, with strength beside them, to be sought and claimed, and found and fully rec­ognized.

The world must thank you when you offer it release from your illusions. Yet your thanks belong to you as well, for [the world’s] release can only mirror yours. Your gratitude is all your gifts require, that they be a lasting offering of a thankful heart, released from hell forever. Is it this you would undo by taking back your gifts, because they were not honored? It is you who honor them and give them fitting thanks, for it is you who have received the gifts.

It does not matter if another thinks your gifts unworthy. In his mind there is a part that joins with yours in thanking you. It does not matter if your gifts seem lost and ineffectual. They are received where they are given. In your gratitude are they ac­cepted universally, and thankfully acknowledged by the Heart of God Himself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 197, W-pI.2:1-4:5, emphasis added. See also ACIM Lesson 197 Insights.)

The ego needs guilt to maintain its seeming existence. It uses judgment to project guilt on others to maintain perception of differences and separation. It sees the perception of guilt in others as relief from its own guilt. But this doesn’t really work because thoughts do not leave their source. Perception of guilt in another depends upon acceptance of guilt in the ego-self.

Forgiveness is the only way to relieve the guilt we hold in our minds. It does not matter if the seemingly external object of our forgiveness acknowledges or appreciates the forgiveness. The real gift of forgiveness is to our Self, for it releases our self from guilt. This is the only gift that matters. It is the release from the prison of the ego’s guilt we have believed is our own. We are not the ego and its guilt does not belong to us.

God is grateful for our forgiveness because it opens the door to the limitless flow of His Love, which has been blocked by guilt. We were created worthy of all of God’s Love and we remain worthy of It. Today we ask the Holy Spirit to help us release our unforgiving thoughts and welcome the eternal gift of Love. With this practice we will be blessed by this Love as we offer It to the world.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Returning to Our True Mind in God

My mind holds only what I think with God.

That is a fact, and represents the truth of What you are and What your Father is. It is this thought by which the Father gave creation to the Son, establishing the Son as co-creator with Himself. It is this thought that fully guarantees salvation to the Son. For in his mind no thoughts can dwell but those his Father shares. Lack of forgiveness blocks this thought from his awareness. Yet it is forever true.

Let us begin our preparation with some understanding of the many forms in which the lack of true forgiveness may be care­fully concealed. Because [forms] are illusions, they are not per­ceived to be but what they are; defenses that protect your unforgiving thoughts from being seen and recognized. Their purpose is to show you something else, and hold correction off through self-deceptions made to take its place.

And yet, your mind holds only what you think with God. Your self-deceptions cannot take the place of truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Review IV, W-pI.rIV.1:2-4:2. See also ACIM Lesson 141 Insights.)

The thoughts of our true Self which come from the Mind at one with God’s Mind must be thoughts of Love. God is only Love and so our true Self is only Love. What we see in the world of separation seems to be anything but Love — fear, anger, lack and loss, loneliness and depression seem to be the norms in this world. But these are just the ego’s smokescreen to distract our attention from the reality of Love. Love is still present but we are unaware of It.

We perceive the world because we have accepted the ego thought system that denies Love’s presence. What we see represents the unforgiveness of the ego’s judgment against our Creator’s Love.

To return to awareness of Love’s presence, we need to forgive the world for what we think it is. This forgiveness is done through many steps. Every day and every hour we are presented with a choice: To give credence to the images of separation or to accept the Holy Spirit’s vision that shows us the Love beyond the appearance of separation.

Every perceived slight, sense of loss, feeling of threat, disappointment or disapproval is an opportunity to forgive and see it differently with the Holy Spirit’s help. Each time we accept His help and change our mind we come closer to accepting our true mind which holds only the Thoughts we share with God. Today we practice choosing the Holy Spirit’s perception instead of the ego’s projections.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Minister of Love

Give Him your thoughts, and He will give them back as mir­acles which joyously proclaim the wholeness and the happiness God wills His Son, as proof of His eternal Love. And as each thought is thus transformed, it takes on healing power from the Mind which saw the truth in it, and failed to be deceived by what was falsely added. All the threads of fantasy are gone. And what remains is unified into a perfect Thought that offers its perfection everywhere.

Spend fifteen minutes thus when you awake, and gladly give another fifteen more before you go to sleep. Your ministry be­gins as all your thoughts are purified. So are you taught to teach the Son of God the holy lesson of his sanctity. No one can fail to listen, when you hear the Voice for God give honor to God’s Son. And everyone will share the thoughts with you which He has retranslated in your mind.

And we will hourly remember Him Who is salvation and deliverance. As we give thanks, the world unites with us and happily accepts our holy thoughts, which Heaven has corrected and made pure. Now has our ministry begun at last, to carry round the world the joyous news that truth has no illusions, and the peace of God, through us, belongs to everyone. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 151, W-pI.151.14-15;17. See also ACIM Lesson 151 Insights.)

Our ministry is to live as Love, as our true Self, united with our Creator. We teach by demonstrating Love in a world where Love is hidden by images of separation, division, isolation, harm and loss. As we align with the Love within us, we see past these false images to the presence of Love that is the truth in everyone.

Of ourselves, we do not know how to demonstrate Love, for we are not the separate self we believe we are. But as we give our thoughts to the Voice for God to be purified, we learn how to unite with the Love in all our brothers. Judgmental thoughts are recognized as calls for Love and answered with Love. From a mind at peace, kindness and helpfulness become our way of being. We remember that our interests and our brothers’ interest are the same: We all want to remember that we are Love and nothing else.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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