Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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The Commitment to Forgive

Miracle-minded forgiveness is only correction. ²It has no element of judgment at all. ³The statement “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” in no way evaluates what they do. ⁴It is an appeal to God to heal their minds. ⁵There is no reference to the outcome of the error. ⁶That does not matter.

⁵Time is under my direction, but timelessness belongs to God. ⁶In time we exist for and with each other. ⁷In timelessness we coexist with God.

You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way:

²I am here only to be truly helpful.
³I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
⁴I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.
⁵I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.
⁶I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. (T-2.V-A.16:1-6;17:5–18:6)

Judgment is the ego’s primary tool to maintain belief in separation. True forgiveness dismisses judgment altogether. It sees beyond form to the eternal presence of Love.

A separate identity is an illusion. Illusions don’t know anything, for they are unreal. When we evaluate any appearance in the world on our own, we are engaging in judgment and believing we are the ego. To free ourselves from the ego’s false image, we must resign as judge. As we turn over all interpretation of appearances to the Holy Spirit, Christ’s vision replaces the ego’s image-making. We see that even the appearance of crucifixion is forgivable because no harm to the Son of God is possible.

When we commit to being truly helpful, we commit to letting the Holy Spirit guide our thoughts and actions. We relinquish judgment to the Holy Spirit. He judges all things as either real or unreal, Love or nothing. With that willingness, we learn of the Love we are, united with the Love of every brother, existing wholely in the Love of God.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Finding Our Treasure in God’s Will

[There is no will but God’s] can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed. ²God’s is the only Will. ³When you have recognized this, you have recognized that your will is His. ⁴The belief that conflict is possible has gone. ⁵Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. ⁶As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.

There is great peace in today’s idea…. ²The idea itself is wholly true. ³Therefore it cannot give rise to illusions. ⁴Without illusions conflict is impossible.

²There is no will but God’s. ³I cannot be in conflict.

⁴…some related thoughts:

⁵I am at peace.
⁶Nothing can disturb me. ⁷My will is God’s.
⁸My will and God’s are one.
⁹God wills peace for His Son.

Joy characterizes peace. ²By this experience [of joy] will you recognize that you have reached [peace]. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 74, W-74.1:1–2:4;3:2-9;6:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 74 Insights.)

The ego is in competition with God. It offers its own “will” but it’s only wishful thinking. It is impossible to make fantasies real. Only our belief in fantasies seems to make them real. It is time to withdraw our mistaken beliefs in the ego’s fantasies, for they do not bring us lasting joy and peace. To withdraw our belief, we need to learn we are believing in what is valueless and does not serve our best interests.

We learn this important lesson from the Holy Spirit. First we need to be willing to consider that we do not know what anything means. This opens our willingness to receive the Holy Spirit’s meaning for everything we perceive. As we step back and let Him lead the way, we find our true treasure in the Will we share with God.

It is not loss we will experience when we release our belief in the ego. We gain awareness of the treasure God has given us by sharing His Will with us. We experience His Love, peace and happiness. It is worth the practice of letting the Holy Spirit reinterpret all our perceptions.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Willingness to Accept the Holy Spirit’s Plan

Be humble before Him, and yet great in Him. ²And value no plan of the ego before the plan of God. ³For you leave empty your place in His plan, which you must fill if you would join with me, by your decision to join in any plan but His. ⁴I call you to fulfill your holy part in the plan that He has given to the world for its release from littleness. ⁵God would have His host abide in perfect freedom. ⁶Every allegiance to a plan of salvation apart from Him diminishes the value of His Will for you in your own mind. ⁷And yet it is your mind that is the host to Him.

²This you will recognize in the holy instant, in which you willingly and gladly give over every plan but His. ³For there lies peace, perfectly clear because you have been willing to meet its conditions. ⁴You can claim the holy instant any time and anywhere you want it.

I stand within the holy instant, as clear as you would have me. ²And the extent to which you learn to accept me is the measure of the time in which the holy instant will be yours. ³I call to you to make the holy instant yours at once, for the release from littleness in the mind of the host of God depends on willingness, and not on time. (A Course in Miracles, T-15.IV.3;4:2-4;5. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Every ego plan is based on the same foundation—denial of our unity in God’s Love. By our allegiance to the ego and the specialness it seems to offer, we deny the one and only gift God has given His holy Son—changeless, eternal Love. It is a high price to pay for the little “gifts” of specialness the ego offers.

Beneath the appeal of the ego’s gifts lies the wish for death, for denial of eternal Love is denial of the only Life we live in truth. Every moment of every day we choose between Life and death, Love and specialness.

To choose Life, we need to relinquish the plans we make with the ego. They give us nothing. In their place, we need to welcome the plans offered us by the Holy Spirit. They give us everything, for they return us to the awareness of the gift of Love that is ours now and forever.

Today we practice relinquishing our plans and welcoming the Holy Spirit’s plan for our awakening to Love.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Demonstration of God’s Gifts

³One walks with you Who gently answers all your fears with this one merciful reply, “It is not so.” ⁴He points to all the gifts you have each time the thought of poverty oppresses you, and speaks of His Companionship when you perceive yourself as lonely and afraid.

²…His touch on you has made you like Himself. ³The gifts you have are not for you alone. ⁴What He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give. ⁵This is the lesson that His giving holds, for He has saved you from the solitude you sought to make in which to hide from God. ⁶He has reminded you of all the gifts that God has given you. ⁷He speaks as well of what becomes your will when you accept these gifts, and recognize they are your own.

²Become the living proof of what Christ’s touch can offer everyone. ³God has entrusted all His gifts to you. ⁴Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. ⁵Such is your mission now. ⁶For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. ⁷He has shared His joy with you. ⁸And now you go to share it with the world. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 166, W-166.11:3-4;12:2-7;15:2-8. See also ACIM Lesson 166 Insights.)

Self improvement programs often emphasize being true to yourself. We need to consider what self we are trying to be true to. The ego always tries to put the self it made apart from God first. Yet putting this self first leaves us feeling vulnerable, alone and fearful. This self denies God’s gifts and elevates the ego’s illusions to “truth.” Yet what God did not create cannot be real nor true. Identifying with the ego-made self leaves us feeling isolated, valueless and in need of constant defense. This need not be.

We still have all of God’s gifts, His Love, His peace and joy. Only the ego’s denial has made these gifts unknown to us. Yet the Holy Spirit has been given us to teach us the way to awaken to our true Self, the Son God created one with Him.

Today we choose to welcome His gentle touch. We choose to accept Christ’s vision which shows us the eternal presence of Love everywhere, beyond the ego’s veil of denial. We choose to accept the gifts God has entrusted to us.

As we claim these gifts for our self, we teach our brothers by our demonstration of the happiness and peace we have accepted. The Light of Love in us shines brighter and illuminates the minds of our brothers as It illuminates ours, for we are one. Today we welcome God’s gifts by putting our true Self first, remembering It is our Identity.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Claiming the Strength of God as Ours

The choice you make today is certain. ²For you look for the last time upon this bit of carven stone [ego/fear] you made, and call it god no longer. …⁶And you return to a new world, unburdened by [the ego’s] weight; beheld not in its sightless eyes, but in the vision that your choice restored to you.

Now do your eyes belong to Christ, and He looks through them. ²Now your voice belongs to God and echoes His. ³And now your heart remains at peace forever. ⁴You have chosen Him in place of idols, and your attributes [of Love], given by your Creator, are restored to you at last. ⁵The Call for God is heard and answered. ⁶Now has fear made way for Love, as God Himself replaces cruelty.

Father, we are like You. ²No cruelty abides in us, for there is none in You. ³Your peace is ours. ⁴And we bless the world with what we have received from You alone. ⁵We choose again, and make our choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. ⁶We bring them Your salvation as we have received it now. ⁷And we give thanks for them who render us complete. ⁸In them we see Your glory, and in them we find our peace. ⁹Holy are we because Your Holiness has set us free. ¹⁰And we give thanks. ¹¹Amen. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 170, W-170.11:1-2,6–13:11. See also ACIM Lesson 170 Insights.)

Our true Self is the Son of God. This Self shares the strength of God, the only Source of strength. Nothing but a fantasy seems to offer an alternative to the Self that lives in the Heart of God. Having no strength of its own, this self needs constant defense, fearful of its annihilation. It is afraid of Love.

This self uses judgment to project the source of its perceived fear onto others. This is why most people find it easier to say “I hate” than “I love.” Hate is perceived as the great protector of this little self. Yet all it does is proclaim weakness as true.

It is time to make another choice. We can choose the strength of God in us by letting the Holy Spirit judge all things on our behalf. His judgment sees past false perceptions, dismissing them as meaningless. He brings Christ’s vision to see the eternal presence of Love in all things everywhere. He sees only the truth. Here there is certain safety. As we accept this vision, we rest in quiet joy, at Home in the Heart of God.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Key That Unlocks Our Self-Made Prison

²The world you see is but a judgment on yourself. ³It is not there at all. ⁴Yet judgment lays a sentence on it, justifies it and makes it real. ⁵Such is the world you see; a judgment on yourself, and made by you.

³The world the holy see is beautiful because they see their innocence in it. ⁴They did not tell it what it was; they did not make adjustments to fit their orders. ⁵They gently questioned it and whispered, “What are you?” ⁶And He Who watches over all perception answered. ⁷Take not the judgment of the world as answer to the question, “What am I?” ⁸The world believes in sin, but the belief that made it as you see it is not outside you.

⁴You asked this puff of madness [ego] for the meaning of your unholy relationship, and adjusted it according to its insane answer. ⁵How happy did it make you? ⁶Did you meet your brother with joy to bless the Son of God, and give him thanks for all the happiness that he held out to you? ⁷Did you recognize your brother as the eternal gift of God to you? ⁸Did you see the holiness that shone in both you and your brother, to bless the other? ⁹That is the purpose of your holy relationship.

Such is my will for you and your brother, and for each of you for one another and for himself. ²Here there is only holiness and joining without limit. ³For what is Heaven but union, direct and perfect, and without the veil of fear upon it? ⁴Here are we one, looking with perfect gentleness upon each other and on ourselves. ⁵Here all thoughts of any separation between us become impossible. ⁶You who were a prisoner in separation are now made free in Paradise. ⁷And here would I unite with you, my friend, my brother and my Self. (A Course in Miracles, T-20.III.5:2-5;6:3-8;8:4-9;10:1-7. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

We see what we believe. If we believe we are separate from the holiness of God, we see only sin and separation in the world. Our perception imprisons us in a world where fear and guilt are real. Yet we have the key to unlock our self-made prison door. This key is in our own mind, available to use in every instant.

God gave us the Holy Spirit with the key to freedom—forgiveness. His function is to guide us to Christ’s vision, which shows us the Light beyond the ego’s dark shadows of separation, fear and guilt. As we let the holy Spirit help us forgive our mistaken beliefs, Christ’s vision becomes the way we see our brother.

We see our unity with him and his innocence. In this unity, we see our own innocence. With Christ’s vision, every relationship becomes a lesson in Love. It teaches us what we are. As we join in the holy relationship we are brought to the gates of Heaven. There we are welcomed to the Home God has kept safe for us while we wander in illusions. We are free to be the Love we are.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to End Our Addiction to Judgment

A dream of judgment came into the mind that God created perfect as Himself. …⁴It is a dream of judgment. ⁵So must he judge not, and he will waken. ⁶For the dream will seem to last while he is part of it.

The real world still is but a dream. …what was once a dream of judgment now has changed into a dream where all is joy, because that is the purpose that it has. ⁷Only forgiving dreams can enter here, for time is almost over.

Whenever you feel fear in any form,—and you are fearful if you do not feel a deep content, a certainty of help, a calm assurance Heaven goes with you,—be sure you made an idol, and believe it will betray you. …³Your self-betrayal must result in fear, for fear is judgment, leading surely to the frantic search for idols and for death.

Forgiving dreams remind you that you live in safety and have not attacked yourself. …³Forgiving dreams are kind to everyone who figures in the dream. ⁴And so they bring the dreamer full release from dreams of fear. (A Course in Miracles, T-29.IX.2:1,4-7;7:1,6-7;9:1,3;10:1,3-4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The reason the Course focuses on forgiveness is because it is the remedy for the cause of the dream. Dreaming of judgment makes a dream of fear and guilt. Forgiveness releases the judgment. No longer are illusions needed for us to project our judgments. Without judgment, fear and guilt are gone. Without them interfering with the truth, the ever present joy and peace of God are revealed. We awaken from the self-imposed hell that judgment makes.

We can make way for the happy dream of the real world by letting go of our addiction to judgment. We have a mighty power to assist us in this change of mind. We need to turn over our judgments to the Holy Spirit and let Him judge all things on our behalf. His judgment dismisses the unreal and welcomes the reality of Love. This is our path to awakening.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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