Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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The Practice That Heals Our Life

⁶The [Course] curriculum is highly individualized, and all aspects are under the Holy Spirit’s particular care and guidance. ⁷Ask and He will answer. ⁸The responsibility is His, and He alone is fit to assume it. ⁹To do so is His function. ¹⁰To refer the questions to Him is yours.

³To follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance is to let yourself be absolved of guilt. ⁴It is the essence of the Atonement. ⁵It is the core of the curriculum. ⁶The imagined usurping of functions not your own is the basis of fear.

Who assumes a power that he does not possess is deceiving himself. ²Yet to accept the power given him by God is but to acknowledge his Creator and accept His gifts. ³And His gifts have no limit. ⁴To ask the Holy Spirit to decide for you is simply to accept your true inheritance. ⁵Does this mean that you cannot say anything without consulting Him? ⁶No, indeed! ⁷That would hardly be practical, and it is the practical with which this course is most concerned. ⁸If you have made it a habit to ask for help when and where you can, you can be confident that wisdom will be given you when you need it. ⁹Prepare for this each morning, remember God when you can throughout the day, ask the Holy Spirit’s help when it is feasible to do so, and thank Him for His guidance at night. ¹⁰And your confidence will be well founded indeed. (A Course in Miracles, M-29.2:6-10;3:3-6;5)

This passage gives us an outline for our recommended practice every day. It is not demanded of us but strongly encouraged because of the benefits it offers. The more we follow this practice in our daily living, the more peaceful, loving and happy our life experience will be.

There is no question or difficulty in the world that is too small nor too big for the Holy Spirit to help us with. Any time we experience frustration, impatience or anxiety is a sure sign that we are trying to think or act on our own without the Holy Spirit’s help.

When we believe we are on our own we will always feel weak because we are denying our unity with the power of God. With a sense of weakness, fear is inevitable. As we practice welcoming the Holy Spirit’s help, we feel increasingly safe and loved. We feel God’s strength in us.

We dedicate today to this practice. It’s worth it.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Escape Conflict and Return to Peace

Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.

Conflict must be resolved. ²It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. ³It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. ⁴For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.

Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. ²No light but this can end our evil dream. ³No light but this can save the world. ⁴For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your beloved Son. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 333. See also ACIM Lesson 333 Insights.)

Conflict is essential to maintaining the ego’s control of part of our mind. It maintains the perception of separation that is the core of the ego thought system. The ego had made myriad forms that disguise conflict. Many of them are very appealing and sometimes seem to alleviate our hunger for specialness, the ego’s substitute for Love. Specialness and Love cannot coexist in the mind of God’s Son. Specialness denies Love’s oneness while Love sees only the innocence of its Self in all things.

We have been attracted to the ego and played its games for so long that we believe its game is reality. But its reality depends on our belief, not fact. We have become unable to distinguish between the reality we perceive based on belief and the changeless fact of God’s Love, which needs no belief. Beliefs can change, facts do not. We need to be taught how to recognize beliefs that are hiding the presence of Love. These lessons are the purpose of the Course.

We dedicate today to being open to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, for we would free ourselves from conflict and return to the peace of God, bringing our brothers with us.

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

[God’s plan for your salvation] is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn. ²For He Who knows the rest will see to it without your help. ³But think not that He does not need your part to help Him with the rest. ⁴For in your part lies all of it, without which is no part complete, nor is the whole completed without your part. ⁵The ark of peace is entered two by two,…

You may wonder how you can be at peace when, while you are in time, there is so much that must be done before the way to peace is open. ²Perhaps this seems impossible to you. ³But ask yourself if it is possible that God would have a plan for your salvation that does not work. ⁴Once you accept His plan as the one function that you would fulfill, there will be nothing else the Holy Spirit will not arrange for you without your effort. ⁵He will go before you making straight your path, and leaving in your way no stones to trip on, and no obstacles to bar your way. ⁶Nothing you need will be denied you. ⁷Not one seeming difficulty but will melt away before you reach it. ⁸You need take thought for nothing, careless of everything except the only purpose that you would fulfill. ⁹As that was given you, so will its fulfillment be. ¹⁰God’s guarantee will hold against all obstacles, for it rests on certainty and not contingency. ¹¹It rests on you. ¹²And what can be more certain than a Son of God? (A Course in Miracles, T-20.IV.6:1-5;8. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The Course says repeatedly, in many ways, that our only meaningful function in this world is to forgive. It is the means by which we free ourselves from the ego’s tyranny of denying Love, our inheritance. Forgiveness peals away the scales of fear and guilt so that Christ’s vision can show us the innocence of Love in every brother and ourselves. Through forgiveness we recognize our brother as part of us. We would no more want to disown our brother than to disown our Self. Yet that is what the ego does.

The reward for forgiving our brother and ourselves is our awakening to the certainty of our place in the Heart of God. We remember we are eternally safe. We welcome the Holy Spirit’s guidance knowing He leads us straight Home to Love where we rest in perfect peace and overflow with the joy of Loving.

Today we welcome the Holy Spirit’s help to see our brothers sinless and learn of our own innocence.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Lesson in the Value of Following

I merely follow, for I would not lead.

Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. ²You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. ³I cannot lose the way. ⁴I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. ⁵Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. ⁶My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. ⁷Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.

So let us follow One Who knows the way. ²We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand. ³We walk together, for we follow Him. ⁴And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 324. See also ACIM Lesson 324 Insights.)

Today I had an experience that demonstrates the importance of stepping back and letting Holy Spirit lead the way. Yesterday we were at our new house, not yet moved in. I misplaced my computer last night. This morning when I came to the house, my computer was not where I expected to find it.

I shifted into my old habit of trying to figure out where I might have left it. I searched in every place I could think of without success. This is typical of what happens when we follow the ego’s directions. The ego always wants us to search and not find.

Finally I was willing to step back and let Holy Spirit lead. Mary and I joined together to go to Spirit and open to His lead. After that dedication, I was reminded of an app I could use on my phone to locate the computer. It showed that it was in the house somewhere. This helped calm the fear that somehow it had gotten into someone else’s hands. Mary was then inspired to look in a place where I had not looked before, though I had looked past it several times. There was the computer at the foot of the stairs near the front door.

In our joining, with willingness to be led, our perceived problem was resolved. This is yet another demonstration reminding me to follow Holy Spirit at all times. If I had stepped back at the beginning instead of relying on my own limited thinking, I would have saved time and would have been free of the anxiety that came with searching while believing I was alone.

We are never alone. The Holy Spirit is with us and available 24/7. We must simply get out of our own way and choose to follow His lead. With that willingness, our life experience is more peaceful, happy and loving. Each time we remember to follow reinforces the lesson that the Holy Spirit is the only Guide Who can lead us back Home to God.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Joy of Joining in God’s Love

…God’s teachers are wholly gentle. ²They need the strength of gentleness, for it is in this that the function of salvation becomes easy.

Joy is the inevitable result of gentleness [lack of judgment]. ²Gentleness means that fear is now impossible, and what could come to interfere with joy? ³The open hands of gentleness are always filled. ⁴The gentle have no pain. ⁵They cannot suffer. ⁶Why would they not be joyous? ⁷They are sure they are beloved and must be safe. ⁸Joy goes with gentleness as surely as grief attends attack. ⁹God’s teachers trust in Him. ¹⁰And they are sure His Teacher goes before them, making sure no harm can come to them. ¹¹They hold His gifts and follow in His way, because God’s Voice directs them in all things. ¹²Joy is their song of thanks. ¹³And Christ looks down on them in thanks as well. ¹⁴His need of them [who follow in His way] is just as great as theirs of Him. ¹⁵How joyous it is to share the purpose of salvation! (A Course in Miracles, M-4.IV.2:1-2;V)

If we want to live a life of joy, there is only one thing we must do. We must follow the Holy Spirit in everything we do, say and think. This seems difficult to do only because of our divided allegiance. Part of our mind still believes the ego offers something we want, some form of specialness that will make us happy. But if we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit, His lessons will show us that the ego offers nothing we want. All we really need is God’s Love; there is nothing else except in fantasy.

Through the practice of following Holy Spirit, the appeal of fantasies fades and the joy of joining in God’s Love lightens our mind. Our gratitude strengthens our willingness to follow Him and decide nothing on our own.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Choosing the Path to Sanity and Love

³Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world. ⁴But do not judge the lesson that is but begun with this. …⁸For from this lowest point will learning lead to heights of happiness, in which you see the purpose of the lesson shining clear, and perfectly within your learning grasp.

Who would be willing to be turned away from all the roadways of the world, unless he understood their real futility?”

The learning that the world can offer but one choice, no matter what its form may be, is the beginning of acceptance that there is a real alternative instead.

³This course attempts to teach no more than that the power of decision cannot lie in choosing different forms of what is still the same illusion and the same mistake.

Forgive yourself your madness, and forget all senseless journeys and all goal-less aims. ²They have no meaning. ³You can not escape from what you are. ⁴For God is merciful, and did not let His Son abandon Him. ⁵For what He is be thankful, for in that is your escape from madness and from death. ⁶Nowhere but where He is can you be found. ⁷There is no path that does not lead to Him. (A Course in Miracles, T-31.IV.4:3-4,8-5:1;6:1;8:3;11. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Our only choice is between nothing, which is all the ego offers or everything, which God offers. Love is everything because only Love is real.

We only seem to live in a loveless world because we have chosen specialness and separation which cannot abide in the reality of Love’s oneness. We can choose differently. But we will not choose differently if we believe what the ego offers something we want. So the lessons we must learn to find our way back to Love must teach us that the ego offers nothing we truly want.

At best it offers empty images that glitter and shine to appeal to our mistaken desires for specialness. But God’s Will for His Son is perfect happiness. We need not settle for less. As we learn that the ego’s offerings really give us nothing, we become eager to learn the Holy Spirit’s lessons. Sadness, fear and guilt fade away to be replaced by happiness, peace and eternal Love as we learn the lessons God would have us learn.

Today we happily welcome the Holy Spirit’s reinterpretations of our perceptions, for we would return to sanity and Love.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Subscribing to the Love We Are

Love created me like itself.

Today’s idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are. ²This is why you are the light of the world. ³This is why God appointed you as the world’s savior. ⁴This is why the Son of God looks to you for his salvation. ⁵He is saved by what you are.

“…think about your reality and its wholly unchanged and unchangeable nature.…

³Holiness created me holy.
⁴Kindness created me kind.
⁵Helpfulness created me helpful.
⁶Perfection created me perfect.

⁷Any attribute which is in accord with God as He defines Himself is appropriate for use. ⁸We are trying today to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own. ⁹We are also trying to emphasize that you are part of His definition of Himself.

²You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as possible, because your mind is so preoccupied with false self-images. ³…remind yourself that love created you like itself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 67, W-67.1:1-5;2:1,3-9;5:2-3. See also ACIM Lesson 67 Insights.)

Because Love created us like Itself, we are under no laws but God’s. The attributes of Love are our innate attributes. Because the body is a false image, the attributes and laws of God do not apply to the body. They apply to our true Self, which is formless Love.

We have subscribed to the ego’s malware which substitutes a image of our identity. The Course is gently and lovingly guiding us to unsubscribe. We don’t really want the messages the ego sends us. We want to remember our true Self, which is innately kind, happy, loving and peaceful. This exercise helps us let go of our subscription to a false image.

The only subscription we need was given us in our creation by God. God is our true operating system. It runs on Love and nothing else. It is impervious to the ego’s corrupting thoughts. As we practice reminding ourselves of our true attributes, the ego’s malware is neutralized and dispelled. We return to being the Love we were created to be.

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