Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Recognizing What We Really Want

²[Heaven] is yours today, but for the asking.

Ask with desire. ²You need not be sure that you request the only thing you want. ³But when you have received, you will be sure you have the treasure you have always sought.

Now is all doubting past, the journey’s end made certain, and salvation given you. ²Now is Christ’s power in your mind, to heal as you were healed. ³For now you are among the saviors of the world. ⁴Your destiny lies there and nowhere else. ⁵Would God consent to let His Son remain forever starved by his denial of the nourishment he needs to live? ⁶Abundance dwells in him, and deprivation cannot cut him off from God’s sustaining Love and from his home. (W-165.4:2;5:1-3;6)

Heaven is our Home, for God wills It so. But we have denied Heaven by our preference for specialness. When we ask for Heaven, we are neutralizing the preference for specialness so we can let Heaven be What It has always been—Home.

Because we have denied Heaven, we need a miracle, a change of mind. It is a change in what we treasure. We recognize that all we really want is God’s Love. Now our minds are open to accept What has always been ours. As we accept His Love, It flows through us to bring Love’s blessing to the world. We become a miracle worker. As we let His Love flow through us, we experience Its blessing. We feel more peaceful, happy and content. We are fulfilling our only meaningful function in this world.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being an Instrument of Love

…you are never healed alone. ⁴And legions upon legions will receive the gift that you receive when you are healed.

Those who are healed become the instruments of healing.

⁶Today we ask that only truth will occupy our minds; that thoughts of healing will this day go forth from what is healed to what must yet be healed, aware that they will both occur as one.

…our function is to let our minds be healed, that we may carry healing to the world, exchanging curse for blessing, pain for joy, and separation for the peace of God.

⁵When I am healed I am not healed alone. ⁶And I would bless my brothers, for I would be healed with them, as they are healed with me. (A Course in Miracles, W-137.10:3–11:1;12:6–13:1;15:5-6. See also ACIM Lesson 137 Insights.)

The wish for specialness can only seem to be accomplished in a loveless dream where separation appears real. Loneliness is inevitable in this dream. We yearn to be united with our true Self in every brother.

We can awaken from this dream by being willing to welcome the truth in our mind. We have convinced ourselves that what appears in the dream is true. But if we are willing to quiet our mind and welcome the Holy Spirit’s presence, our perceptions are transformed. He shows us the presence of Love beyond the images of separation. Gently and lovingly He teaches us to recognize that no form in the world offers anything we really want.

As we become willing to consider that there is more beyond the images that will truly satisfy our need to be and extend Love, we take steps toward awakening. As we welcome Love we naturally extend It to our brothers and bring them with us in our awakening. Together we are healed.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Have a Day of Miracles

⁵Consider once again your special function. ⁶One is given you to see in him his perfect sinlessness. ⁷And you will ask no sacrifice of him because you could not will he suffer loss. ⁸The miracle of justice you call forth will rest on you as surely as on him.

Think, then, how great your own release will be when you are willing to receive correction for all your problems. ²You will not keep one, for pain in any form you will not want. ³And you will see each little hurt resolved before the Holy Spirit’s gentle sight. ⁴For all of them are little in His sight, and worth no more than just a tiny sigh before they disappear, to be forever undone and unremembered. ⁵What seemed once to be a special problem, a mistake without a remedy, or an affliction without a cure, has been transformed into a universal blessing. ⁶Sacrifice is gone. ⁷And in its place the Love of God can be remembered, and will shine away all memory of sacrifice and loss.

⁴Your special function opens wide the door beyond which is the memory of His Love kept perfectly intact and undefiled. ⁵And all you need to do is but to wish that Heaven be given you instead of hell, and every bolt and barrier that seems to hold the door securely barred and locked will merely fall away and disappear. ⁶For it is not your Father’s Will that you should offer or receive less than He gave, when He created you in perfect love. (A Course in Miracles, T-26.II.6:5-8;7;8:4-6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The special function at its core is the same for everyone. We must forgive our demand for specialness, which the Course identifies as the ego. The form it takes for each of us is customized according to the form of our beliefs in specialness and separation. Our unforgiveness manifests in the world as problems that disturb our peace of mind. They are reflected in a sense of loss, lack, vulnerability, illness, challenging relationships, unhappiness, guilt and fear.

Most of us encounter forms of these problems every day. Thus every day we are presented with opportunities to fulfill our special function—to let the Holy Spirit help us heal the mistaken belief behind the problem. Viewed this way, every problem is potentially a gift if we choose forgiveness with the Holy Spirit’s help instead of trying to “fix” the problem on our own.

Today let us join the in the shared purpose of our special function by focusing on accepting the opportunities for forgiveness offered us throughout the day. With this choice, it will be a day of miracles.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Welcoming God’s Gift Every Moment

There is no end to all the peace and joy,
and all the miracles that I will give,
when I accept God’s Word. Why not today?

Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy You promised me? ²For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. ³I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. ⁴Even now my fingers touch it. ⁵It is very close. ⁶I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. ⁷It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. ⁸Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love. (A Course in Miracles, W-355.1:1-8. See also ACIM Lesson 355 Insights.)

We already have God’s gift of the only real Treasure — His Love. But while we think something else is of greater value to us, we are unaware of the Treasure that is with us now. The ego’s seeming existence is built upon the past, which it harbors to use to build images to cover the present. As long as we value a separate identity, different from God’s Love, we are limited to the ego’s dream.

The choice to be limited can be changed to the choice to accept and be Love in every moment. Only the value we give to the ego’s limited offerings keeps us from knowing the joy and peace that are already ours.

We need help to recognize our mistaken beliefs and let them go. When we choose the Holy Spirit’s lead in place of the ego’s misdirections, we clear the way to receive our true Treasure — the only gift we really want.

Today we choose to remember the Holy Spirit walks with us and in us, pointing the way to the greatest Treasure there is. Today we would follow Him.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Gift with Value Beyond Measure

…[God] wills the happiness His Son inherited of Him be undisturbed; eternal and forever gaining scope, eternally expanding in the joy of full creation, and eternally open and wholly limitless in Him. ³That is His Will. ⁴And thus His Will provides the means to guarantee that it is done.

Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness. ²Yet that is the content underneath the form.

Forgive, and you will see this differently.

²These are the words the Holy Spirit speaks in all your tribulations, all your pain, all suffering regardless of its form. ³These are the words with which temptation ends, and guilt, abandoned, is revered no more. ⁴These are the words which end the dream of sin, and rid the mind of fear. ⁵These are the words by which salvation comes to all the world.

Shall we not learn to say these words when we are tempted to believe that pain is real, and death becomes our choice instead of life? ²Shall we not learn to say these words when we have understood their power to release all minds from bondage? ³These are words which give you power over all events that seem to have been given power over you. (A Course in Miracles, W-193.1:2-4;4:1-2;5:1–6:3. See also ACIM Lesson 193 Insights.)

Forgiveness is a powerful antidote for every problem we seem to have in the world. Nothing can prevail against true forgiveness, which comes when we accept the Holy Spirit’s help to see the truth beyond every appearance. The dream seems to tell us that we are alone, weak and vulnerable and that our “life” is certain to end in death. But illusions only seem to replace Reality when we believe illusions are real.

Fortunately beliefs can change. We have all experienced changed beliefs many times in our lives in the world. The changeability of beliefs provides our escape from the dream of fear and guilt. We have taught ourselves to believe that lies are true. Through forgiveness, we learn to undo these mistaken lessons.

Today we can choose to give ourselves the most valuable gift we can give. We can accept the Holy Spirit’s help to forgive our mistaken beliefs. As we accept His help, our experience in the world will be transformed. We will find peace where there was conflict. We will find joy where there was depression. We will find Love where there was fear.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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God’s Welcome Home

Under the ego’s dark foundation is the memory of God, and it is of this that you are really afraid. ²For this memory would instantly restore you to your proper place [in Heaven], and it is this place that you have sought to leave. ³Your fear of attack is nothing compared to your fear of love.

You must look upon your illusions and not keep them hidden, because they do not rest on their own foundation. ²In concealment [illusions] appear to do so, and thus they seem to be self-sustained. ³This is the fundamental illusion on which the others rest. ⁴For beneath them, and concealed as long as they are hidden, is the loving mind that thought it made them in anger. ⁵And the pain in this mind is so apparent, when it is uncovered, that its need of healing cannot be denied. ⁶Not all the tricks and games you offer it can heal it, for here is the real crucifixion of God’s Son.

And yet he is not crucified. ²Here is both his pain and his healing, for the Holy Spirit’s vision is merciful and His remedy is quick. ³Do not hide suffering from His sight, but bring it gladly to Him. ⁴Lay before His eternal sanity all your hurt, and let Him heal you. ⁵Do not leave any spot of pain hidden from His light, and search your mind carefully for any thoughts you may fear to uncover. ⁶For He will heal every little thought you have kept to hurt you and cleanse it of its littleness, restoring it to the magnitude of God. (A Course in Miracles, T-13.III.2:1-3;6-7. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

The quest for specialness is the underlying cause of all our fear and guilt. Specialness demands that nothing can be shared, for we cannot claim specialness if someone else has what we claim as our own. Championship can be claimed by only one team. Possession by definition means that we own something that no one else has. To maintain this specialness, we must defend it against anything and anyone whom we perceive could take it from us.

In the oneness of God’s Love, everything is the same, no differences, no separate ownership and loss is impossible. The nature of Love is that It is eternally extended. Any attempt to keep Love for one’s self alone makes Love unknown to us.

In every instant we choose between the “treasure” of specialness or the eternal gift of Love. The first is a choice for lovelessness, which can only seem real when illusions are treasured. The second choice is for all that is Real without end or limit. It is always a choice between hell and Heaven.

Today we choose Heaven by our willingness to bring all our fear-based thoughts to the Holy Spirit for His loving correction. It is God’s guaranteed plan to welcome us Home.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Holy Spirit’s Loving Lessons

Illusions will not last. ²Their death is sure and this alone is certain in their world. ³It is the ego’s world because of this. ⁴What is the ego? ⁵But a dream of what you really are. ⁶A thought you are apart from your Creator and a wish to be what He created not.

What is the ego? ²Nothingness, but in a form that seems like something.

The ego’s opposite in every way,—in origin, effect and consequence—we call a miracle.

What is a miracle? ²A dream as well. ³But look at all the aspects of this dream and you will never question any more. ⁴Look at the kindly world you see extend before you as you walk in gentleness. ⁵Look at the helpers all along the way you travel, happy in the certainty of Heaven and the surety of peace. ⁶And look an instant, too, on what you left behind at last and finally passed by.

This was the ego—all the cruel hate, the need for vengeance and the cries of pain, the fear of dying and the urge to kill, the brotherless illusion and the self that seemed alone in all the universe. ²This terrible mistake about yourself the miracle corrects as gently as a loving mother sings her child to rest.

The miracle forgives; the ego damns. (A Course in Miracles, C-2.1:1-6;2:1-2;5:1;7:1–8:2;10:1)

When we act and perceive according to the ego’s dictates, we are participating in a dream that does nothing. It has no effect on what we are as God’s Son. But it does keep us engaged in the dream which makes us unaware of the Love we are. The dream denies Love so it is filled with fear, conflict and condemnation.

We make what we treasure appear real. Because the ego is only a dream, we can dismiss it by recognizing it is not real. Illusions recognized as unreal disappear, for they are no longer valued. We need to learn that nothingness has no value. It is an investment that yields nothing in return.

We can learn to recognize illusions for what they are and forgive them — let them go. This is the Holy Spirit’s sole purpose for the dream. Forgiveness clears away the barriers to the awareness of Love’s presence.

Today we welcome the Holy Spirit’s kind and loving lessons in forgiveness. We hold the Holy Spirit’s Hand as we journey to the Heaven of God’s Love.

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