Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Accepting Our True Identity

Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids [our minds] take what is already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept God’s gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own. The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let us choose today that [this Self] be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.

Father, Your Son can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 330, W-pII.330. See also ACIM Lesson 330 Insights.)

Let’s practice this prayer today, remembering that nothing can really change our true Identity as Love’s extension. When we notice that our mind has wandered into thoughts of limitation and lack, we can choose to step back and return to our true Identity as Love…

We remember to choose peace…(pause)…  We remember that God’s Love is always with us, every moment……

We remember that we have all the help we need to return to the one Identity we share with our Father……

We let Holy Spirit’s thoughts fill our mind…… we open and are willing to receive…… We are willing to be free forever from all our mistaken thoughts……

We allow a return to our true Identity as Love……  We give thanks that we always have the help we need……

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Practice That Returns Us to Love

You see what you expect, and you expect what you invite. Your perception is the result of your invitation, coming to you as you sent for it. …Two ways of looking at the world are in your mind, and your perception will reflect the guidance you have chosen.

When you want only love you will see nothing else. The contradictory nature of the witnesses you perceive is merely the reflection of your conflicting invitations. You have looked upon your mind and accepted opposition there, having sought it there. But do not then believe that the witnesses for opposition are true, for they attest only to your decision about reality, returning to you the messages you gave them. Love, too, is recognized by its messengers. If you make love manifest, its messengers will come to you because you invited them.

The power of decision is your one remaining freedom as a prisoner of this world. You can decide to see it right. …You cannot really give anything but love to anyone or anything, nor can you really receive anything but love from them. (A Course in Miracles, T-12.VII.5:1-2,6;8;9:1-2,4. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Because only Love is real, we can only really give or receive Love. But we have chosen to accept a guide in our mind that denies Love and so we see a dream world of separation and lovelessness. Fortunately we have the power of decision to choose the Guide to Love Who will lead us through the confusing quagmire of opposition in our mind.

To heal our mind, we need to choose the Guide to Love in our mind every day, all day. The practice of questioning the meaning of everything we perceive and asking for the Holy Spirit’s reinterpretation will ultimately lead us back to the full remembrance that only Love is real.

Our perceptions in the world will be increasingly less captivating. Their seeming importance fades as we focus more consistently on the presence of Love’s Light in our mind. The peace and joy that come with giving Love precedence in our mind motivates us to choose Love more and more. This practice returns us Home to Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting Truth Heal Our False Perceptions

The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God. In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of that wish. For it is that wish that seems to surround the mind with a body, keeping it separate and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it.

A person says something you do not like. He does something that displeases you. He “betrays” his hostile thoughts in his behavior.

You are not dealing here with what the person is. On the contrary, you are exclusively concerned with what he does in a body. You are doing more than failing to help in freeing him from the body’s limitations. You are actively trying to hold him to [his body] by confusing it with him, and judging them as one.

…every grievance that you hold insists that the body is real. It overlooks entirely what your brother is. It rein­forces your belief that he is a body, and condemns him for it.

…while the body stands at the center of your concept of yourself, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation, and holding your grievances against Him and His crea­tion, that you may not hear the Voice of truth and welcome It as Friend.

The light of truth is in us, where it was placed by God. It is the body that is outside us, and is not our concern. To be without a body is to be in our natural state. To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 72, W-pI.72.2:1-4;3:4-4:4;5:6-8;7:4;9:1-4. See also ACIM Lesson 72 Insights.)

The appearance that we are a body seems to be an indisputable fact. What the body sees and touches, the pain it experiences and its ultimate end in death “prove” that it is real. But a proof based on a false premise leads to a false conclusion. The body is no more than a projection of the false belief that separation is real.

Our unquestioned belief that separation is real blinds us to the reality of our oneness in Love. Yet the Light of truth remains in our mind. In every moment we can call upon the Holy Spirit to shine the Light of truth on our perceptions to heal our mind. With His help we will remember our natural state at one with the Love of God, perfectly safe and in peace.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Answering Heaven’s Call

If I so choose, I can depart this world entirely. It is not death which makes this possible, but it is change of mind about the purpose of the world. If I believe it has a value as I see it now, so will it still remain for me. But if I see no value in the world as I behold it, nothing that I want to keep as mine or search for as a goal, it will depart from me. For I have not sought for illusions to replace the truth.

Father, my home awaits my glad return. Your Arms are open and I hear Your Voice. What need have I to linger in a place of vain desires and of shattered dreams, when Heaven can so easily be mine? (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 226, W-pII.226:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 226 Insights.)

We think this world is real because we believe it offers us something that we value. The ego is the idea that specialness has value. If we have something we can call our own, we believe we are special. This could only seem to occur if we believe the illusion of separation is real. The world we experience is the projection of this belief.

The Course is teaching us that the world offers us nothing that we truly want. Nothing it offers lasts forever. The ephemeral nature of the world confirms its unreality. Only Love is real and It is eternally changeless. Love remains our true reality as God has given It to His Son forever.

Today we choose to listen to the Voice for God which teaches us to look past the false images of the world to the presence of eternal Love. Love’s light reveals the valuelessness of the dream. As we let go of the value we gave it (forgive), we awaken to our Home in Love, safe from any harm.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Reclaiming God’s Changeless Love

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me. Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions. Let me not accept such meager gifts again today. God’s Voice is of­fering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him. This is my choice today. And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.

I seek but the eternal. For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this. What, then, can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind and frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my sinlessness. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 334, W-pII.334. See also ACIM Lesson 334 Insights.)

In these troubling times the world indeed seems confusing and frightening. There seems to be change happening every minute and constant threats to our safety. But we experience this only because of mistaken perceptions. We believe illusions are real, that change and harm are possible.

But only Love is real. It is eternal and never changes. Harm is impossible in the reality of Love’s oneness. This is our Home. It is the place our Creator wills for us to be in perfect safety, happiness and peace. It is ours now. We claim it by letting go of our misperceptions.

We have been given the Holy Spirit in our mind to teach us that what we believe happens in the world has no effect on our true Life we live in God. To claim God’s gifts, we need to practice offering all our perceptions to the Holy Spirit with willingness to let Him teach us what is true and real and to dismiss what is false and unreal. We have this opportunity in every moment throughout every day.

Claiming the treasures that are already ours rests only on our willingness to accept the Holy Spirit’s lessons in forgiveness. This willingness is the key to awakening to the fact that we live and have our being in the changelessness of God’s Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Choosing the Treasure God Has Given Us

I will be still an instant and go home.

Rest with Him frequently today. For He was willing to be­come a little Child that you might learn of Him how strong is he who comes without defenses, offering only love’s messages to those who think he is their enemy. He holds the might of Heaven in His hand and calls them friend, and gives His strength to them, that they may see He would be Friend to them. He asks that they protect Him, for His home is far away, and He will not return to it alone.

Christ is reborn as but a little Child each time a wanderer would leave his home. For he must learn that what he would protect is but this Child, Who comes defenseless and Who is protected by defenselessness. Go home with Him from time to time today. You are as much an alien here as He.

Take time today to lay aside your shield which profits nothing, and lay down the spear and sword you raised against an enemy without existence. Christ has called you friend and brother. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 182, W-pI.182.9:1-11:2. See also ACIM Lesson 182 Insights.)

The Course acknowledges that we are deeply convinced that the world we experience is real. The idea that the body we think we are is an illusion is frightening. To acknowledge this fact seems like death we believe we would no longer exist. To awaken us from this dream without fear, we need a gentle, progressive process to help us accept our true Self.

This Self is so magnificent, joyous, all encompassing and eternal that we would freely let go of the limited, fearful self that we believe we are. Its like choosing between a brick of lead and gold bouillon. The difference in value is so extreme, there is no hesitation in choosing the gold.

Frequently pausing to step back from the world to remember the peace of God within and relax into His presence helps us see the valuelessness of the body’s identity and the treasure God has given us as His one Son. There can be no greater payoff for our vigilance in this practice. It leads us gently and lovingly to awaken from the dream to our Home in Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Live Forever in Love

Whenever you are not wholly joyous, it is because you have reacted with a lack of love to one of God’s creations.

Decision cannot be difficult. This is obvious, if you realize that you must already have decided not to be wholly joyous if that is how you feel. Therefore, the first step in the undoing is to recognize that you actively decided wrongly, but can as actively decide otherwise. Be very firm with yourself in this, and keep yourself fully aware that the undoing process, which does not come from you, is nevertheless within you because God placed it there. Your part is merely to return your thinking to the point at which the error was made, and give it over to the Atonement in peace. Say this to yourself as sincerely as you can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation:

I must have decided wrongly, because I am not at peace. I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise. I want to decide otherwise, because I want to be at peace. I do not feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo all the consequences of my wrong decision if I will let Him. I choose to let Him, by allowing Him to decide for God for me. (A Course in Miracles, T-5.VII.5:1;6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

In every moment we receive feedback that tells us when we have decided wrongly. If we are not wholly joyous, we have decided wrongly; we made a mistake. But we can always make another choice that corrects the mistake.

We make the wrong choice when we choose the ego as our guide. This is the choice to deny Love which always leads us to react to anything in this world with a lack of Love. Without Love, true joy is impossible because joy is an attribute of Love. The ego offers substitutes that seem to make us happy. But this happiness never lasts because it is based on an illusory form in the world.

We make the right choice when we let the Holy Spirit be our Guide. Having chosen wrongly, we need help from outside of our chosen world of lack of Love. We need to let the Holy Spirit judge all things on our behalf. His judgment is simple: He distinguishes between what is real or what is unreal.

He does not believe in the unreal though He recognizes we are reacting to unreal images in the world. He teaches us that this reaction is a call for Love. He helps us respond to this call with Love.

When we respond with Love, peace returns to our troubled mind. Our loving response brings joy with it for we learn that we are Love. We experience the joy of sharing the Love that unites us with all that is real. We remember our true Self, the Son of God, forever united with our Creator.

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