Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Reclaiming Our True Identity

Deny your own Iden­tity, and this is what remains. You look on chaos and proclaim it is yourself. There is no sight that fails to witness this [false identity] to you.

Deny your own Identity, and you will not escape the madness which induced this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought that mocks creation and that laughs at God.

Yet what is it except a game you play in which Identity can be denied? You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is folly to believe. In this one thought is everyone set free. In this one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.

Be glad today how very easily is hell undone. You need but tell yourself:

I am the holy Son of God Himself. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks.

And in that thought is everything you look on wholly changed. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 191, W-pI.191.2:3-5;3:1;4;7. See also ACIM Lesson 191 Insights.)

The Course tells us, “…denial is as total as Love.” (T-11.II.3:1) The chaotic world we experience is the effect of our denial of our Identity as God’s Son. Our Identity remains held within the oneness and changelessness of God’s Love. There can be no chaos in changelessness. Yet the world we see constantly changes. In our denial we believe we need to be constantly alert to prepare for or defend against change. Nothing is reliable. Yet all this is a dream, spawned by our denial of our true Identity.

Fortunately, dreams are not eternal. We can wake up from our dream of denial. The practice of affirming that we are the holy Son of God Himself helps us awaken from our dream. It reminds us that we dwell in the safety and certainty of God’s Love. It leads us to awakening from our denial and reclaiming the identity we were created to be. Let’s join together today in frequently telling ourselves: “I am the holy Son of God Himself,” and mentally telling our brothers, “You are the holy Son of God Himself.”

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Accepting the Gifts of God

I give my life to God to guide today.

Father, I give You all my thoughts today. I would have none of mine. In place of them, give me Your Own. I give You all my acts as well, that I may do Your Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imaginings. Today I come to You. I will step back and merely follow You. Be You the Guide, and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me.

Today we have one Guide to lead us on. And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. This is His day. And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 233, W-pII.233. See also ACIM Lesson 233 Insights.)

It seems frightening to turn over our life to God’s guidance. The ego tells us that this would be a sacrifice, for we would lose everything we have. But it’s only our belief in the illusions offered by the ego that makes it seem like we lose something of value. But illusions, by definition, are untrue and unreal. God guides us to the only reality — Love and nothing else.

To choose the ego as our guide is a sacrifice. All that it can offer is empty illusions which stand as a barrier to our awareness of everything that is real. To choose to give to God all our thoughts and actions for Him to direct is to gain everything of value and lose nothing. Yet all we are really gaining is awareness of what we already have. If we want peace that cannot be disturbed, happiness beyond description and eternal Love, we will choose to give our life to God to guide. It is the choice for everything over nothing.

Today we give God all our thoughts and actions, without reservation, for we would follow only Him and remember all that we have always had.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Coming Home to God’s Love

I am forever an Effect of God.

Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistin­guishable. Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to create [extend Love] like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God.

Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then, forgiven, fade entirely into God’s holy Will. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 326, W-pII.326. See also ACIM Lesson 326 Insights.)

It doesn’t seem like we are just a thought, let alone a Thought in the Mind of God. The world we see was made by the ego to convince us that we are not God’s Thought, but a separate image, distinct and unique from all other images. We believe this is true because we have accepted the ego as our guide. The ego-generated images blind us to the Love of God because Love is God’s only Thought. It has no form, only the oneness of Love that encompasses all That is Real.

God extends the Love He is with His Thought. His Son, our true Self, is God’s Thought of Love. This Thought of Love remains in the Mind of God, our Home. We extend God’s Thought of Love because God has given us all of His attributes. It is time now for us to claim God’s gifts. They belong to us eternally; They are What we are. The Love we are is the effect of Love extending Itself.

To reclaim our true Self, the Son of God, we need to withdraw our allegiance to the ego and its made up images of separation. When we accept the Holy Spirit’s perceptions in place of the ego’s, the images of the world fade and the Light of Love becomes predominant. More and more we remember that we are an effect of Love extending Itself. When our remembrance is complete, the world is transformed and is nowhere to be perceived. We have come Home.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Gift of the Holy Instant

Look at the picture [the ego offers], and realize that death [separation from the Life we live in God] is offered you.

That is why the holy instant is so important in the defense of truth. The truth itself needs no defense, but you do need defense against your acceptance of the gift of death. When you who are truth accept an idea so dangerous to truth, you threaten truth with destruction. And your defense must now be undertaken, to keep truth whole. The power of Heaven, the Love of God, the tears of Christ, and the joy of His eternal Spirit are marshalled to defend you from your own attack. For you attack Them, being part of Them, and They must save you, for They love Themselves.

The holy instant is a miniature of Heaven, sent you from Heaven. …the gift can only be accepted through your willingness to focus all your attention on the picture. The holy instant is a miniature of eternity. It is a picture of timelessness, set in a frame of time.… For as the whole thought system of the ego lies in its gifts, so the whole of Heaven lies in this instant, borrowed from eternity and set in time for you. (A Course in Miracles, T-17.IV.9:11;10;11:1,3-4,8. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

When we believe what the body’s eyes show us in the world, we are valuing the form which hides the only real content — God’s eternal Love. This world of perception is all the ego has to offer as a substitute for Heaven. But it’s all illusions which contain nothing that is real. If we are tempted to value the forms the ego offers, we lose awareness of our eternal unity in Love. Fortunately we are not lost forever in this world of emptiness.

The holy instant is offered by the Holy Spirit to help us remember our eternal Self that has become unknown to us while we value the ego’s substitute illusions. The ego’s illusions are set in time intended to block us from awareness of our true Self in eternal Love. The holy instant is set in time, for that is where we believe we are. But it brings an experience of eternity, our Home, where the strength, peace and joy of Heaven are recognized as real.

We open our mind to the holy instant by pausing to let the peace of God calm our minds and asking for help to see the truth beyond appearances. With this practice we acknowledge that we do not know what true perception is and we are willing to receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of Christ’s vision. Each time we practice this, a false belief is healed and we move closer to accepting that we are God’s Son — Love and nothing else.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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At Home in Love

Let me not see myself as limited.

Let me behold the Son of God today, and witness to his glory. Let me not try to obscure the holy light in him, and see his strength diminished and reduced to frailty; nor perceive the lacks in him with which I would attack his sovereignty.

He is Your Son, my Father. And today I would behold his gentleness instead of my illusions. He is what I am, and as I see him so I see myself. Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last identify with him. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 250, W-pII.250. See also ACIM Lesson 250 Insights.)

To see the Son of God is to see our Self. It shares the limitlessness, strength and peace of God’s Love. It is What we are in truth. When we join with the Holy Spirit, we see What the Holy Spirit sees. We see only Love, for That is What we are. With Holy Spirit’s vision, we look past bodies and forms of the world to see the extension of Love that is God’s Son.

To see a brother as a body is to see him as limited, frail, subject to attack from many fronts. We see this only because we have projected on him what we believe we are. When we see our brother as the Son of God, we are reminded that we are one with him as the Son of God. We have put aside the feverish dreams caused by denial of God’s Love. We have opened our hearts and minds to the truth of What we are.

Every brother in every moment offers us the possibility of remembering we are God’s Son if we see him truly. We accept the opportunity when we let the Holy Spirit heal our misperceptions. We forgive the illusions of our brother and ourselves. And we remember we are God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, at Home in Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Awakening to Eternal Love

God is my strength. Vision is His gift. Let me not look to my own eyes to see today. Let me be willing to exchange my pitiful illusion of seeing for the vision that is given by God. Christ’s vision is His gift, and He has given it to me. Let me call upon this gift today, so that this day may help me to understand eternity.

God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him. I can see what God wants me to see. I cannot see anything else. Beyond His Will lie only illusions. It is these I choose when I think I can see apart from Him. It is these I choose when I try to see through the body’s eyes. Yet the vision of Christ has been given me to replace them. It is through this vision that I choose to see.

God is the light in which I see. I cannot see in darkness. God is the only light. Therefore, if I am to see, it must be through Him. I have tried to define what seeing is, and I have been wrong. Now it is given me to under­stand that God is the light in which I see. Let me welcome vision and the happy world it will show me. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 59, W-pI.59.2-4. See also ACIM Lesson 59 Insights.)

What we see through the body’s eyes seems so real. But this “reality” comes only with our choice to believe in a false image of what we are. We are not a body. The body is part of the dream of being separate from our Creator. We wake up from the dream by giving priority to Christ’s vision and not giving credence to what the body’s eyes see.

The foundation of Christ’s vision is eternal Love. From this standpoint, Christ’s vision sees beyond the images of the dream to the Light of Love that is everywhere. Love is innocent because It can do no harm. Love only extends Itself. When we choose Christ’s vision, we choose Its peace and happiness. We walk in gratitude with Love by choosing to withdraw our investment in the dream and welcoming the Holy Spirit as our Guide in seeing.

He will help us see with Christ’s vision. This vision helps us see the innocence of Love and forgive the mistaken belief that harm or loss is possible. Each time we choose the Holy Spirit’s help and accept His gift of vision, we open our hearts to the peace of God. We awaken from the loveless dream to the eternity of changeless Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Finding the World of Perfect Peace

To be one is to be of one mind or will. When the Will of the Sonship and the Father are One, their perfect accord is Heaven.

Nothing can prevail against a Son of God who commends his spirit into the Hands of his Father. By doing this the mind awakens from its sleep and remembers its Creator. All sense of separation disappears.

The way to correct distortions is to withdraw your faith in them and invest it only in what is true. You cannot make untruth true. If you are willing to accept what is true in everything you perceive, you let it be true for you. Truth overcomes all error, and those who live in error and emptiness can never find lasting solace. If you perceive truly you are cancelling out misperceptions in yourself and in others simultaneously. Because you see them as they are, you offer them your acceptance of their truth so they can accept it for themselves. This is the healing that the miracle induces. (A Course in Miracles, T-3.II.4:5-5:3;6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Believing we are disconnected from God’s Love causes an unsettled feeling, ranging from mild discomfort to rage or terror. This is because we are believing in a dream of a false identity that is disconnected from Love’s oneness. Without the oneness of Love, it feels like we are living in a world with myriad potential opposing forces from which we must protect ourselves. There is nothing stable in this world that we can trust.

Thankfully there is a world of true perception we can count on to be changeless, stable and eternal. True perception comes from accepting the Love we are, our true Self, united as God’s one Son. This oneness is eternal and changeless. This world’s changelessness brings peace with it, for we can trust the reality of Love’s innocence. Those who know they are only Love know they are innocent. From this point of certainty we see truly. We see the innocence in our brothers. Where innocence is accepted without exception, we know we are safe and are at peace. We remember Heaven.

Today we choose the Holy Spirit in our mind, Who represents our true Self, to guide our perceptions, for we would see with the Light of Love.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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