Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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Releasing Ourselves from Guilt

In stillness we will hear God’s Voice today without intrusion of our petty thoughts, without our personal desires, and without all judgment of His holy Word. We will not judge ourselves today, for what we are can not be judged. We stand apart from all the judgments which the world has laid upon the Son of God. It knows him not. Today we will not listen to the world, but wait in silence for the Word of God.

Today He speaks to you. His Voice awaits your silence, for His Word can not be heard until your mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled. Await His Word in quiet. There is peace within you to be called upon today, to help make ready your most holy mind to hear the Voice for its Creator speak. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 125, W-pI.125.3;6. See also ACIM Lesson 125 Insights.)

Most of us have so much chatter going on in our minds that the idea of quieting our minds seems to be a daunting task. Yet we are told that there is a place of quiet in our minds that we can call upon for help. It is in us now, but we must be willing to accept the help. We need to make quieting our mind, at least for some time every day, our highest priority. The ego offers all kinds of excuses to convince us that we can’t take the time; there are too many things to do. But this is just the ego’s defense against our recognition of the quiet peace of our true Self.

Today our top priority is to accept the peace in our minds. We want to hear our true Self assure us that we are safe in Love. We want to remember that we share the holiness of God with all our brothers. We want to see the Christ, the true Self, in every brother. We want to bring release from guilt to all the world, for we want to remember our Self. In quiet we will receive God’s assurance that we are His Son and we remain united with Him in Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Path of Return to Heaven

How can you tell when you are seeing wrong, or someone else is failing to perceive the lesson he should learn? Does pain [of any kind] seem real in the perception? If it does, be sure the lesson is not learned. And there remains an unforgiveness hiding in the mind that sees the pain through eyes the mind directs.

God would not have you suffer thus. He would help you forgive yourself.”

“This is the lesson God would have you learn: There is a way to look on everything that lets it be to you another step to Him, and to salvation of the world. To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:

I will forgive, and this will disappear.

To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame words. And then you hold the key that opens Heaven’s gate, and brings the Love of God the Father down to earth at last, to raise it up to Heaven. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 193, W-pI.193.7:1-8:2;13:1-4. See also ACIM Lesson 193 Insights.)

The daily practice of letting the Holy Spirit help us forgive every perception is the path of return to Heaven. We need do no more than this. When we have reached the point of holding nothing back from Holy Spirit’s loving correction, we stand before the open gates of Heaven. Here God’s Love welcomes us and we remember that we are His one Son, conceived in Love and forever remaining Love.

We dedicate today to accept the Help given us to free ourselves from the mistaken belief that we could be separate from God’s Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Learning the True Meaning of Love

The meaning of love is the meaning God gave to it. Give to it any meaning apart from His, and it is impossible to understand it. God loves every brother as He loves you; neither less nor more. He needs them all equally, and so do you. In time, you have been told to offer miracles as I direct, and let the Holy Spirit bring to you those who are seeking you. Yet in the holy instant you unite directly with God, and all your brothers join in Christ. Those who are joined in Christ are in no way separate. For Christ is the Self the Sonship shares, as God shares His Self with Christ.

Think you that you can judge the Self of God? God has created It beyond judgment, out of His need to extend His Love. With love in you, you have no need except to extend it. In the holy instant there is no conflict of needs, for there is only one [to extend love]. For the holy instant reaches to eternity, and to the Mind of God. And it is only there love has meaning, and only there can it be understood. (A Course in Miracles, T-15.V.10:3-11:6. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

The ego is the denial of Love by its wish for specialness. God loves all equally and is incapable of offering more to one and less to another. The ego’s wish for specialness makes it impossible to know the meaning of Love. The best the ego can offer as a substitute for Love is specialness. This is an empty substitute that will never satisfy our innate need for Love.

Love always extends. That is its nature as a law of God. To attempt to limit Love is to deny Love entirely. In the dream of separation, we have two choices in our search for Love’s meaning. We can search for It in special relationships, which will never satisfy, or we can let the Holy Spirit guide us to extend Love to every brother equally.

The only barrier to extending Love equally is our judgments directed by the ego. It is these judgments we must forgive with the Holy Spirit’s help. Without judgment, we will see the Christ in every brother and know It as our Self. Forgiveness removes the ego’s barriers to Love. As we forgive, we remember Love is in us and Love is What we are.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Messenger of Love

Freedom must be impossible as long as you perceive a body as yourself. The body is a limit. Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not be found. The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly tied to it and sheltered by its presence. If this were the truth, the mind were vulnerable indeed!

The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked. Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached itself to love. It rests in God. And who can be afraid who lives in Innocence, and only loves?”

And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time you say:

I am not a body. I am free.
I hear the Voice that God has given me,
and it is only this my mind obeys.
(A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 199, W-pI.199.1-2;8:7-9). See also ACIM Lesson 199 Insights.

While we perceive ourselves as a body, we serve the ego’s plan to maintain the illusion of separation. It seems as though the body limits us. We seem weak and need to be defended. The practice of reminding ourselves that we are not a body, subject to its limitations, sets us free to identify with the strength of Love in us. The Home of our true Self is the Holy Spirit. As we disconnect from perceiving ourselves as a body, we open to recognizing that we are Spirit in the Mind of Love.

As we remember that we are Spirit, not a body, we use the body in the service of the Holy Spirit. Now the body becomes the means for extending Love in the dream where Love seems to be absent. When we place ourselves in the service of Holy Spirit, we answer calls for Love with Love. We bring blessing to the world by seeing Love’s innocence beyond the appearances that seem to deny Love’s presence. We become messengers of innocence instead of purveyors of fear.

Today we choose the Holy Spirit as our Guide to help us bring Love to the world and teach ourselves that we are Love.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Transcending Appearances to See the Christ

It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do not believe. Perceptions are built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In effect, then, what you believe you do see. That is what I meant when I said, “Blessed are ye who have not seen and still believe,” for those who believe in the resurrection will see it. The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack but by transcendence. For Christ does rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and His Kingdom.

Let the Christ in you interpret for you, and do not try to limit what you see by narrow little beliefs that are unworthy of God’s Son. For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God will see himself as Fatherless.

I am your resurrection and your life. You live in me because you live in God. And everyone lives in you, as you live in everyone. Can you, then, perceive unworthiness in a brother and not perceive it in yourself? And can you perceive it in yourself and not perceive it in God? Believe in the resurrection because it has been accomplished, and it has been accomplished in you. …But make no exceptions yourself, or you will not perceive what has been accomplished for you. For we ascend unto the Father together, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, for such is the nature of God’s Son as his Father created him. (A Course in Miracles, T-11.VI.1;3:9-10;4:1-6,8-9. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)

Beliefs are the foundation of the ego’s perceptions. It is why the ego defends its beliefs with vigilance to the point of violence. The Holy Spirit does not do battle with the ego. Rather the Holy Spirit offers us help to have new experiences through the lessons of the ACIM Workbook for Students and other means. As we have new experiences that are consistent with the Truth, we become willing to replace beliefs based on the ego’s lies with beliefs based on Truth.

As we adjust our beliefs based on experiences under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we resurrect our true Self, the Christ in us. The ego’s denial of the Christ in us fades and the vision of Christ in our minds grows stronger. We see Christ reflected back to us in our brothers as we accept It in ourselves. Even though a brother may seem to act insanely, Christ’s vision is not deceived by the appearance. The Christ in us transcends appearances, knowing that appearances have no substance and have no effect whatsoever on the truth of God’s one Son.

Let us choose Christ’s vision today, that we may share Christ’s resurrection with all our brothers.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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God’s Strength and Love Help Us Forgive

God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.

Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness. Fear condemns and love forgives. Forgiveness thus undoes what fear has produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God. For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation. It is the means by which illusions disappear.

…spend a minute or two in searching your mind for those whom you have not forgiven. It does not matter “how much” you have not forgiven them. You have forgiven them entirely or not at all.

At any time during the day when you become aware of any kind of negative reaction to anyone, present or not… tell him silently:

God is the Love in which I forgive you. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 46, W-pI.46.1-2;3:3-5;7:3-5. See also ACIM Lesson 46 Insights.)

A negative reaction in any situation is a sure sign that we need to forgive. The strength and Love we need to forgive is already in us because God is in us. We are eternally in the Mind of God, for we cannot leave our Source.

The presence of fear or lack of peace comes from the belief that we have left our Source. But we, the Son of God, are His Creation, His extensions of Love, and what God Creates is eternal. Only a false belief, an illusion, makes us unaware of the presence of God in us.

Today we choose to monitor our thoughts. If we notice disturbance to our peace, we will call upon the strength and Love of God in us to help us forgive the appearance of fear. His strength supports us in seeing through illusions to the changeless Love that is our Reality. His Help will remind us that God is the Love in which we forgive and will set us free to be the Love He created us to be.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Fast Track to Our Home in Love

…try to understand and accept what the idea for the day [my only function is the one God gave me] really means. Today’s idea offers you escape from all your perceived difficulties. It places the key to the door of peace, which you have closed upon yourself, in your own hands. It gives you the answer to all the searching you have done since time began.

Try …to arrange your day so that you have set apart the time for God, as well as for all the trivial purposes and goals you will pursue. This is part of the long-range disciplinary training your mind needs, so that the Holy Spirit can use it consistently for the purpose He shares with you.

For the longer practice period, review the idea for the day. Then close your eyes, repeat the idea to yourself once again, and watch your mind carefully to catch whatever thoughts cross it. At first, make no attempt to concentrate only on thoughts related to the idea for the day. Rather, try to uncover each thought that arises to interfere with it. Note each one as it comes to you, with as little involvement or concern as possible, dismissing each one by telling yourself:

This thought reflects a goal that is preventing me from accepting my only function.

After a while, interfering thoughts will become harder to find. Try, however, to continue a minute or so longer, attempting to catch a few of the idle thoughts that escaped your attention before, but do not strain or make undue effort in doing this. Then tell yourself:

On this clean slate let my true function be written for me.

You need not use these exact words, but try to get the sense of being willing to have your illusions of purpose be replaced by truth. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 65, W-pI.65.3;4:3-6:6. See also ACIM Lesson 65 Insights.)

This exercise from ACIM is like daily house cleaning. By doing a little house cleaning daily, your house can be left clean without making it a big project that gets put off. By having a daily practice of setting time apart to be with God and cleaning away our habitual interferences, we open the door to Holy Spirit’s cleaning of our minds. We are encouraged to go lightly with this process so that it isn’t made into a burden that we put off.

Establishing this practice will bring great reward. A mind that is open to Holy Spirit’s lessons in awakening is on the fast track on the journey Home to Love. It leads us to deep peace and lasting happiness.

© 2017, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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