Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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The Way to a Happy, Peaceful Day

The world you see is an illusion of a world.

The body’s eyes are therefore not the means by which the real world can be seen, for the illusions that they look upon must lead to more illusions of reality. ²And so they do. ³For everything [the body’s eyes] see not only will not last, but lends itself to thoughts of sin and guilt. ⁴While everything that God created is forever without sin and therefore is forever without guilt.

²The one correction possible for false perception must be true perception. ³It will not endure. ⁴But for the time it lasts it comes to heal. ⁵For true perception is a remedy with many names. ⁶Forgiveness, salvation, Atonement, true perception, all are one.

This is the shift that true perception brings: What was projected out is seen within, and there forgiveness lets it disappear.

O my brothers, if you only knew the peace that will envelop you and hold you safe and pure and lovely in the Mind of God, you could but rush to meet Him where His altar is. ²Hallowed your Name and His, for they are joined here in this holy place. ³Here He leans down to lift you up to Him, out of illusions into holiness; out of the world and to eternity; out of all fear and given back to love. (A Course in Miracles, C-4.1:1;2;3:2-6;6:1;8:1-3)

If we want true perception, we must be willing to accept the Holy Spirit’s gift of Christ’s vision. His is the vision that sees past the veil of illusions to the presence of Love everywhere. This is the healing everyone in the world yearns for in their heart. For the Love we are desires only to be acknowledged.

The world is the expression of the ego’s denial of Love. All its illusions are built upon the one idea that separation from the Love of God is real. Yet this could never be because only Love is real. Nothing else can exist, except in fantasy.

We choose the vision of Christ today by holding our heart and mind open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Under His lead we will have a joyful, peaceful day.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Teacher of God

⁵God’s teachers appear to be many, for that is what is the world’s need.

Why is the illusion of many necessary? ²Only because reality is not understandable to the deluded. ³Only very few can hear God’s Voice at all, and even they cannot communicate His messages directly through the Spirit which gave them. ⁴They need a medium through which communication becomes possible to those who do not realize that they are spirit. ⁵A body they can see. ⁶A voice they understand and listen to, without the fear that truth would encounter in them. ⁷Do not forget that truth can come only where it is welcomed without fear. ⁸So do God’s teachers need a body, for their unity could not be recognized directly.

Yet what makes God’s teachers is their recognition of the proper purpose of the body. ²As they advance in their profession, they become more and more certain that the body’s function is but to let God’s Voice speak through it to human ears. (A Course in Miracles, M-12.2:5;3:1–4:2)

What do we want to teach? What do we want to learn? These questions are the same, for we learn what we teach. And we teach by demonstrating what we are learning. Whenever we are following the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we are serving as a teacher of God.

It does not matter if we falter in our commitment to following the Holy Spirit’s lead. But we do need to prefer the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The more we practice choosing the Holy Spirit, the less willing we are to be duped by the ego in its insistence on making separation real.

The Holy Spirit always brings the blessing of learning that only Love is real. The more we welcome that blessing, the more we are motivated to teach only Love. We are among the teachers of God who bring healing to the world as we accept healing for ourselves.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Commitment to Forgive

Miracle-minded forgiveness is only correction. ²It has no element of judgment at all. ³The statement “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” in no way evaluates what they do. ⁴It is an appeal to God to heal their minds. ⁵There is no reference to the outcome of the error. ⁶That does not matter.

⁵Time is under my direction, but timelessness belongs to God. ⁶In time we exist for and with each other. ⁷In timelessness we coexist with God.

You can do much on behalf of your own healing and that of others if, in a situation calling for help, you think of it this way:

²I am here only to be truly helpful.
³I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
⁴I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.
⁵I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.
⁶I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. (T-2.V-A.16:1-6;17:5–18:6)

Judgment is the ego’s primary tool to maintain belief in separation. True forgiveness dismisses judgment altogether. It sees beyond form to the eternal presence of Love.

A separate identity is an illusion. Illusions don’t know anything, for they are unreal. When we evaluate any appearance in the world on our own, we are engaging in judgment and believing we are the ego. To free ourselves from the ego’s false image, we must resign as judge. As we turn over all interpretation of appearances to the Holy Spirit, Christ’s vision replaces the ego’s image-making. We see that even the appearance of crucifixion is forgivable because no harm to the Son of God is possible.

When we commit to being truly helpful, we commit to letting the Holy Spirit guide our thoughts and actions. We relinquish judgment to the Holy Spirit. He judges all things as either real or unreal, Love or nothing. With that willingness, we learn of the Love we are, united with the Love of every brother, existing wholely in the Love of God.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Finding Our Treasure in God’s Will

[There is no will but God’s] can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed. ²God’s is the only Will. ³When you have recognized this, you have recognized that your will is His. ⁴The belief that conflict is possible has gone. ⁵Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. ⁶As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His.

There is great peace in today’s idea…. ²The idea itself is wholly true. ³Therefore it cannot give rise to illusions. ⁴Without illusions conflict is impossible.

²There is no will but God’s. ³I cannot be in conflict.

⁴…some related thoughts:

⁵I am at peace.
⁶Nothing can disturb me. ⁷My will is God’s.
⁸My will and God’s are one.
⁹God wills peace for His Son.

Joy characterizes peace. ²By this experience [of joy] will you recognize that you have reached [peace]. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 74, W-74.1:1–2:4;3:2-9;6:1-2. See also ACIM Lesson 74 Insights.)

The ego is in competition with God. It offers its own “will” but it’s only wishful thinking. It is impossible to make fantasies real. Only our belief in fantasies seems to make them real. It is time to withdraw our mistaken beliefs in the ego’s fantasies, for they do not bring us lasting joy and peace. To withdraw our belief, we need to learn we are believing in what is valueless and does not serve our best interests.

We learn this important lesson from the Holy Spirit. First we need to be willing to consider that we do not know what anything means. This opens our willingness to receive the Holy Spirit’s meaning for everything we perceive. As we step back and let Him lead the way, we find our true treasure in the Will we share with God.

It is not loss we will experience when we release our belief in the ego. We gain awareness of the treasure God has given us by sharing His Will with us. We experience His Love, peace and happiness. It is worth the practice of letting the Holy Spirit reinterpret all our perceptions.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Willingness to Accept the Holy Spirit’s Plan

Be humble before Him, and yet great in Him. ²And value no plan of the ego before the plan of God. ³For you leave empty your place in His plan, which you must fill if you would join with me, by your decision to join in any plan but His. ⁴I call you to fulfill your holy part in the plan that He has given to the world for its release from littleness. ⁵God would have His host abide in perfect freedom. ⁶Every allegiance to a plan of salvation apart from Him diminishes the value of His Will for you in your own mind. ⁷And yet it is your mind that is the host to Him.

²This you will recognize in the holy instant, in which you willingly and gladly give over every plan but His. ³For there lies peace, perfectly clear because you have been willing to meet its conditions. ⁴You can claim the holy instant any time and anywhere you want it.

I stand within the holy instant, as clear as you would have me. ²And the extent to which you learn to accept me is the measure of the time in which the holy instant will be yours. ³I call to you to make the holy instant yours at once, for the release from littleness in the mind of the host of God depends on willingness, and not on time. (A Course in Miracles, T-15.IV.3;4:2-4;5. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Every ego plan is based on the same foundation—denial of our unity in God’s Love. By our allegiance to the ego and the specialness it seems to offer, we deny the one and only gift God has given His holy Son—changeless, eternal Love. It is a high price to pay for the little “gifts” of specialness the ego offers.

Beneath the appeal of the ego’s gifts lies the wish for death, for denial of eternal Love is denial of the only Life we live in truth. Every moment of every day we choose between Life and death, Love and specialness.

To choose Life, we need to relinquish the plans we make with the ego. They give us nothing. In their place, we need to welcome the plans offered us by the Holy Spirit. They give us everything, for they return us to the awareness of the gift of Love that is ours now and forever.

Today we practice relinquishing our plans and welcoming the Holy Spirit’s plan for our awakening to Love.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Being a Demonstration of God’s Gifts

³One walks with you Who gently answers all your fears with this one merciful reply, “It is not so.” ⁴He points to all the gifts you have each time the thought of poverty oppresses you, and speaks of His Companionship when you perceive yourself as lonely and afraid.

²…His touch on you has made you like Himself. ³The gifts you have are not for you alone. ⁴What He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give. ⁵This is the lesson that His giving holds, for He has saved you from the solitude you sought to make in which to hide from God. ⁶He has reminded you of all the gifts that God has given you. ⁷He speaks as well of what becomes your will when you accept these gifts, and recognize they are your own.

²Become the living proof of what Christ’s touch can offer everyone. ³God has entrusted all His gifts to you. ⁴Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. ⁵Such is your mission now. ⁶For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. ⁷He has shared His joy with you. ⁸And now you go to share it with the world. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 166, W-166.11:3-4;12:2-7;15:2-8. See also ACIM Lesson 166 Insights.)

Self improvement programs often emphasize being true to yourself. We need to consider what self we are trying to be true to. The ego always tries to put the self it made apart from God first. Yet putting this self first leaves us feeling vulnerable, alone and fearful. This self denies God’s gifts and elevates the ego’s illusions to “truth.” Yet what God did not create cannot be real nor true. Identifying with the ego-made self leaves us feeling isolated, valueless and in need of constant defense. This need not be.

We still have all of God’s gifts, His Love, His peace and joy. Only the ego’s denial has made these gifts unknown to us. Yet the Holy Spirit has been given us to teach us the way to awaken to our true Self, the Son God created one with Him.

Today we choose to welcome His gentle touch. We choose to accept Christ’s vision which shows us the eternal presence of Love everywhere, beyond the ego’s veil of denial. We choose to accept the gifts God has entrusted to us.

As we claim these gifts for our self, we teach our brothers by our demonstration of the happiness and peace we have accepted. The Light of Love in us shines brighter and illuminates the minds of our brothers as It illuminates ours, for we are one. Today we welcome God’s gifts by putting our true Self first, remembering It is our Identity.

© 2021, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Claiming the Strength of God as Ours

The choice you make today is certain. ²For you look for the last time upon this bit of carven stone [ego/fear] you made, and call it god no longer. …⁶And you return to a new world, unburdened by [the ego’s] weight; beheld not in its sightless eyes, but in the vision that your choice restored to you.

Now do your eyes belong to Christ, and He looks through them. ²Now your voice belongs to God and echoes His. ³And now your heart remains at peace forever. ⁴You have chosen Him in place of idols, and your attributes [of Love], given by your Creator, are restored to you at last. ⁵The Call for God is heard and answered. ⁶Now has fear made way for Love, as God Himself replaces cruelty.

Father, we are like You. ²No cruelty abides in us, for there is none in You. ³Your peace is ours. ⁴And we bless the world with what we have received from You alone. ⁵We choose again, and make our choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. ⁶We bring them Your salvation as we have received it now. ⁷And we give thanks for them who render us complete. ⁸In them we see Your glory, and in them we find our peace. ⁹Holy are we because Your Holiness has set us free. ¹⁰And we give thanks. ¹¹Amen. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 170, W-170.11:1-2,6–13:11. See also ACIM Lesson 170 Insights.)

Our true Self is the Son of God. This Self shares the strength of God, the only Source of strength. Nothing but a fantasy seems to offer an alternative to the Self that lives in the Heart of God. Having no strength of its own, this self needs constant defense, fearful of its annihilation. It is afraid of Love.

This self uses judgment to project the source of its perceived fear onto others. This is why most people find it easier to say “I hate” than “I love.” Hate is perceived as the great protector of this little self. Yet all it does is proclaim weakness as true.

It is time to make another choice. We can choose the strength of God in us by letting the Holy Spirit judge all things on our behalf. His judgment sees past false perceptions, dismissing them as meaningless. He brings Christ’s vision to see the eternal presence of Love in all things everywhere. He sees only the truth. Here there is certain safety. As we accept this vision, we rest in quiet joy, at Home in the Heart of God.

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