Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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The Path to Love and Gratitude

We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no living thing, and therefore one with Him. And we rejoice that no exceptions ever can be made which would reduce our wholeness, nor impair or change our function to complete the One Who is Himself completion. We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we offer thanks for nothing, and we fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.

Our gratitude will pave the way to Him, and shorten our learning time by more than you could ever dream of. Gratitude goes hand in hand with love, and where one is the other must be found. For gratitude is but an aspect of the Love which is the Source of all creation. God gives thanks to you, His Son, for be­ing what you are; His Own completion and the Source of love, along with Him. Your gratitude to Him is one with His to you. For love can walk no road except the way of gratitude, and thus we go who walk the way to God. (W-pI.195.6;10)

The path to Love and gratitude is through forgiveness. Every grievance denies Love, for it is a judgment against It. Love does not condemn. It sees only Itself everywhere and in everyone, for Love is one.

Today we practice bringing all our grievances, all our judgmental thoughts, to the Holy Spirit for His help.  He will help us recognize what is true and what is false, real and unreal. He will inspire us to see past the unreal and welcome Love. This practice will help us live in gratitude every day, for it heals our grievances and returns us to Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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God’s Plan for Our Return to Love

Changes are required in the minds of God’s teachers. This may or may not involve changes in the external situation. Remember that no one is where he is by accident, and chance plays no part in God’s plan. It is most unlikely that changes in attitudes would not be the first step in the newly made teacher of God’s training. There is, however, no set pattern, since training is always highly individualized. There are those who are called upon to change their life situation almost immediately, but these are generally special cases. By far the majority are given a slowly evolving training program, in which as many previous mistakes as possible are corrected. Relationships in particular must be properly perceived, and all dark cornerstones of unforgiveness removed. Otherwise the old thought system still has a basis for return.

As the teacher of God advances in his training, he learns one lesson with increasing thoroughness. He does not make his own decisions; he asks his Teacher for His answer, and it is this he follows as his guide for action. This becomes easier and easier, as the teacher of God learns to give up his own judgment. The giving up of judgment, the obvious prerequisite for hearing God’s Voice, is usually a fairly slow process, not because it is difficult, but because it is apt to be perceived as personally insulting. The world’s training is directed toward achieving a goal in direct opposition to that of our curriculum. The world trains for reliance on one’s judgment as the criterion for maturity and strength. Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation. (A Course in Miracles, M-9)

Love makes no comparisons; It sees only Itself everywhere. The ego is constantly comparing to see differences as the basis for judgment. Like Love, the ego also sees only itself, but cleverly covers this reflection with forms that appear to be separate and different from itself.

Every situation and relationship reflects back to us what we believe about ourselves. If we believe we are the ego with a separate identity, our beliefs are reflected back to us. The ego uses this “reflection” to confirm separation and justify judgment. The Holy Spirit uses this reflection to show us our beliefs that need healing.

Each of us carries our own unique set of beliefs about what we are and our reality. Thus the Holy Spirit’s curriculum for healing is highly individualized to help us heal our mistaken beliefs and awaken to our true Identity as Love and nothing else.

As we are willing to open our minds to the Holy Spirit’s lessons, we experience increasing peace and happiness. Our recognition of Love in our brothers and ourselves increases. We are slower to judge and quicker to release our judgments. Our minds heal as we welcome the Holy Spirit to judge all things on our behalf. We increasingly accept the fact that we do not know what anything means without the Holy Spirit’s help.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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A Journey to Joy

God’s teachers are wholly gentle. They need the strength of gentleness, for it is in this that the function of salvation becomes easy.

Joy is the inevitable result of gentleness [non-judgment]. Gentleness means that fear is now impossible, and what could come to interfere with joy? The open hands of gentleness are always filled. The gentle have no pain. They cannot suffer. Why would they not be joyous? They are sure they are beloved and must be safe. Joy goes with gentleness as surely as grief attends attack. God’s teachers trust in Him. And they are sure His Teacher goes before them, making sure no harm can come to them. They hold His gifts and follow in His way, because God’s Voice directs them in all things. Joy is their song of thanks. And Christ looks down on them in thanks as well. His need of them is just as great as theirs of Him. How joyous it is to share the purpose of salvation! (A Course in Miracles, M-4.IV.2:1-2;V.1)

There is only one thing we need to do to be wholly joyous. But while we identify with the body, it seems to be the most difficult. We must give up all judgment, for Love does not condemn. The Love we are sees only Love. Judgment denies our true Identity and looks upon a world devoid of Love. It is a dream world that denies the reality of Love.

Judgment denies the Voice for Love. The very means to free us from the world of pain and fear is blocked from our awareness when we judge a brother as separate and different from ourselves.

Let’s join together by starting our day with expressing our willingness to let Love guide our thoughts and actions throughout the day. We support this dedication with frequent pauses, perhaps hourly, to step back from our perceptions and welcome peace into our minds. In peace we welcome the Holy Spirit’s vision to heal our judgmental misperceptions.

This practice opens our hearts and minds to the joy of Love. It allows the Holy Spirit to share His vision which shows the presence of Love in our brothers and overlooks the divisive images that seem to justify judgment. It is a practice that will return us to our joyous Home in the Heart of God.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting Our Mind Return to Love

The only purpose worthy of your mind this world contains is that you pass it by, without delaying to perceive some hope where there is none. Be you deceived no more. The world you see holds nothing that you want.

Pause and be still a little while, and see how far you rise above the world, when you release your mind from chains and let it seek the level where it finds itself at home. It will be grateful to be free a while. It knows where it belongs. But free its wings, and it will fly in sureness and in joy to join its holy purpose. Let it rest in its Creator, there to be restored to sanity, to freedom and to love.

Give it ten minutes rest three times today. And when your eyes are opened afterwards, you will not value anything you see as much as when you looked at it before. Your whole perspec­tive on the world will shift by just a little, every time you let your mind escape its chains. The world is not where it belongs. And you belong where it would be, and where it goes to rest when you release it from the world. Your Guide is sure. Open your mind to Him. Be still and rest. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 128, W-pI.128.2:3-5;6-7. See also ACIM Lesson 128 Insights.)

A hot air balloon rises to the level where its buoyancy is in balance with the atmosphere. Love is the only atmosphere where the mind of our true Self is in balance with Its surroundings. Love is our only Home. This is the only Source of true happiness and peace that cannot be disturbed. This is everything we want. There is nothing else.

The world we experience as a body offers no lasting peace, only fleeting moments of seeming happiness and special love which denies the oneness of God’s Love. We do not really want this world. Only the mistaken belief that it holds something of value binds us to the world.

Today we pause to open our mind to the presence of God’s Love. In this pause, we experience an inkling of what our real Home offers in place of the ego’s substitute. It touches our heart, calling to us to return to Love. The value we have given the things of the world fades as the attraction of Love grows stronger each time we pause. We return to this world with the Light of Love that brightens our thoughts and feelings. We bring this Light with us into the world.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Choosing the Path to Return to Love

When you made visible [images of separation] what is not true, what is true [Love’s oneness] became invisible to you. Yet it cannot be invisible in itself, for the Holy Spirit sees it with perfect clarity. It is invisible to you because you are looking at something else. …What can be seen is what the Holy Spirit sees. The definition of reality is God’s, not yours.

Because of your Father’s Love you can never forget Him, for no one can forget what God Himself placed in his memory. You can deny it, but you cannot lose it. A Voice will answer every question you ask, and a vision will correct the perception of everything you see. For what you have made invisible is the only truth, and what you have not heard is the only Answer. God would reunite you with yourself, and did not abandon you in your distress. You are waiting only for Him, and do not know it. Yet His memory shines in your mind and cannot be obliterated. It is no more past than future, being forever always.

…the memory of God cannot shine in a mind that has obliterated it and wants to keep it so. For the memory of God can dawn only in a mind that chooses to remember, and that has relinquished the insane desire to control reality. (A Course in Miracles, T-12.VIII.3:1-3,5-6;4;5:3. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

It’s good news that no matter how entranced we may be by the dream of separation, we cannot lose the memory of God. We just need to interrupt the trance of belief in separation. On our own, we do not know how to do this. But we have the Answer to this dilemma, ever present in our mind.

God’s promise of His unbreakable connection with His Son guarantees that we have a path for return to remember our unity with Him in His eternal Love. We are not condemned to an existence in a world of suffering, loss, fear and guilt. But we have to be willing to listen to His Answer.

Willingness comes as we recognize that we do not really want the dream world we have made. There is a better way. The Guide to this better way is in our mind. Let’s join together in the practice of pausing in the midst of our discomfort, pain and fear to let His inspiration show us the reality of Love. This inspiration brings the Light of Love to our mind and dispels the false images that denied Love’s presence. With His help, we can choose the path that leads us Home to Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Restoring Love to Our Awareness

The past is over. It can touch me not.

Unless the past is over in my mind, the real world must escape my sight. For I am really looking nowhere; seeing but what is not there. How can I then perceive the world forgiveness offers? This the past was made to hide, for this the world that can be looked on only now. It has no past. For what can be forgiven but the past, and if it is forgiven, it is gone.

Father, let me not look upon a past that is not there. For You have offered me Your Own replacement, in a present world the past has left untouched and free of sin. Here is the end of guilt. And here am I made ready for Your final step. Shall I demand that You wait longer for Your Son to find the loveliness You planned to be the end of all his dreams and all his pain? (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 289, W-pII.289. See also ACIM Lesson 289 Insights.)

Judgment is the ego’s mechanism for projecting the past onto the present. This projection hides the only reality that is now—Love. Judgment depends upon perceiving separation and believing it is real. This belief denies the oneness of Love and makes It unknown to us.

To restore Love to our awareness, we need to let go of the past through forgiveness. This is why the Course’s central focus is on forgiveness. It is the means for restoring our mind to the awareness of Love’s oneness. We are so entrenched in the beliefs of the ego thought system that we need to ask for help from the Teacher Who knows that only Love is real.

We cannot use the ego’s logic to forgive because this logic is based upon a false premise and leads to a meaningless result. The false premise is that separation is real. The ego’s version of forgiveness does not forget the past.

Today we ask the Holy Spirit for His help to release the past from our split mind. We want His help to heal the split and unite us with all our brothers in the peace and joy of the Love. As we accept His help, the conflict and fear engendered by the past fade and Love lights our mind.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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There Is Nothing to Fear in Love’s Presence

Appearances deceive, but can be changed. Reality is changeless. It does not deceive at all, and if you fail to see beyond appearances you are deceived. …Reality is changeless. It is this that makes it real, and keeps it separate from all appearances. It must transcend all form to be itself. It cannot change.

What is temptation but a wish to make illusions real? …Temptation, then, is nothing more than this; a prayer the miracle touch not some dreams, but keep their unreality obscure and give to them reality instead.

There is no miracle you cannot have when you desire healing. But there is no miracle that can be given you unless you want it. Choose what you would heal, and He Who gives all miracles has not been given freedom to bestow His gifts upon God’s Son.

Because reality is changeless is a miracle already there to heal all things that change, and offer them to you to see in happy form, devoid of fear.

Be not made guilty and afraid when you are tempted by a dream of what [your brother] is. But do not give it power to replace the changeless in him in your sight of him. There is no false appearance but will fade, if you request a miracle instead. There is no pain from which he is not free, if you would have him be but what he is. (A Course in Miracles, T-30.VIII.1:1-3,6-9;3:1,4;4:5-7;5:1;6:3-6. See also ACIM Text Made Simple.)

Reality is Love because only Love is real. Love has no form and therefore cannot be perceived when we believe appearances are real. When we believe a brother is a body and we are a body, we are blind to the presence of changeless Love. Without awareness of Love, fear is inevitable.

We perceive based on what we believe we are. Appearances fade from view as we accept the Holy Spirit’s lessons which teach us that we are Love and nothing else — our changeless Reality. We welcome the miracle of a changed of mind when we welcome the Holy Spirit’s lesson that shows us the presence of Love beyond the appearances of the world.

There is nothing to fear in Love’s presence. Only the joy that comes as we welcome our unity with our brothers at Home together in God. This is our eternal Reality. As the images of the world no longer deceive us, we see past them. We experience Love’s blessing as we bring Love to the world.

Today we welcome the Holy Spirit’s lessons in Love, for we would remember we are God’s Son in Whom He is well pleased.

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