Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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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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God Is Our Rock

I have no cause for anger or for fear, For You surround me. And in every need That I perceive, Your grace suffices me.

Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surround­ing me is everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I share with You. What need have I for anger or for fear? Surrounding me is perfect safety. Can I be afraid, when Your eternal promise goes with me? Surrounding me is perfect sinlessness. What can I fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own?

God’s grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 348, W-pII.348. See also ACIM Lesson 348 Insights.)

Our true Self is held safely in the eternal presence of Love. We do not feel this safety and Love because we believe we are a false identity that denies the Love we are. We free ourselves from this false identity by forgiving or letting go of the wish to have more than everything, to have more than all of God’s Love. 

This lesson assures us that it doesn’t matter that we believe in a false identity. This mistake has no effect on the Self God created one with Him. By His grace His Will does not allow us to be denied His gift. We are His Son eternally. This prayer could be memorized and repeated many times a day to help us remember we remain safe, no matter what appears in the world.

God is our rock, our eternal Foundation, our Home. We rest safely in Him.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Two Steps to Peace of Mind

Christ’s vision has one law. It does not look upon a body, and mistake it for the Son whom God created. It beholds a light beyond the body; an idea beyond what can be touched, a purity undimmed by errors, pitiful mistakes, and fearful thoughts of guilt from dreams of sin. It sees no separation. And it looks on everyone, on every circumstance, all happenings and all events, without the slightest fading of the light it sees.

This can be taught; and must be taught by all who would achieve it. [Christ’s vision] requires but the recognition that the world can not give anything that faintly can compare with this in value; nor set up a goal that does not merely disappear when this has been perceived. And this you give today: See no one as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness.”

…remember in your brother you but see yourself. If he be lost in sin, so must you be; if you see light in him, your sins have been forgiven by yourself. Each brother whom you meet today pro­vides another chance to let Christ’s vision shine on you, and offer you the peace of God. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 158, W-pI.158.7-8;10:3-5. See also ACIM Lesson 158 Insights.)

The body was made by the ego to exclude awareness of the reality of our true Self. If we want to experience the peace of God, we must not give any credence to what the body sees or experiences. Whenever our peace of mind is disturbed, we need to remind ourselves that we do not know what anything in the world means.

That is the first step in the process of waking up from the dream. We must then ask the Holy Spirit to show us Christ’s vision which sees past appearances in the world. This is how we let the Light of Love shine through the appearances to see that our brother is one with us in holiness. As we accept this vision, we take another step toward awakening to our true Self and the peace of God.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Remembering the Peace of God Is Ours

Today the peace of God envelops me, And I forget all things except His Love.

Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all things. And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has stepped aside today. I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. I would forget all things except Your Love. I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law of love. And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own.

And when the evening comes today, we will remember noth­ing but the peace of God. For we will learn today what peace is ours, when we forget all things except God’s Love. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 346, W-pII.346. See also ACIM Lesson 346 Insights.)

The ego is the idea that it is possible to have something other than Love. Possession of these things—special relationships, status, wealth, even illness—establishes our value in the world. But because only Love is real, the things the ego offers have no real value.

When we are willing to forget the ego and all it offers and remember only Love, we choose Reality over illusions. We remember our true Self. We remember God. We remember our eternal Home in the peace of God’s Love.

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

Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is The weapon I would use against myself, To keep the miracle away from me.

Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my will to have. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick. But You have offered freedom, and I choose to claim Your gift today. And so I give all judgment to the One You gave to me to judge for me. He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. He looks on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed. He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness. Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me.

Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son He loves. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 347, W-pII.347. See also ACIM Lesson 347 Insights.)

In the dream of separation judgment is necessary, but not as the ego judges. The belief in separation has made illusions that hide the presence of Love that is eternally in us. We have been given the Holy Spirit Whose function is to judge all things on our behalf.

His judgment is very simple. He looks upon our pain, our sorrow, our sickness and our guilt and judges them all as unreal. As we learn to accept His judgment as our own, the shadows of separation fade as the Light of Love enlightens our mind more and more. His judgments on our behalf realign our mind with our true Will, which we share with God.

Our vocation within the dream is very simple—to let the Holy Spirit judge all things on our behalf. Our reluctance to do this comes from the belief that we do not want God’s Will for us. We do not want His gifts of Love, peace and joy. We perceive accepting our true Will as loss of the specialness we treasure. We do not realize the fearful and deadly consequence of this choice.

The Holy Spirit is kind and gentle. He does not demand that we give up our preference for specialness all at once. But as we practice letting the Holy Spirit judge all things, we learn that specialness is replaced by everlasting Love, joy beyond description and perfect peace. Gradually we realize that we really do prefer the Will we share with God. We are less willing to accept the price of specialness. We awaken to Love.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Forgiveness That Ends All Grievances

This holy instant is salvation come.

What joy there is today! It is a time of special celebration. For today holds out the instant to the darkened world where its release is set. The day has come when sorrows pass away and pain is gone. The glory of salvation dawns today upon a world set free. This is the time of hope for countless millions. They will be united now, as you forgive them all. For I will be forgiven by you today.

We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again. Father, Your Son, who never left, returns to Heaven and his home. How glad are we to have our sanity restored to us, and to remember that we all are one. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 241, W-pII.241. See also ACIM Lesson 241 Insights.)

The ego is a grievance against God. It is like a rebellious teenager, unwilling to accept the universal gifts of joy and peace our Father gives to His Son. The ego is the wish to have a unique domain it can call its own without interference from God’s Will of joy, peace and Love. So it makes up a world that must exclude God’s gifts. This is a world of sorrow, conflict, fear and death that overshadows God’s Universe of eternal joy, peace and Love.

All the images and experiences of this made-up world represent the core grievance against accepting God’s gifts. Every time we experience unhappiness, guilt and fear, even in the form of the slightest sigh of frustration, is based upon the ego’s core grievance against God. It cannot forgive God for not yielding to its demand for specialness because it would mean the ego would cease to seem to exist.

Each time we forgive a mistaken perception, a false belief, we make way for the acceptance of God’s joy. All those forms that must be forgiven pass as we let the Holy Spirit teach us to see with the eyes of Love. We gradually learn that all the different things that need forgiveness are really just disguises for the one grievance behind them all. When forgiveness is complete, our grievance against God is let go. We release the world to let Love be our one Reality. We celebrate in joy, for we have returned Home.

© 2020, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Letting Love Correct Our Misperceptions

I am in danger nowhere in the world.

Your Son is safe wherever he may be, for You are there with him. He need but call upon Your Name, and he will recollect his safety and Your Love, for they are one. How can he fear or doubt or fail to know he cannot suffer, be endangered, or experience unhappiness, when he belongs to You, beloved and loving, in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace?

And there we are in truth. No storms can come into the hal­lowed haven of our home. In God we are secure. For what can come to threaten God Himself, or make afraid what will forever be a part of Him? (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 244, W-pII.244. See also ACIM Lesson 244 Insights.)

We are forever part of God. Our true Self is already safe in His changelessness. Our only problem is a mistaken belief that we have separated from our Father and left the safety of our Home.

This belief is the cause of our experiences of fear and guilt, loneliness and loss, sickness and death in the world. The belief in separation can only be maintained in a dream that cannot change Reality. But this dream makes us unaware of our eternal safety in God. We need to awaken from the nightmare. We have a kind and loving Presence in our mind Who sees our fitful dreams and knows they are not true.

In every moment we can turn to Him for help. He knows how to translate our perceptions in the dream to a bridge that leads to our acceptance of the Love beyond the dream. Today we choose the Presence of Love as our Guide to lead us Home.

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