Daily Inspiration for Living A Course in Miracles

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True Love Is Naturally Generous

The teacher of God is generous out of Self interest. This does not refer, however, to the self of which the world speaks. The teacher of God does not want anything he cannot give away, because he realizes it would be valueless to him by definition. What would he want it for? He could only lose because of it. He could not gain. Therefore he does not seek what only he could keep, because that is a guarantee of loss. He does not want to suffer. Why should he ensure himself pain? But he does want to keep for himself all things that are of God, and therefor for His Son. These are the only things that belong to him. These he can give away in true generosity, protecting them forever for himself. (A Course in Miracles, M-4.VII.2)

A key point the Course makes is that giving and receiving are the same. This is true because only the oneness of Love is real. The only thing there is to give is Love. When we offer Love to a brother we are giving It to ourselves because we are only offering It to our one Self. We are united with our brother in that Self. This is why generosity is a natural attribute of our Self. We give Love freely and experience Its blessing in return.

This giving is impossible in the ego thought system of separation. To the ego, giving away must involve loss of what we give. To the ego, giving can be used as a bargaining chip to gain something we value. In commerce we give money to gain something we want. In relationships we look for ways to give attention or expressions the ego calls loving, but with an expectation of a return of something of value from the other person. This is not generosity but bargaining. Within the belief system of separation, it is impossible to see that giving and receiving are the same because everyone is seen as having separate interests.

Through forgiveness we learn to see the truth that our brothers are one with us in Love. We join with the Holy Spirit to give only Love. We answer calls for Love with Love.

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

Truth answers every call we make to God, Responding first with miracles, and then Returning unto us to be Itself.

Forgiveness, truth’s reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be:

“Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed.” (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 357, W-pII.357. See also ACIM Lesson 357 Insights.)

Forgiveness works at the level of perception. That is why forgiveness is a reflection, in the world of perception, of the oneness of God’s Love. In oneness, there is no “other” to perceive. But we believe we are in a world of perception. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s teaching aid to help us change our perception from the ego’s frame of reference — its judgments and divisiveness.

As we lay down the ego’s barriers to Love, we see the Love in our brother reflected back to us and we learn that we are Love. Forgiveness shows us the innocence of our brother. This vision heals our guilt because we see that the truth in our brother and ourselves is one and the same. Forgiveness frees us from the ego’s hell of separation and opens the door to recognizing our Self at Home in God.

Today we practice bring all our perceptions to the Holy Spirit for his loving correction.

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

[Light] is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source. It shines in you because It lights your home, and leads you back to where It came from and you are at Home.

This light can not be lost.

The peace of God is shining in you now, and from your heart extends around the world. It pauses to caress each living thing, and leaves a blessing with it that remains forever and forever.

Sit quietly and close your eyes. The Light within you is sufficient. It alone has power to give the gift of sight to you. Exclude the outer world, and let your thoughts fly to the peace within. They know the way. For honest thoughts, untainted by the dream of worldly things outside yourself, become the holy messengers of God Himself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 188, W-pI.188.1:7-2:1;3:1-2;6. See also ACIM Lesson 188 Insights.)

Love created us like Itself. Because only Love is real and Love is one, nothing outside of Love exists. The world is just the ego’s dream of excluding Love that could never be true. Though we engage in the loveless dream, the Light of Love remains within us, hidden only by illusions which deny Love. Despite our denial, Love is still within us. It shines unbroken in the reality of God’s Love.

Because the world denies Love, the mechanisms for seeing in the world cannot see the Light of Love. We need to turn within and welcome the Holy Spirit’s vision, seen through Love’s Light. Love does not condemn so forgiveness releases judgments and clears the way for Love’s Light to shine forth.

Today we ask the Holy Spirit within to help us see as He sees. His vision will show us Love’s peace, not only within our own mind, but in our unity with the mind of every brother. With His help we will see the peace of God is shining in us now.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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The Path of Return to Love

Love is one. It has no separate parts and no degrees; no kinds nor levels, no divergencies and no distinctions. It is like itself, unchanged throughout. It never alters with a person or a circumstance. It is the Heart of God, and also of His Son.

Love’s meaning is obscure to anyone who thinks that love can change. He does not see that changing love must be impossible. And thus he thinks that he can love at times, and hate at other times. He also thinks that love can be bestowed on one, and yet remain itself although it is withheld from others. To believe these things of love is not to understand it. If it could make such distinctions, it would have to judge between the righteous and the sinner, and perceive the Son of God in separate parts.

Love cannot judge. As it is one itself, it looks on all as one. Its meaning lies in oneness. And it must elude the mind that thinks of it as partial or in part. There is no love but God’s, and all of love is His. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 127, W-pI.127.1:3-3:5. See also ACIM Lesson 127 Insights.)

The ego has distorted Love to serve its fundamental purpose of separation. As long as we believe separation is real, we cannot fully experience the Love of God, true Love. There is a simple solution to this fundamental error in perception — forgiveness. Forgiveness is the practice of letting go of mistaken beliefs that cause perception of differences and separation.

Forgiveness seems difficult because we believe we are bodies. They seem capable of harming each other, physically and emotionally. It seems that judgment is necessary for our protection and survival. This plays well into the ego’s strategy to maintain separation. But it only serves to reinforce the hell of lovelessness.

If we practice consistently asking the Holy Spirit to guide our perceptions every day, all day, the ego’s manipulations will become less appealing. We learn to recognize the safety that comes when we see with the vision of Christ instead of the ego’s myopic vision.

Today is another opportunity to choose the Holy Spirit as our Guide in all things. His guidance will help us be the Love we were created to be and see It in our brothers.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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How to Experience the Flow of Love

Father, I must return Your Love for me, for giving and receiving are the same, and You have given all Your Love to me. I must return it, for I want [Your Love] mine in full awareness, blazing in my mind and keeping it within its kindly light, inviolate, beloved, with fear behind and only peace ahead. How still the way Your loving Son is led along to You!

Brother, we find that stillness now. The way is open. Now we follow it in peace together. You have reached your hand to me, and I will never leave you. We are one, and it is but this oneness that we seek, as we accomplish these few final steps which end a journey that was not begun. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 225, W-pII.225. See also ACIM Lesson 225 Insights.)

God does not demand that we love Him. In the oneness of Love, giving and receiving are the same. To be aware of the limitless Love God gives us, we must extend Love. Otherwise we block the flow of Love and cannot experience God’s limitless Gift.

A holy relationship, in which the barriers to Love’s presence have been forgiven, opens our awareness to the experience of the natural flow of giving and receiving Love. We feel the joy of extending Love and the peace of resting in Love’s presence. We love God as we love the truth in our brothers, for they are one and the same. If we judge our brother, we judge against God. As we let Christ’s vision show us the Love that is our brother, we love God and remember Heaven.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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From Conflict to Peace and Happiness

How thoroughly insane is the idea that [the way] to defend from fear is to attack! For here is fear begot and fed with blood, to make it grow and swell and rage. And thus is fear protected, not es­caped. Today we learn a lesson which can save you more delay and needless misery than you can possibly imagine. It is this:

You make what you defend against, and by your own defense against it is it real [to you] and inescapable. Lay down your arms, and only then do you perceive [what you defend against as] false.

…love would ask you lay down all defense as merely foolish. And your arms indeed would crumble into dust. For such they are.

Father, we are like You. No cruelty abides in us, for there is none in You. Your peace is ours. And we bless the world with what we have received from You alone. We choose again, and make our choice for all our brothers, knowing they are one with us. We bring them Your salva­tion as we have received it now. And we give thanks for them who render us complete. In them we see Your glory, and in them we find our peace. Holy are we because Your Holiness has set us free. And we give thanks. Amen. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 170, W-pI.170.2;5:4-6;13. See also ACIM Lesson 170 Insights.)

The ego thought system is alien to the oneness of Love that is our true Self. Because only Love is real, the ego cannot be real. But if we give our allegiance to the ego, Love becomes an enemy, something that must be protected from to maintain ego’s seeming existence.

The ego’s world is the stage upon which this conflict is acted out. Its seeming existence depends solely on our allegiance to it. We worship the ego as if it were our “creator,” which it believes it is. But what the ego made is not real. It is merely a false image, an idol made to substitute for God’s Creation.

This idol hides God’s Creation, but does not obliterate it. The truth of What we are is unaffected by our illusions. In every instant we can choose again. We can withdraw our allegiance from the ego and accept the Love we have always been. Every time we forgive a perceived offense, we lay down our armature and accept the presence of Love in our brothers and our Self. Our peace and happiness grows.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. http://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Building Trust in God’s Promise

I need but call and You will answer me.

I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. This is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.

Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experi­ence, if I but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not. Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 327, W-pII.327. See also ACIM Lesson 327 Insights.)

God’s promise is to help us find our way out of the ego’s world of separation. We accept His promise by testing the means He has given us to lead us out of the illusion and return us Home to our oneness in Love. The Holy Spirit in our mind is that means. He will show us how to view the world without judgment and pre-established interpretations. But we must be willing to accept the help that is offered.

The 365 workbook lessons provide tools to help us accept the Holy Spirit’s help. As we learn to accept that we do not know what anything means on our own, our willingness to receive an answer increases. He teaches us to recognize the ego’s many defenses that keep us believing we are the ego and the body is our identity.

We learn the benefit of setting aside our mistaken identity and uniting with the peace, joy and Love of our true Self. Each lesson is carefully designed to help us release the layers of guilt and fear that keep us bound to a false identity. As we practice these lessons with an open mind and willingness to learn, we build trust in God’s promise to help us remember our Will is His and all He is belongs to us. Loss and harm are impossible. Only Love is our Reality and Identity. The more we practice, the more our trust builds. God’s plan is guaranteed to work; we just need to get out of the way.

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