Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 159 I Give the Miracles I Have Received
- No one can give what he has not received. To give a thing requires first you have it in your own possession. Here the laws of Heaven and the world agree. But here they also separate. The world believes that to possess a thing, it must be kept. Salvation teaches otherwise. To give is how to recognize you have received. It is the proof that what you have is yours.
- You understand that you are healed when you give healing. You accept forgiveness as accomplished in yourself when you forgive. You recognize your brother as yourself, and thus do you perceive that you are whole. There is no miracle you cannot give, for all are given you. Receive them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where they are laid and giving them away.
- Christ’s vision is a miracle. It comes from far beyond itself, for it reflects eternal love and the rebirth of love which never dies but has been kept obscure. Christ’s vision pictures Heaven, for it sees a world so like to Heaven that what God created perfect can be mirrored there. The darkened glass the world presents can show but twisted images in broken parts. The real world pictures Heaven’s innocence.
- Christ’s vision is a miracle in which all miracles are born. It is their source, remaining with each miracle you give, and yet remaining yours. It is the bond by which the giver and receiver are united in extension here on earth, as they are one in Heaven. Christ beholds no sin in anyone. And in His sight the sinless are as one. Their holiness was given by His Father and Himself.
- Christ’s vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power can you safely trust to carry you from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seemed quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see.
- This is the Holy Spirit’s single gift; the treasure house to which you can appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to your happiness. All are laid here already. All can be received but for the asking. Here the door is never locked. And no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need. There is no sickness not already healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of Christ.
- Here does the world remember what was lost when it was made. For here it is repaired, made new again, but in a different light. What was to be the home of sin becomes the center of redemption and the hearth of mercy, where the suffering are healed and welcome. No one will be turned away from this new home, where his salvation waits. No one is stranger to him. No one asks for anything of him except the gift of his acceptance of his welcoming.
- Christ’s vision is the holy ground in which the lilies of forgiveness set their roots. This is their home. They can be brought from here back to the world, but they can never grow in its unnourishing and shallow soil. They need the light and warmth and kindly care Christ’s charity provides. They need the love with which He looks on them. And they become His messengers, who give as they received.
- Take from His storehouse, that its treasures may increase. His lilies do not leave their home when they are carried back into the world. Their roots remain. They do not leave their source, but carry its beneficence with them, and turn the world into a garden like the one they came from, and to which they go again with added fragrance. Now are they twice blessed. The messages they brought from Christ have been delivered and returned to them. And they return them gladly unto Him.
- Behold the store of miracles set out for you to give. Are you not worth the gift, when God appointed it be given you? Judge not God’s Son but follow in the way He has established. Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. It is His gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope. Let us an instant dream with Him. His dream awakens us to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to our unlost and everlasting sanctity to God. [1]
Notes and Personal Application: Lately I have been struggling with keeping up with the daily lessons. We were sailing along having our devotions, our grandson Zachary was here with us, then our grandson from Georgia came for two weeks. We were in the middle of some big projects, and as much as we love and appreciated our grandsons, and took many opportunities for fun and relaxation, the one-on-one tutoring sessions with the youngest, extra meals, dishes, laundry, supervision, squabbles, and dirty fingerprints all over everything took a toll on old gramps and gram! Days passed where I did not open my daily journal or do little more than go through a quick review of the daily Course lesson. I began to resent being the spiritual leader of the house. While not exactly pressuring James to start taking more of a lead, I backed off of sharing the Course lessons with them believing it was too far over their heads and I am not placed here on the earth to shove my spiritual path down anybody’s throat.
Taking too much on, falling into bed at night in a physically exhausted stupor, listening to the voice of ego rather then the Voice for God, I began to question my role in God’s plan for salvation. I felt too worldly, too old, too jaded, and tired, pulled in too many different directions, too trapped in the things of the flesh to be of much use to God’s Kingdom. It seemed impossible to put the Course concepts to any practical use in the daily calls for my attention. At one point I got so grumpy I told the kids in no uncertain terms that I didn’t want to hear the word Grammy for the rest of the day, and I told Coltin who was studying poems in his second-grade workbook that I didn’t even want to hear a word from him that rhymed with Grammy!
And yet in all that weariness, in all that ego chatter that would drown out the quiet Voice for God, in all the muscle fatigue – there were the miracles of love, of happiness, of everlasting joy and peace. The quiet moments when Coltin shared with me how he lays in bed at night thinking of God and wanting to shake His hand and thank Him for all His gifts. The love and devotion the older cousins had for the younger, watching him get over his fear of the water and not only go tubing with them, but become quite an aggressive tube rebel, jumping from tube to tube, wresting those great blown up rafts from the grip of his much older cousins. Yelling for Uncle Jared to make the boat go faster and then faster. They taught him to dive. They gathered eggs, saved their leftovers for the chickens and ducks, shoveled holes in the garden for the peas and tomatoes, watered the seedlings, and washed Colette’s Land Cruiser until it shined like new. It seemed a miracle to see the responsible and trustworthy nature Zachary displayed tooling around on the DMV, making sure his little cousin was buckled up, loading and unloading mulch, plants, and rock, growing biceps and triceps instead of sitting on the couch wrapped up in YouTube and games. They helped dig ditches, learned about electricity, solar energy, and geothermal cooling simply by shadowing their Grandpa, asking questions, and pitching in when extra hands were needed. When we started to eat meals without saying a blessing, one or both would remind us to first pray. Tucking them in bed at night with blessings along with their kisses and gratitude along with fatigue was a gift that contributed greatly to our happiness as grandparents. Another gift from the Holy Spirit’s treasure house is the gratitude we have toward our grown children for being able to send the grandkids home when we long for the peace and quiet of having the house to ourselves again!
There are times when writing truthfully about my struggles with A Course in Miracles wears thin with me. I would so love to share what a breeze it has been for me to sail through the lessons and dismiss the ego from my life, and how love, joy, and peace fill my life with the cool salt air as I navigate the waves of life’s sea. In our meeting yesterday, I asked my teacher to pray with me, to show me, to encourage me to want to keep sharing as Holy Spirit has directed me to do, because there are times that exposing the struggle, the calling out of egos, the bringing them to light seems as perilous as handling serpents and exorcising demons. As much as I love the truth; I am all too aware of my addiction to darkness, how much easier it seems to accept this dream as reality and dismiss the Vision of Christ.
Yesterday I asked the Lord if it was necessary for me to keep bringing my darkness to light on a public forum. I told him that I did not think that anybody appreciated me gutting myself anyway – what good could it possibly do to expose my ego struggles to others? We all have the same bullshit to deal with – there is nothing that unique or inspiring about mine. Wouldn’t the brothers be more inspired by my victories than my struggles? If He wanted me to keep doing this, I would, but it would be nice to hear from someone – not a general email with questions or gratitude which are always welcome, but a specific indication that sharing my struggles with the ego were helpful, that disclosing my awkward, sometimes painful processes is required. I would take this as God’s way of telling me to keep on writing about the struggles and forget about trying to make myself look good!
So Patty cakes UK you were the answer to my prayer. Bingo! You wrote. And now I say it, too. Thank you for being an answer to my prayer. In this morning’s devotion, I shared your comments with James. I often think of what it must be like for him, with a mate who discusses her darkness so openly. He is such a private person who rarely talks about his feelings, emotions, or troubles. Today we compared our resistance to bringing our darkness to light to the cluttered, junky closets, cupboards, and sheds we have determined to empty, examine, and organize. What a chore, but how satisfying the results of our labor – for only when we clear the clutter can we appreciate and make room for our treasures.
When we expose the ego, when we bring it to light, when we are no longer willing to dress it up pretty and put a fake smile on it, our minds are no longer the home of separation, of sin, of shame; they become the center of redemption, the hearth of mercy, a place where our illnesses are healed and we offer healing to others.
Today we pray for the Vision of Christ. Today we not only share the miracles we have received; we share the tedious, sometimes excruciating process that brings us to salvation.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 159. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com
the friar patch 