Part II:1 WHAT IS FORGIVENESS?
Lesson 230 Now Will I Seek and Find the Peace of God.
- In peace I was created. And in peace do I remain. It is not given me to change my Self. How merciful is God my Father, that when He created me He gave me peace forever. Now I ask but to be what I am. And can this be denied me when it is forever true?
- Father, I seek the peace You gave as mine in my creation. What was given then must be here now, for my creation was apart from time, and still remains beyond all change. The peace in which Your Son was born into Your Mind is shining there unchanged. I am as You created me. I need but call on You to find the peace You gave. It is Your Will that gave it to Your Son.[1]
Personal Notes and Application: Just as we are created by Love and for Love and to be Love, so were we created in peace. We thrive on peace. We live forever in peace. Without peace we go insane, we lose our minds, we are stressed and tormented, we worry and fret, our sleep is troubled, there is a permanent scowl etched upon our foreheads, a downward turn to our mouths, a droop in our shoulders, a heaviness in our hearts. One of the saddest things about being raised in an unpeaceful home is that kids grow up thinking that chaos, squabbling, noisiness, melodrama, and unrest is the norm and something in which to pattern one’s life after. There are those who actually become addicted to the adrenalin rush of onslaught, who despise the quiet, the blissful, the serene. We have all had the friend or family members in our lives that cannot stand when people are getting along, who thrive on stirring up trouble, bringing up old grudges, telling lies, and spreading rumors in order to keep peace at bay.
When we lay down the selves we have made and take up our real Self in God, we begin to cherish peace. No longer do we have to flit from one activity to the other trying to find meaning, purpose, or entertainment. No longer do we have to find a cause in which to latch unto to give our life meaning and to keep our blood pressure up against a supposed enemy. We embrace the peace in which we were created, the peace which was given to us when we were created, the peace which is still shining there inside our minds, calling to us to be still and know that we are one with God.
Peace is where we find God. We do not find God in our banners, in our war songs, in our patriotism, or in our politics. We do not find peace in our denominations, our religious cults, or our spiritual leaders. We find peace when we seek God, for God’s peace is the only peace.
It is the duty of every single person to seek and find the peace of God. There can be no troublemaking in God’s Kingdom. There can be no competition over who is smarter, bigger, better, more evolved, or has the best ideas about how to run the planet. In God’s Kingdom we must be completely committed to our original Creation, our holy Self. We must recognize that any time we choose attack, defense, ill will, and affection for battle, we have proved ourselves not ready for the peace of God, we have denied our minds access to where we belong, and we are setting up camp in a realm which keeps us trapped in a very elementary level of being.
Before I began studying A Course in Miracles, I was aware that I had an unhealthy attraction to unrest, to war, to retribution, to stirring up trouble. However, I had no idea how addictive the thoughts of conflict, strife, and turmoil were until I began to seek the peace of God. In my work in prevention, my mind was being fed a constant diet of injustice, abuse, child sexual abuse, human trafficking, violence, rape, victimization of every ilk. At home, when I would relax in front of the television, the productions I was drawn to were not dramatic reenactments exemplifying acts of love, peace, and joy but rather tales of more violence, infidelities, vengeance, unsolved mysteries, crime and psychological thrillers. In conversations with colleagues, family, and friends, I became aware of an alarming pattern of negativity that focused on what was wrong with others instead of what was right, none of which promoted peace in the environment, but rather incited conflict and discord.
Only when I began to see the relationship between the work I was doing, the entertainment choices that I was making, and the conversations and relationships that I had going on in my life with my unhappy state of mind, troubled sleep, paranoia, suspicious nature, and condemning and unloving thought patterns, did I realize how deeply my mind was entrenched in forms of attack. Daily and even hourly meditations, a prayerful state of mind, a deep desire to know and serve God is helping me to accept the peace that can come only from God.
Our reality is apart from time, Jesus tells us in our prayer for today. Peace is ours because it still shines the same as when God created us within its bright and glowing light. It is not the Self that God created that would choose darkness over His light, that would choose attack and defense instead of His Love, that would fill my mind with visions of bloodshed, betrayal, injustice, and death in place of His Peace and Joy.
Jesus tells us to call upon Him to find the peace of God. We call upon God today as we align our will with His. Today we join in prayer and unity from all over the world to welcome the quiet bliss and tranquility that calms our minds, heals our spirits, and loosens the bands of time.
Let us find our Peace O Father!
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 230. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
Audio credit: The Friar Patch @ http://www.eckiefriar.com
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