1. Think but how holy you must be from whom the Voice for God calls lovingly unto your brother, that you may awaken in him the Voice that answers to your call! And think how holy he must be when in him sleeps your own salvation, with his freedom joined! However much you wish he be condemned; God is in him. And never will you know He is in you as well while you attack His chosen home, and battle with His host. Regard him gently. Look with loving eyes on him who carries Christ within him, that you may behold his glory and rejoice that Heaven is not separate from you.
2. Is it too much to ask a little trust for him who carries Christ to you, that you may be forgiven all your sins, and left without a single one you cherish still? Forget not that a shadow held between your brother and yourself obscures the face of Christ and memory of God. And would you trade Them for an ancient hate? The ground whereon you stand is holy ground because of Them Who, standing there with you, have blessed it with Their innocence and peace.
3. The blood of hatred fades to let the grass grow green again, and let the flowers be all white and sparkling in the summer sun. What was a place of death has now become a living temple in a world of light. Because of Them. It is Their Presence which has lifted holiness again to take its ancient place upon an ancient throne. Because of Them have miracles sprung up as grass and flowers on the barren ground that hate had scorched and rendered desolate. What hate has wrought have They undone. And now you stand on ground so holy Heaven leans to join with it and make it like itself. The shadow of an ancient hate has gone, and all the blight and withering have passed forever from the land where They have come.
4. What is a hundred or a thousand years to Them, or tens of thousands? When They come, time’s purpose is fulfilled. What never was passes to nothingness when They have come. What hatred claimed is given up to love, and freedom lights up every living thing and lifts it unto Heaven, where the lights grow ever brighter as each one comes home. The incomplete is made complete again, and Heaven’s joy has been increased because what is its own has been restored to it. The bloodied earth is cleansed, and the insane have shed their garments of insanity to join Them on the ground whereon you stand.
5. Heaven is grateful for this gift of what has been withheld so long. For They have come to gather in Their Own. What has been locked is opened; what was held apart from light is given up, that light may shine on it and leave no space nor distance lingering between the light of Heaven and the world.
6. The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They come to dwell within the temple offered Them, to be Their resting place as well as yours. What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven’s radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow, in gratitude for what has been restored.
7. Around you angels hover lovingly, to keep away all darkened thoughts of sin, and keep the light where it has entered in. Your footprints lighten up the world, for where you walk forgiveness gladly goes with you. No one on earth but offers thanks to one who has restored his home and sheltered him from bitter winter and the freezing cold. And shall the Lord of Heaven and His Son give less in gratitude for so much more?
8. Now is the temple of the living God rebuilt as host again to Him by Whom it was created. Where He dwells, His Son dwells with Him, never separate. And They give thanks that They are welcome made at last. Where stood a cross stands now the risen Christ, and ancient scars are healed within His sight. An ancient miracle has come to bless and to replace an ancient enmity that came to kill. In gentle gratitude do God the Father and the Son return to what is Theirs and will forever be. Now is the Holy Spirit’s purpose done. For They have come! For they have come at last! [1]
Let today’s devotional text rest upon your mind. Spend time with each paragraph and let “For They Have Come! For They Have Come At last!” be your heart’s song. Meditate upon the images that the words of Jesus evoke in your mind and relax into the certainty of our everlasting peace and love and joy – the Kingdom where Father and Son are united in all that is pure, right, and good. Do not be afraid of your holiness, your godliness, your call to arise from your sleep and awaken your brothers. This is the gentle fulfillment of our Lord’s Prayer, being part of the Kingdom which makes earth Heaven.
As we learn to trust in each other, we usher in the return of Christ. For Christ returns to our minds when we trust in each other, when the spaces between us dissolve and disappear in the forgiveness and tender mercy we bestow upon each other. We become Him as He becomes us, reminding us of our Sonship, restoring our Brotherhood, dissolving our differences, and resolving all that would stand between us. Today we give Him our little willingness to put down all that would separate us, to lay it aside in our love for Him, for ourselves, and for each other.
Today we overlook all that would make us afraid of each other. We overlook our misperceptions about each other; the things we fail to understand, the ways in which our human perceptions would convince us we should defend ourselves one against the other. Today I trust in you, and you trust in me because you carry Christ in you as I carry Christ in me.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Chapter 26 The transition. IX. For they have come. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
For daily 2021 Workbook lessons visit www.i-choose-love.com courtesy of Linda R.
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