Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will,
defied it, broke its laws, and interposed a second will more powerful than
Yours. Yet what I am in truth is but
Your Will, extended and extending. This
am I, and this will never change. As You
are One, so am I one with You. And
this I chose in my creation, where my will became forever one with Yours. That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot change and be in opposition to itself. Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled, and serene, in
endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.
Today we will accept our union with each other and our
Source. We have no will apart from His,
and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to God.[1]
We thought we flouted the Will of God. We thought we introduced a second will
stronger than God’s Will. How could this
possibly be true? If we consider Who God
is and What God is, how could there be anything but His Will in His
universe. Either we believe that God is
all-powerful, all-loving, all-good or we believe that He has an opposite which
is as mighty and as strong and as powerful as He is, a will that He is always
at war with.
In the Course, Jesus teaches us that there is no Will but
God’s Will. Anything outside God’s Will
is nothing. It cannot be for God is all
and in all. What would not be the Will
of God does not exist except in dreams, illusions, and the vain imaginings of
the separated Sons of God. We have no
battles to be fought and no wars to be won.
When we accept God’s Will as the only Will there is, we realize our
oneness! We realize that the battles we
thought we had to fight have faded away.
We realize the sins that seemed to plague us and fill us with shame are nothing,
but ideas separate from the Will of God, mistakes that fade into the
nothingness, and of no account. The
judgments we would cast upon each other may extend time but do not, in the
least bit, affect eternity or our Father’s Will. We realize that the enemies we have made are
our brothers in the Sonship of God. We
realize that nothing that happens here in time, where Sons of God dream of
separation is worth mentioning or remembering.
It is over. It is finished. Christ has returned and set up His Kingdom
within us and restored us to our Father’s Kingdom, our eternal home.
It is God’s Will that no one shall be lost in time or otherwise, and so it is. There is no other Will. Let us not embrace another choice that would disparage our Father’s Will. 2
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 329. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 466.
2Reposted by permission – Lesson 329 – eckiefriar.com November 25, 2019.
Lesson 328 I choose the second place to gain the first.
What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive are upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. It seems that we will gain autonomy but by our striving to be separate, and that our independence from the rest of God’s creation is the way in which salvation is obtained. Yet all we find is sickness, suffering, and loss and death. This is not what our Father wills for us, nor is there any second to His Will. To join with His is but to find our own. And since our will is His, it is to Him that we must go to recognize our will.
There is no will but Yours. And I am glad that nothing I imagine contradicts what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace. And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.[1]
Jesus explains in today’s lesson that when we choose to put God first, we are putting our Selves first. It reminds me of when I was teaching my children the value of good manners. While making that extra effort may seem like an imposition, the fact is, I told them, that when we use good manners, people like being around us. Since it is unpleasant to sit across the table from a friend who chews with their mouth open, we may not get invited to dinner if we do not take the measures to keep our mouth closed while we masticate our meal. When we accept another’s hospitality, it benefits us to be the kind of guest that picks up after themselves and refrains from nabbing the biggest potato nor taking dibs on the most comfortable seat in the house. Be the kind of guest that makes a lot of extra work for your host and chances are you simply will not be invited back. When we receive a present, it is not only nice, but smart, to follow up with a big thank-you. The little bit of effort that this entails, guarantees goodwill – people who do not express appreciation often get overlooked the next time a gift-giving occasion comes around. The fact that neither one of my children nor myself particularly enjoy getting overlooked when it is time for invitations or presents, may seem like a selfish incentive to practice good manners, but God in His great love and desire for oneness and unity, has made our individual happiness and well-being dependent upon the appreciation, love, and respect we show for Him and for all Creation.
While etiquette can only take us so far in this world, it serves as a means to understand the logic behind the how and why of putting God before our selves. Put ourselves first, and we have removed ourselves from God and the oneness we share with Him and with all of Creation. We see ourselves as separate beings. Each one of us must then find our own way in a dog-eat-dog world. Even our most special and cherished alliances will fail and disappoint us in this state of putting ourselves first. We thought it would be our happiness to set ourselves apart and strive to be Boss, but apart from Creation, we simply do not fare well. Here in our isolated bits and parts we can not truly know one another, we can not truly comfort one another, we can not truly know and give the love with which we were created for and with.
Today Jesus asks us to consider our true will – we will to be happy, we will to be secure, we will to have peace. God’s Will and Creation’s Will are one – an idea never leaves its source. When we will with God we are willing with our own will. When we put God first, we put ourselves first for we are giving up our vain imaginings about who and what we are and have accepted our reality as His Son.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 328. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 465.
Lesson 327 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.[1]
Today Jesus teaches us that our salvation does not hinge upon our belief in it. Salvation is for all. God promises to heed our calls and answer us when we are ready to come Home. We do not have to take anybody else’s word for it. We learn to have faith in Him because our faith and trust comes to us through personal, visceral experience. We call; He answers. We ask for guidance; He guides us. We ask for reality; He reminds us of Creation. When we develop this kind of faith in Him, we are no longer afraid to call upon Him. We do not care who knows where our affections lie. We are not ashamed to call Him Father nor are we ashamed to be His Son. We understand God’s love and devotion toward us and how respectful the plan of salvation. In other words, we are not threatened or coerced, we are not robbed or tricked, He plays no cruel games or goes to war against the world we made in substitute of Creation. He simply awaits for us to come to the end of the lessons that separation teaches us.
In our A Course in Miracles study group, we extend welcome to anyone who wants to study the Course. However, we do make it clear from the start that this is not a study group designed for debate, for doubt, or for challenge. This is not a study group created to convince others of the validity or the efficacy of the Course. When we gather together, we have already ascertained through our personal studies and application that this is the means through which we find the path to God. We are already under the conviction that this is the path in which Holy Spirit leads us to seek truth. We gather together because we do not learn alone. We gather together, not to convince one another of truth, but to support one another’s seeking with this particular curriculum.
This same principle applies to this blog. As much as I enjoy hearing from readers and encourage such communication through email, if this blog does not speak to your heart, by all means seek another path to truth. Nobody benefits from arguments, from judgment, from perceiving attack or defending a belief system. I share my process of surrendering the ego and the ego’s belief systems on a public forum because this is what Holy Spirit has called me to do. As much as I appreciate having followers from all over the world, whether you follow me or not is none of my business. I do not do this as a means to gain fame and fortune! In the process of relinquishing the ego, I make mistakes, I go on rants, and I share what seems to be real struggles while I test and prove what Jesus teaches in the Course. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I trust you who are sincerely called to study A Course in Miracles to understand, to withhold judgment, to forgive me when I make mistakes or express myself in a loveless manner just as I trust that God does! When I use language that offends you, when the quality of the podcast interferes with the lesson, when I mispronounce words or offer illustrations that leave you all the more confused, please accept that this is not by design. I share my process to encourage others to share, because it is only when we get past our fear and shame of imperfection that we come together as one – certain of God’s abiding love at last.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 327. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 465.
Father, I was created in Your mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me, I have remained. Where You established me, I still abide. And all Your attributes abide in me because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause, and Its Effect are indistinguishable. Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God.
Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then, forgiven, fade entirely into God’s holy Will.[1]
Today Jesus reminds us of our place in our Father’s mind. Creation is a Holy Thought of God. The idea of Creation never left its Source. Forever we as God’s Effect, are as God created us. God is the Cause, and we are the effect. God made us like Him to be the Son – so like Cause that Cause and its Effect are alike. Creator and Creation are one, Jesus teaches. And today our prayer asks of God to show us the power we have to create like God creates. To bring Heaven to earth, following the happy plan of salvation – forgiving and reflecting God’s love.
When we fulfill our function, when we learn to think of Creation as whole and perfect, pure and holy, when we no longer cherish the spaces and outlines between us, but rather recognize and welcome and make one again – we will be gathered home. The world we made of opposition and separateness will vanish for there is no place for rank and rancor in the glory of Creation, in the oneness of the Sonship.
This morning as I read over our lesson in my morning devotional, I recalled the movie we watched last night. Colette and Coltin are here to visit over Thanksgiving, and after Coltin ate his supper and polished off a bowl of teaberry ice cream, he got into his pajamas and said he wanted to watch Jumangi. So we rented Jumangi, Welcome to the Jungle. We laughed and carried on throughout the whole movie, it was high entertainment made especially funny by Grandpa wanting to sit on Coltin’s lap during part of the show. Afterwards we all brushed our teeth and kissed and hugged and went to our separate beds and that was the end of it, or so I thought.
But this morning during my quiet time with God, Holy Spirit asked me to take a closer look at the movie for illustration for today’s lesson. God’s plan of salvation is in everything we see, and it behooves us to pay careful attention.
In short, the movie introduces us to four teenagers who have earned themselves detention through their self-centered, limited views about themselves and others. During detention, instead of preparing old magazines for the recycling center, they find a discarded video game amongst the shelves of recyclables and decide to play that. The game requires that they choose adult avatars to play a game of high adventure set in a jungle. They realize almost immediately after starting the game, that this game is not set up to compete against one another, but to join their separate skills and knowledge base to survive. The only way out is through it. The only way through it is together. Without one another, they will remain trapped in the game much like the lone guy they find who has been missing since 1996.
To watch as the high school students adjust to their adult avatars is not only hilarious but upon a closer look, a good example of what this world is for all of us as Sons of God who have lost their way. Our Course teaches us that all of us who end up here, have decided to separate from our Source. We have made another version of Creation and the Creator that we call our own. We are trapped in our illusions, and we think of ourselves as the bodies which have been handed to us upon our arrival. We assume the separated identity of egos rather than remember our true identity in the oneness of God.
Throughout the movie, when an avatar would lose one of their lives, they would simply disintegrate and then a few moments later, fall from the sky none the worse for wear to pick up where they left off. As watchful as they became over the number of lives they had left, it was amusing and enlightening to watch them develop the love and affection for one another necessary for survival. As they pooled their separate talents and put aside their self-limiting ideas about themselves and one another, they accomplished astounding feats. It was not until each one of them cared more about saving the others than about their individual survival that the curse was lifted and they returned home. Like all of us, they had to learn to see past separateness, past appearances, past differences, past the past to see the commonality, the one-for-all and the all-for-one that is God’s plan for salvation.
At the end of the game, they return to their former lives as bosom buddies, no longer separated by status and appearances. As they have changed, so has their world changed. The missing boy from 1996 has become a man, a father, a returned son. The haunted house, which served as a blight upon the town at the beginning of the movie, is now a loving, lovely home. A miracle has transpired bringing healing and restoration beyond time’s power to enchant.
When we begin to have so much as an inkling that we are an effect of God, that we have the power to create as God does, we realize how critical it is that we think the thoughts that reflect the love, devotion, and purity of Creation. It may seem hard on our egos to lay aside judgments, to put down our desire for vengeance, spite, attack, and defense. Yet, this is the means by which our minds are freed from the illusion of separation. Putting aside the ego makes room for the Second Coming of Christ to take place in our minds and hearts. Establishing peace on earth and goodwill toward all of Creation within the dream is our way back to the Kingdom which we never truly left. Like those kids in the movie, we will be only too happy to see the game world dissolve into nothingness, as we awaken to Creation’s glory as the Son of God.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 326. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 464.
Lesson 325 All things I think I see reflect ideas.
This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real, and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him, and find the way to Heaven and to God.
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.[1]
In today’s lesson Jesus informs us that when we identify with the ego’s insane wishes, we will not see Creation as it was created, we see instead an insane world. When we think in part, we will see in part. When we think of ourselves as separate, we will see separateness and defend ourselves against the unity of Creation. When we think division, we will see division and defend ourselves against the wholeness of Creation. When we think of our brothers as mean-spirited, selfish, and lazy, that is how we will interpret everything our brother does, instead of seeing our brother as God created him. When we think with the darkened mind, we will see the shadowland of the death-driven world rather than the light, the joy, the peace. and love of Creation.
Forgiveness is the key to salvation. For when our minds have forgiving thoughts the gentleness and kindness of Creation comes forth. Here we extend mercy to our fellow creatures, here we offer them a place of rest as they return to God, and in our forgiving thoughts we help our brothers walk ahead not of us, but with us, as our forgiving thoughts lead us back to God.
When I read that last sentence in the first paragraph, the words “walk ahead with us” leapt out and captured my attention. Usually when we see “walk ahead” we think of someone walking in front of us. Gallantly we may step aside and allow someone to walk ahead of us, but no, Jesus is saying that our brother walk ahead “with” us. Here we see the mutuality of salvation represented in the journey back to God. Nobody is ahead; nobody is left behind. Forgiveness extended to all and by all allows us to walk ahead together. Nobody is in a hurry to get there first; nobody is calling first dibs. The key factor in a return to God is seeing our brothers as ourselves, experiencing the flow of grace that is getting to give and giving to get. I offer up my spot on the journey to my brother, but instead of taking it, we walk ahead together, for we are one, we are equals, we are both leaders and followers, we are whole. I would not dream of butting in line ahead of him; he would not dream of butting in line ahead of me.
This is an especially wonderful lesson to me this week because it speaks to reconciliation. For years I have found it difficult if not impossible to forgive those who have hurt me and disappointed me. Even though I am not necessarily a believer in astrology, my temperament seems to closely follow the description of a Scorpio, the sign I have been born under. Ferociously loyal, when I am betrayed, I seek unholy vengeance. Many times I have to cut people out of my life because I am afraid of my own desire to even scores or teach someone a much-needed lesson. When someone shows me their ass, I am challenged, not to show them forgiveness, but to show them that I too have an ass and it is bigger and “badder” than the one shown me.
There is nothing about this of which I am proud, I am merely describing the Eckie I made myself out to be to survive in this world. She seemed to be my friend. She seemed to be all for me – to defend me from those who would take advantage, to attack those who hurt me or those I held dear. This ego-driven Eckie wanted to make sure that I get what is coming to me, that nobody else gets to it first. She likes to let everybody know that she is an introvert, not an extrovert. She has a clearly delineated boundary, a line which nobody better cross without express permission. While she seemed to be my friend, her protection gives me nothing; she takes me nowhere; she leads me round in hopeless, loveless circles. Returned to her source, ego Eckie is a big nothing.
Getting in touch with the me who is as God created me, has been a wonderful reconciliation not just with my holy Self, but also with my brothers. Learning to put away judgment, learning to overlook slights and wounds and boundary crossing, learning to choose the gentle, forgiving thoughts that reflect God’s love has filled me, not with a desire for vengeance or trying to prove who is the bigger badass, but rather a desire for healing, a willingness to let bygones be bygones, a tenderness that cares for the whole and not just for certain parts.
Today’s prayer fills me with peace, with love, with calmness and certainty of purpose. Let us speak the words together, asking God to illuminate the meaning in our hearts and minds:
Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and my ideas apart from Yours, make stuff up. Let me only behold the reflections of Your ideas. For Your ideas and Your ideas alone establish truth. In the name of Jesus, with Whom we are one. Amen.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 325. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 464.
Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. I cannot lose the way. I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. Your loving Voice will always call me back and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.
So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His loving hand. We walk together, for we follow Him. And it is He Who makes the ending sure and guarantees a safe returning home.[1]
Today we are reminded that God is the One who gives us salvation. God decides which way we are to go, the roles that best suit us, and every step we take along the path of our return. Because God gives us the plan, it is impossible for us to lose the way to Him. We can put off our awakening as long as we choose; we can wander away from the path that He gives, but because God made the path of return for each one of us, we can only return. His Love, which is the purpose and core of all Creation, His Love, which has established our Sonship, will never abandon us or forget us. We cannot lose it – ever.
Conversely, when we devise salvation’s plan, we will work very hard to clean up our acts in order to deserve salvation. When we must compete with others for our spot on the glory train, we will be in a state of worry and fret about our worthiness. We will call our mistakes, sins, and crave to be punished rather than forgiven, even as we crave to punish others when they make mistakes. We will sacrifice needlessly of our time, our money, our effort. We will feel it is our God-given mission to save the world with doctrines that divide rather than unite and dogma that saves the few rather than all. Our spiritual path will be fraught, not with love, peace, and joy, but anxiety, worry, and needless fretting over the souls of those who do not make the cut or how many stars we have collected in our crowns.
Jesus tells us in today’s prayer that our brothers can all follow in the path we lead because we are on the path in which nobody can ever stray except for an instant. No matter what it may look like in time, our mistakes so seeming great or trite and small are a mere blip on the everlastingness of eternity. Our brothers can all follow where we lead because we did not make the path. Our brothers can follow our lead only in learning to completely trust the One Who did make the path. Hence, I have no worries over your salvation nor should you concern yourself with mine. I am not ahead of you, nor are you ahead of me. We walk together with those from the distant past and with those who have as yet to be born. On the path to God, time takes on a new meaning – it is our teacher and friend rather than enemy. Once we have reached our goal time will simply fade away because it serves no purpose in Creation.
On our path to God, we seek not to lead one another or to follow one another. This is critical to our understanding of our goal and the spiritual concepts of equality, mutuality, and oneness. We walk together following Him Who leads the way. It is important that we remind one another of this frequently for in our yearning for oneness here in the dream of separateness, we tend to worship the spaces and outlines which distinguish us from one another. Although there is nothing wrong in being gracious when someone recognizes a spiritual truth that we may have expounded upon and blessed them with, it is important to always remain cognizant of the mutuality we share. We are both teachers and students. We walk together. We must never allow or encourage others to follow us instead of the path that God has made for them. No matter what other paths may look like from our earthly perspective, we walk together when we follow Him.
It should gives us pause if we hang too tightly on the words of our fellow travelers. Take everything someone says and go to God with it. Ask Him what He has to say about it. Quote what God tells you! Do not cringe behind your brothers, expecting them to lead the way, using the words they say to judge and preach to others. This is not a godly practice nor is it one that leads to love. Likewise, collecting followers and encouraging allegiance and leadership puts us in a precarious position of specialness. As we follow God, walking side by side, nobody ahead and nobody behind, we practice the mutuality that keeps us humble, correctable, and teachable.
How thankful we are that we did not make the plan of Salvation! How thankful we are to lead only to follow the One who guarantees our safe return. For we are as God created us – our oneness with Creation – restored.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 324. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 463.
Here is the only “sacrifice” You ask of your beloved Son; You ask him to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness, healing him of pain, and giving him Your Own eternal joy. Such is the “sacrifice” You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only “cost” of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world.
And as we pay the debt we owe to truth, —a debt that merely is the letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely, —truth returns to us in wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now returned to our awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.[1]
Jesus teaches us that there are two levels. One is false and one is true. When we no longer believe in and worship that which is false, only truth remains. To remember Creation is to surrender all the substitutes that we made to take its place. It is only our recognition of our need for salvation that truth can be made apparent to us. As long as we are content with this world, finding our jollies in its follies, happy to play the pointing fingers game, and add our two cents to its unending commentary on its unrestful dramas, competitions, and strife – we are doomed to what we must “sacrifice.” However, when we surrender decay, darkness, and death all that remains is healing, light, and love everlasting. When we surrender our craving for suffering, sorrow, anxiety and uncertainty, God’s love and devotion for us returns to our awareness. We are healed. We are filled with peace and joy. We are restored to Creation. We are as God created us.
Application of today’s lesson concept can be illustrated by no longer being afraid of being called a “kook” because we choose to seek God in a public forum. We are no longer content to stay in the closet knocking on heaven’s door, our private journeys have only taken us so far. When we bring our love for God out in the open; we bring our path to God out where everyone can see. No longer ashamed of our need for salvation, no longer ashamed to say, “There must be a better way,” our public devotion is not a device in which to boast or brag of our enlightened spirituality, but a platform in which to share our journey. For salvation cannot be grasped alone for God’s plan is one of reunification, healing, and wholeness.
The Course teaches that we honor truth by letting go of all that is false. We honor God by letting go of all that would shatter the joy and peace and love in which He created us with and for. When we are ready to give up all that stands in the way of our return to Him, we exchange nothing for Everything. Today I gladly make the sacrifice of fear.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 323. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 463.
I sacrifice but illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go, I find the gifts illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome and in readiness to give God’s ancient messages to me. His memory abides in every gift that I receive of Him. And every dream serves only to conceal the Self, Which is God’s Only Son, the likeness of Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever, as He still abides in me.
Father, to You all sacrifice remains forever inconceivable. And so I cannot sacrifice except in dreams. As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave me. What You did not give has no reality. What loss can I anticipate except the loss of fear and the return of love into my mind?[1]
Today’s lesson on Creation teaches us that sacrifice is inconceivable to God and therefore impossible in reality. Anything that we would forfeit to our Father from the physical world absolutely holds no appeal to Him. He cannot be moved by the smell of roasting meat. He cannot be stirred by bloodshed. Riches, jewels, and claims to fame do not bribe God to grant our salvation, win His favor, or answer our prayers. Jesus teaches us throughout the Course that it is impossible to both fear and love God. When we fear God instead of love Him, we fear each other instead of love each other. When we conceive of a God Who cherishes our suffering, our shame, our sacrifices; we cherish suffering, shame, and sacrifices in ourselves and others. Today we pray a prayer that recognizes that this ludicrous concept has no place in Creation.
When we “sacrifice” our fear of God and one another, we cannot call it a sacrifice, because we have lost nothing! It is simply removing our belief in a false idea that has been proven insane. To lose the fear of God is to reclaim our treasured spot in Creation – we come to know God’s love and devotion toward us. We come to accept the grace that has been extended to us. Our minds are cleansed and restored to their original purity, innocence, and holiness. Restored to oneness with God, we are restored with oneness with all of Creation. Creation is whole again. The dream of separation and all that it held is forgiven, it is over. We are awakened to the happiness, joy, and love that always was and forever will be. Our minds are set free of all lies and delusions.
In the day-to-day application of this concept, it can very much look like a reconciliation between brothers who were estranged. When one is no longer afraid of the other – of their rolling eyes, wagging tongues, gripes and snipes – love is all that remains. They can look beyond the things of the past, the ways in which their egos sought to hurt one another instead of support and encourage one another. Forgiveness allows them to clearly see the how and why and what that obscured their mutual love. Forgiveness allows them to see the smudges on the lens of their perception, you could say. When they choose to forgive each others dishonesty, they remember their honesty. When they forgive that which was harsh between them, tenderness is remembered. When they forgive one another’s apathy, laziness, and manipulations, their joint contribution, industry, and innocence is remembered. When all which the ego would hold up as a smokescreen to shield them from love is forgiven, the smokescreen fades away. It had no everlasting value. It did not affect their reality as beloved and treasured Sons of God. Forgiveness simply washes away the meaningless smudges that obscured their love. One could hardly call it sacrifice; Jesus points out.
In fact if one brother believes he has sacrificed, there is no true reconciliation. If one brother demands a sacrifice from the other, there is no reconciliation. In love the very idea of taking something away from the other, of being better than or more than, is unimaginable. Those who have everything and everyone in their corner, demand nothing because in truth we give each other that which is freely given and with the mutuality born in the holiness and purity of oneness. In the eternal flow of getting to give and giving to get, there is no room for sacrifice, only love.
Today let us be reminded that the only thing that must be left behind is our fear of God and of one another. Once that is out of the way, we can clearly see the joyful, blessed Creation in which we are made one.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 322. Foundation of Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 462.
I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your voice directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me and the way to You is opening and clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in You alone. Father, it is my will that I return.
Today we answer for the world, which will be freed along with us. How glad are we to find our freedom through the certain way our Father has established. And how sure is all the world’s salvation, when we learn our freedom can be found in God alone.[1]
Today as we come to our devotional practice, we clear our minds of all that would present itself as Creation. We set our minds and the world free from the false version of itself. We stop feeding into its chaos, its competitions, and contradictions. We stop trying to find our freedom within the very systems of deceit which have ensnared our minds in the first place. We lay aside all the conflicting advice and meaningless prater. We quiet our minds. When we want answers to Creation’s meaning and purpose, we clear the altars of our minds. It is in the peace and calm where we best hear the Voice for God and His direction.
Jesus teaches us today that salvation is not an individual choice, but instead each one of us stand for the whole of Creation. When I make the decision to stand with Christ, when I choose to live for God’s Will be done on earth as it is in heaven, I am not seeking to escape the cursed world by the skin of my teeth and let others behind weeping and gnashing their teeth wishing that they were me! My awakening wakes the world. As I am freed from the mad dream, the world comes along with me. When I no longer can tolerate being separated from God and from my oneness with all of Creation, that tiny little shard of separation yearning and crying out for connection, communication, and certainty stands for all of the separated parts. The truth of God in me calls to the truth of God in you. The truth of God in you calls to the truth of God in me. And freedom rings throughout the world. We lay down our weapons. We no longer see the spaces between us. We see Creation anew and have no desire to prey upon it, to lord it over anyone or anything, to mock and make fun, to deny access to anyone. We forgive the past. We are no longer the least bit interested in war and murder and destruction. Dreams of death hold no fascination or hopes of freedom. When I look at you, I see me! When you look at me, you see you! All we desire for ourselves and Creation is healing, reunion, renewal. Awake from the dark slumber, we can no longer look upon Creation as being outside of ourselves for we recognize ourselves only as whole.
This is our freedom. This is God’s Plan. Salvation for all. Nobody returns to God alone and without the world. God awaits our awakening with open arms. The dreams we dream in separation could mean nothing to Him. Why would He concern Himself with lies and distortions? Our freedom lies in being like Him, certain in our love and everlasting devotion to all of Creation.
[1]A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 321. Foundation of Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992). p. 462.
Creation is the sum of all God’s Thoughts, in numbers infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only Love creates, and only like Itself. There was no time when all that It created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that It created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God’s Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.
God’s Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to Love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever one will still be one when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.
Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the Whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within his holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection, and of any spot upon its sinlessness.
We are creation; we are the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete, and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fears, there still is certainty. For Love remains with all Its Thoughts, Its sureness being theirs. God’s memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God’s Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.
Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose holiness His Own creation shares; Whose holiness is still a part of us.[1]
The next ten lessons are devoted to remembering Creation – the opposite of all illusions, the counterpoint to separation. and our oneness with God. As we slowly and carefully read over the introduction to this section of our Course, a sense of the eternal certainty of God and His Creation returns to our consciousness. A remembrance of who and what we really are and the Oneness in which we experience our beings with God, with one another, and all Creation shines through our groggy awareness.
The thought that occurs to me while I am reading this introduction is the assurance of wholeness, purity, and innocence that is ours in Creation. As we are reminded of our oneness with Him, the certainty of His Love shines like a beacon through all doubt and fear, through thoughts of sin and shame, alleviating the curse of vain imaginings and ignorant dealings toward creation.
Jesus says that our function, indeed our only function, is to remember the Love that beckons to us. To let God’s Will be done on earth, to let all madness be restored to sanity, and to be as God created us. We remember the truth of the matter! We offer kindness and goodness when others expect spite and anger. We laugh instead of cry. We receive to give again; we give to receive again. We step into mutuality, into oneness, into that sweet spot where everything and everybody matter because they belong to Him Who made us one! No longer do we allow the fear of God to cast a shadow on our minds, for we remember His Love. We remember Who and What He is, and we remember who and what we are!
Today we answer the call of God. When we listen to His Voice, we forgive – not just this one and not that one – but all of creation. We realize the holiness that is still a part of everything and everybody. Seeing past the contradictions, the opposites, the seeming curses we put upon each separated part, we are made one again. His light within you calls to me; His light within me calls to you. At our core we could never be enemies because His light makes us one. This is the wholeness and holiness of God, and it is our purpose to remember this.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Part II:11, Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
