Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
REVIEW VI I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.
Lesson 220
- (200) There is no peace except the peace of God.
Let me not wander from the way of peace, for I am lost on other roads than this. But let me follow Him Who leads me home, and peace is certain as the Love of God.
I am not a body. I am free, for I am still as God created me.[1]
Meditation
Today is our last lesson in Review VI. We open our devotional today with the main thought: I am not a body; I am free. For I am still as God created me. In our last lesson review, Jesus urged us to practice these words and hold this thought in our daily practice because it not only guarantees our freedom but the freedom of every living thing in the world. And so today we recognize our way to freedom – we accept our salvation; we know our Sonship with God.
When we look up the definition for peace in the dictionary we are informed that peace means no fighting and no wars. In God then we have no fighting and no wars. We are not looking to God to fight our earthly battles for us, to defeat our enemies, and to slay the dragons in our life. To have the peace of God we must give up all thoughts of fights and wars. We are called to love our enemies, be good to those who hate us, and recognize at the deepest level of consciousness that to defend or attack is to make this world real in our minds and God’s Kingdom not.
In this world we can only experience shards of peace, splinters of peace, a bit of peace here and a bit of peace there. If we wake up before everybody else in the house and quietly get a cup of coffee and still our minds to hear the Voice for God within, we can call this peace, but it is not really peace because we are expecting this time to end. We are prepared for disturbance when the ruckus of demands and calls upon our attention can start at any moment! We can experience a state of harmony with our mates, our friends, our children, our animals but we know that there is going to come a time when any harmony that we seem to be enjoying will be disrupted by something disagreeable. Our mate will say something gruff and unkind, our friends will fail to recognize our contribution, our kids will whine, our animals will have an accident on the new rug. Or if you are like me, you will long to be alone and intentionally or unintentionally do or say something that will guarantee that people will give you the wide skirt for a while!
God’s peace is a state of eternal quiet and calm. It cannot be disturbed by anything. It is the still waters. We will save ourselves a lot of trouble by not looking for it elsewhere. If we look for peace where it cannot be found we will get misery and pain.
When we come to understand that there is no peace except the peace of God, we are ready to go home. We know that our happiness is not in a body, in the world, or in any of the meager offerings of the ego. When we experience today’s idea as truth we know that we are God’s Son and it is impossible for us to make a will that opposes God’s. We know that everything that appears to be apart from God is simply not reality.
God gives us a bridge of peace to leave this world – the world is no longer our enemy or the enemy of God for we have seen that in forgiveness we are set free from its lies and illusions. God gives us peace as the answer to the fights we had with our loved ones, the wars we had to establish dominance or defend our rights, our failed relationships, and all those meaningless endeavors – we are not worthless, there is no cause for guilt, we lift up our eyes, there are no apologies demanded or expected – because we have God’s peace.
Today Jesus asks us to stop losing our way. Stay on the straight path to Heaven, he tells us. When we put our sights upon God, we have the sure thing. When we put our sights on the body and the world apart from God, we have uncertainty and falter on the thorny byways. On the straight path to Heaven, we recognize peace and value it. Softly peace embraces our hearts and minds in comfort and with love. No more do we chase after the idols of the world for the peace of God is ours. Peace is our way out of ambiguity, of shifting goals, and our loneliness and despair. Peace unites us with God, and we want nothing else. We draw nearer, Jesus says, each time we say:
“There is no peace except the peace of God, and I am glad and thankful it is so.”
Today we bring Review VI to a close by repeating our main thought:
I am not a body, I am free. For I am still as God created me.
Go in peace today, recognizing that there is no peace except the peace of God.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 220. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
Audio credit: The Friar Patch @ http://www.eckiefriar.com
