November 24, 2020

Lesson 330 –

I will not hurt myself again today.

Forgiveness is our only function in this world. By forgiving we allow the unprecedented flow of Love to be acknowledged and seen in our lives. Need we suffer lack of love any longer? Each time I deny the presence of love in me and in another, I hurt myself. Hurting myself is nothing more than denying myself the love that is already given me and shared with me. All forms of hurt and suffering boil down to the denial of Love’s Presence. Forgiveness is the change in our mind that recognizes Love’s Presence within us. Love’s Presence is the light that shines away all darkness in our mind. It is the mind shift that recognizes our innate holiness, completeness, and wholeness. We may have mistakenly denied this truth about who we really are, but we could never change its truth. Allowing ourselves to rest in the truth of our being is the healing we’ve been seeking all our lives. The process of denying our truth and maintaining our separation is exhausting. It’s no wonder we’ve been tired. We may not believe it, but the way of love is refreshingly releasing and easy if we are willing to accept its truth.

Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are powerless, when Oneness holds out Its power and Love, and bids them take what is already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept Oneness’ gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of Oneness united with its own. The Self which Oneness created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let us choose today that Oneness be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.   W-pII.330.1:1-6

Inner Peace is the source of true happiness. We do not need to delay the experience of peace any longer than we choose to. It really is our choice. Oneness is waiting for us to step into full awareness of our Oneness. It is our sense of being that seems incomplete without our acceptance of who we really are. Just a little willingness will begin to open the door to our Grandeur in Oneness. Our true Identity is Oneness. This cannot be denied us. Allow your true Identity to rise in your mind. If it feels too difficult, try this prayer the Course offers us. Spirit is always within us waiting to be asked to help us make this shift to the awareness of Oneness – our real Identity.

Creator, Your Child can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.   W-pII.330.2:1-2

We are holy, complete, and whole. We cannot sin because we are Oneness. Mistakes are no more than mistakes and are easily corrected with the help of Spirit within us. There is nothing to be afraid of for every correction is in the mind. And Spirit will guide us every step of the way for It is within us always. This Course has taken us so far, yet right back to the root of our real being where we started. Let this be your function now, for there is nothing in reality that can hurt you, me, or anyone else.

November 17, 2020

Lesson 323 –

I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear.

The Course makes many references to letting go of fear. Fear is an emotion or an idea that keeps us locked away from our true Identity. In many instances we are afraid of losing the identity we have made for ourselves and believe ourselves to be. It is always an identity that relies on the idea of separation – that we are separate from others and God. We have invested a lifetime of effort and belief in our identity and are afraid we will have no identity if we let go of the one we have made. The belief in this identity and our fear of it not being real keeps us locked into it even though there is a much greater something hidden beyond that identity. This fear is the destroyer of peace, for it hides the truth about who we are from our mind.

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.   W-pII.323.2:1-4

There is no great penance to pay for our mistaken identity. We only need a little willingness to see beyond who we think we are to the truth of who we really are to step into the awareness of our wholeness and holiness present within our minds. What we believe about ourselves is what we will see about ourselves. The proof is in the recognition of our holy selves and the homecoming we experience when we begin to allow our perception of ourselves to shift. Even as we begin to allow this transformation to reveal our true selves, we may still be afraid of our power and divinity that is revealed to us. Relax and allow the Holy Spirit within us to guide and direct us.  This revelation will bring us to a peace of mind that surpasses anything we have believed possible about who we are. This lesson offers us the following prayer to relieve the fear we may feel about this “sacrifice.”

Here is the only “sacrifice” You ask of Your beloved Child; You ask them to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your Love come streaming in to their awareness, healing them of pain, and giving them 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.   W-pII.323.1:1-2

What we are asked to “sacrifice” is suffering, loss, sadness, anxiety and doubt. Who would not gladly sacrifice these things? What flows to replace these is Love and Peace. We experience the healing of all pain and find eternal joy welling up within us. This brings the transformation of the world to our consciousness. We recognize that call for love in each other rather than the attempt to attack. We recognize Heaven on earth as we open our Spirit eyes to the truth of reality. Let us set aside our fear – yes, even “sacrifice” our fear – and allow peace to flow like a mighty river through our consciousness. As others call for love, we will have the Source of unlimited Love to extend to anyone or anything that believes they lack that love. Let the circle of love be unbroken as we let love flow through our mind and our very being. So are we and the whole world healed. Hence the Course adage, “Love is letting go of fear.”

November 10, 2020

Lesson 316 –

All gifts I give others are my own.

What are these gifts? I believe the gifts the Course talks about are love. They may be disguised as forgiveness until we understand truth, but they boil down to love. Reality has an infinite supply of love that is completely shared. There are no portions of love meted out either equally or according to whether we have “earned” it. All of love belongs to all of us. All gifts belong to all of us. Forgiveness is the tool that helps us heal our mind enough to begin to see this truth of love. The Course teaches that giving and receiving are the same. As we give we receive and as we receive we give. It is  essentially sharing in a constant continuous flow. Every one of us is deserving because we are holy as we are created. Nothing can change or corrupt that truth. The worst we can have done is block our awareness of the infinite love we all share. This lesson says this about our gifts:

As every gift another gives is mine, so every gift I give belongs to me. Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Creator loves. My Creator’s grace is given me in every gift another has received throughout all time, and past all time as well. My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that My creator has given me.   W-pII.316.1:1-5

There is no lack in reality. The world we seem to live in appears to be so finite – so limited. The real world has no lack or limitation of anything real. Remember the teaching, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unread exists. Herein lies the peace of Oneness.” The Course also teaches, “Nothing real can be increased except by sharing. That is why Oneness created you.” T-4.Vll.5:2-3 It is our function to be sharers of love, extenders of love, increasers of love. When we are willing to fulfill this function, miracles occur and the world changes. Isn’t this what we really want? What do we need to do? Just be willing and Spirit will guide us. This lesson offers this prayer to help us get started:

Creator, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see their worth, and cherish only them as what I want.   W-pII.316.2:0-3

We can begin to see the worth in giving and receiving the gift of forgiveness which is transformed into the gift of love. The gifts are limitless. The gifts are healing. The gifts bring us the awareness of the world we have been seeking – the real world. Those we journey with – our brothers and sisters – are One with us on this journey. Our purpose is unified. In this One purpose we are healed, we are loved and we are loving. Let this bliss rise in all of us and enter the awareness of who we really are in our Divine Holy Identity. May we all give and receive these gifts.

November 3, 2020

Lesson 309 –

I will not fear to look within today.

The Course teaches us that we already have within us all we need. We may not recognize this right now, but all we need is there within us nonetheless. It is embedded in our holiness, instilled within us as we are created. It is unchangeable and unremovable. It is embedded in our holy Self, our true Identity. The truth that we are Oneness is and always will be, always has been. The only thing we can possibly do to remove it is block it from our awareness. Belief in limitation and separation are the blocks that can do just that. Yet, we cannot change the truth that Oneness is our true essence and Identity. Fear is another idea that can block our truth from our awareness. Our egoic thought system has made a separate identity that we have come to believe is who we are. The belief in this identity is powerful enough to block our true Identity from our awareness, but not powerful enough to change who we really are. So, Spirit waits, holding our true Identity within us, until we are ready to accept a “new” idea of who we really are.

Within me is eternal innocence, because it is the One’s Will that it be there forever and forever. I, the One’s Child, whose will is limitless as is the One’s Own, can will no change in this. For to deny my Creator’s Will is to deny my own. To look within is but to find my will as the One created it, and as it is. I fear to look within because I think I made another will that is not true, and made it real. Yet it has no effects. Within me is the Holiness of Oneness. Within me is the memory of Oneness.   W-pII.309.1:1-8

We spend our lives seeking for answers outside ourselves, refusing to look within, just because we believe the answer could never be there within us. Once we realize the absurdity of this belief, we begin a journey of discovery about ourselves. With the alignment of our mind with the nature of our holiness comes an inner peace that dwells within us. It brings an awareness of perfect love and joy that does surpass all understanding. Isn’t this what we really seek? Isn’t this what we really want? We don’t have to do it alone. The whole universe – Oneness – is behind us in this endeavor. The transformation is ours for the asking. This lesson offers us this prayer to aid us in our decision:

The step I take today, my Creator, is my sure release from idle dreams of sin. Your altar stands serene and undefiled. It is the holy altar to my Self, and there I find my true Identity.   W-pII.309.2:1-3

The holy Identity within us is our altar – forever undefiled. We have never left Oneness. We have never left the unified One we really are. There is no separation. We remain One with our Creator and each other, for that is the essence of our Creation. Take a chance on Oneness. Can it be any worse than the insanity of the world we seem to be in? The transformation of our perception of the world and each other is miraculous indeed. Be willing, even just a wee bit willing to let go of our fear and allow our inner guidance to bring new sight to our eyes. We will find even more than we thought we were seeking. We will find ourselves in a state of Heaven even as we still walk on this earth. And so we walk in perfect peace and love and joy.