September 21, 2021

Lesson 264 –

I am surrounded by the Love of God.

We are surrounded by the love of God, the One, Source, Oneness. This is a fact. A given, A reality. Yet, many of us don’t feel this comfort. We’ve been told this is so, but still we don’t feel it in our earthly life. How do we access this feeling, this comfort? What do we need to do? The Course tells us we need do nothing. What? If this is so, why don’t we feel it? Perhaps we are doing too much. Perhaps we are trying too hard. Perhaps it is right in front of us but we don’t see it! This comfort and assurance is absolutely real and available to our awareness if we are willing to see and accept it. This lesson offers us the following prayer to help us open ourselves to this love.

Creator, You stand before me and behind, beside me, in the place I see myself, and everywhere I go. You are in all the things I look upon, the sounds I hear, and every hand that reaches for my own. In You time disappears, and place becomes a meaningless belief. For what surrounds Your One Child and keeps them safe is Love itself. There is no Source but this, and nothing is that does not share Its Holiness; that stands beyond Your one creation, or without the Love which holds all things within itself. Creator, Your One Child is like Yourself. We come to You in Your Own Name today, to be at peace within Your everlasting Love.   W-pII.264.1:1-7

Are we willing to ask? Are we willing to let go of our fear? Our true state of being is all this prayer offers. Our willingness to ask helps us look beyond the appearance of the world we think we see around us to what is real, permanent, and eternal. We are created an extension of our Creator and so we are so like our Creator we are a continuation of our Creator. There is no division. We simply made a mistake in our perception of ourselves and believed there was a separation where none existed. Nothing real is lost. We all are simply love and nothing else. There exists only love in reality. Therefore, we are always and inevitably surrounded by love whether we are aware of it or not.

What do we really desire? What have we really been seeking all our lives? Stepping into this comfort of love all around us is simply opening our mind to the awareness of what is and always has been within us. As we use this prayer to open our awareness to the truth that is within us, we will sense the peace that passes all worldly understanding. Peace, love, and joy will rise within us comforting us and dispelling all fear. We will realize we are complete, whole, and unlimited. We will find the light of holiness shining brightly from the core of our being, one with the core of all being. This is our salvation, saving us from a mistaken world of separation and illusion. This is where we step into the awareness of our Oneness with all that is real and true.

My friends, join with me in this today. This is salvation’s prayer. Must we not join in what will save the world, along with us?   W-pII.264.2:1-3

The time is now! What are we waiting for?

September 14, 2021

Lesson 257 –

Let me remember what my purpose is.

Our focus is very important to our state of mind and even our happiness. What are you focused on today? Is that focus creating peace in our mind? The Course asks us to be vigilant for Spirit’s guidance. If we allow ourselves to be open minded and receptive to Spirit’s guidance, we will be guided in a way that creates peace and joy in our lives. What is our real purpose while we believe we are separate; while we have forgotten or denied who we really are? In all things, our goal, our purpose is to return to the awareness of who we really are. It is the return to the awareness of our wholeness, our completeness, our freedom, and our holiness. As we return to this awareness, we remember that we are One with each other and our Creator – Oneness.

When we become disconnected with our true nature, we become confused and disoriented. We don’t know which way to turn or how to make choices. Perhaps we have remembered we can make another choice but don’t know how to make that choice a good one.

Perhaps we have even accepted contradicting goals which may seem appropriate but take us in opposite directions. The resulting feeling is of confusion and upset. We know that a feeling of confusion or upset is an indication that something is amiss in our perception and thinking. When we are thinking with correct perception, in alignment with Spirit, we experience peace and calmness. Our feelings are an indication of where our mind is and what thought system we are aligned with. The egoic thought system never allows us to be quite at peace. It must keep us just out of balance so we can’t quite feel the Peace of Oneness within us. What is your state of mind right now? Are you feeling peace, joy and love? Maybe something less?

If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can they function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what Source would have us do this day.   W-pII.257.1:1-4

How do we begin to make this shift we want so much? Why are we not experiencing our true state of being? How do we right this imbalance? Though we have no need to do anything for we are already and always have been whole, we are given a tool to help us shift our awareness. We always have the option to forgive ourselves and others. Forgiveness is simply shifting our perception of ourselves and others. It is being willing to see ourselves and others as we really are, whole, complete, and holy. Our true Self is without limitation. We are eternal. We are whole and complete just as we already are and always have been. It is a matter of waning to awake from our dream of separation and step into the awareness of the Oneness of who we really are.

This lesson gives us this prayer to help us ask for the guidance to make this shift. Here is the peace we have been searching for that has always been within us. It is time to ask Spirit to guide us to our awakening.

Creator, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.   W-pII.257.2:1-3

September 7, 2021

Lesson 250 –

Let me not see myself as limited.

When we perceive ourselves through the lens of the egoic thought system we tend to see ourselves as limited. We seem never to have enough and perhaps feel we are always losing ground. This is the controlling perception the egoic thought system keeps us trapped in until we realize it is all an illusion. We always have the option to see ourselves differently. We have the option to choose to see ourselves as One with all of Creation, sharing all with all. And the all of Creation is unlimited and eternally extending. How do we begin to shift our thoughts to awaken to this unlimited view?

Let me behold the One Child of God today, and witness to their glory. Let me not try to obscure the holy light in them, and see their strength diminished and reduced to frailty; nor perceive the lacks in them with which I would attack their sovereignty.   W-pII.250.1:1-2

We can begin by allowing ourselves to see ourselves and each other differently. The Course has taught us that we are each other’s savior when we begin to allow Spirit to teach us to see each other as we really are. That is, to see each other as holy, whole, and complete in Oneness with all that is real. What a gift it is to see another bathed in the holy light of truth, radiating the love, peace, and joy of their wholeness and holiness. As we let go of our attachment to the idea of our sinfulness and lack, we allow our own holy light within to shine for all to see and recognize the holy light shining from others. As we open to the guidance of Spirit we can refrain from our attempts to obscure the reality of who we each really are and let our own and their holy light shine brightly illuminating our minds with all this holiness.

Let us decide to stop attacking ourselves and each other, for that is what we do when we obscure their holy light. It is impossible to extinguish anyone’s holy light, but we can hide it or deny its existence. Yet, despite our efforts, this beautiful light persists undiminished. It waits for us to be willing to recognize it and free it from our limiting thoughts. The light finds the tiniest little crack to shine through and remind us it is there waiting for our release. Make a choice to recognize the Holiness, Oneness, and Unity of all Creation. As we let go and recognize our Oneness, we are freed from the bonds of our mistaken perceptions. We begin to recognize that we are really joined with each other. We begin to feel the completeness of the love, peace, and joy we all share in Oneness. Are we ready? This lesson offers the following prayer to help us open our minds to the light of this truth. It is gentle yet quite powerful to take this step.

They are Your One Child, my Creator. And today I would behold their gentleness instead of my illusions. They are what I am, and as I see them so I see myself. Today I would see truly, that this day I may at last identify with them.   W-pII.250.2:1-4