March 6th 2014 Lesson 352
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 351 - 360:
14. What Am I?
I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own.
Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.
We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.
Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy.
We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.
Lesson 352
Judgment and love are opposites. From one
Come all the sorrows of the world. But from
The other comes the peace of God Himself.
- Invitation Prayer: Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not. Through this I come to You. Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again. I am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless. I have within me both the memory of You and One Who leads me to it. Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. For I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You.
- I am a child of God, endowed with all His gifts and all that He is, is in me for we are one. This is a statement of fact, not a belief. To face it as a fact is to look on all appearances without judgment, recognizing that they simply reflect our doubt about our true identity. To doubt my true identity is to judge against myself. If I am a child of God, then so is everything, and creation is united in love. If I am not a child of God then neither is anything, and creation is random, chaotic and disunited. The former brings peace, while the latter sorrow. Love unites; judgment separates. Forgiveness is the bridge from the latter to the former, for it opens our awareness to the truth that the world is nothing but an image of our own projections, showing us who we think we are, i.e. our egoic false identity. Knowing this, we judge not these projections, but love them for reminding us that we are simply dreaming, then look past them to the absolute fact of our true identity as the holy children of God.
I and my Creator are One. 
March 5th 2014 Lesson 351
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 351 - 360:
14. What Am I?
I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own.
Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.
We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.
Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy.
We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.
Lesson 351
My sinless brother is my guide to peace.
My sinful brother is my guide to pain.
And which I choose to see I will behold.
Invitation Prayer: Who is my brother but Your holy Son? And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. I can also see my borther sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name.
- It should by now be a strongly held belief in us that we are all the holy children of God, that we are sinless and blessed as God created us to be. And not just some of us, but all of us are holy and sinless and it is in our own best interest to remember this, for to perceive anyone as imperfect is to see ourselves that way as well. This does not mean that we have to resonate with everyone or with every action someone takes, but we must, without exception resonate with the truth of their eternal holiness and sinlessness. Ours is not to judge the actions of another for we are far more ignorant about actions and purpose that we can imagine, so let us leave judgment to the Holy Spirit, whose knows all and can therefore judge rightly. We need only remember that we are part of that which is Eternal and Holy Sinless and therefore we too and all of creation is as well.
I and my Creator are One.
March 4th 2014 Lesson 350
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 341 - 350:
13. What Is a Miracle?
A miracle is a correction.
It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on
devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes
error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the
function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it
paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for
fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
A miracle
contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And
thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it
fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception
which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is
forgiveness seen as justified.
Forgiveness is the home of
miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in
mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what
was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers
all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the
Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the
light of perfect purity and endless joy.
The miracle is taken
first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made
ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really
there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it
rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed
from what you thought was there.
Miracles fall like drops of
healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and
thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is
green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is
born can never die, for what has life has immortality.
Lesson 350
Miracles mirror God's eternal Love.
To offer them is to remember Him,
And through His memory to save the world.
- Invitation Prayer: What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him. Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, is unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result. Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness.
- And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love.
- “What we forgive becomes a part of us” in the sense that our forgiveness dissolves our perception of a part of us as being separate so that we now perceive it as one with us, and this is how we can systematically unite with all things and regain the memory of our original state as God created us: perfect, Spirit, free. Our ego-thoughts affect only the ego we believe ourselves to be, never the Self that God created us to be. The memory of our true Self grows as we continue to forgive and incorporate more of our perceptions, which are simply our beliefs projected onto our brothers and the world. If we remember that the world is a mirror then what we see in it is simply the reflection of our thoughts and beliefs, and as we forgive, our perceptions change accordingly and automatically. So to offer miracles is a sure sign that we are thinking and believing in God's eternal Love.
I and my Creator are One.
March 3rd 2014 Lesson 349
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 341 - 350:
13. What Is a Miracle?
A miracle is a correction.
It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on
devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes
error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the
function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it
paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for
fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
A miracle
contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And
thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it
fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception
which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is
forgiveness seen as justified.
Forgiveness is the home of
miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in
mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what
was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers
all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the
Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the
light of perfect purity and endless joy.
The miracle is taken
first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made
ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really
there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it
rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed
from what you thought was there.
Miracles fall like drops of
healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and
thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is
green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is
born can never die, for what has life has immortality.
Lesson 349
Today I let Christ's vision look upon
All things for me and judge them not, but give
Each one a miracle of love instead.
- Invitation Prayer: So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me.
- Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him.
- The law of love guarantees that what is given is received in turn by the giver, and all we have to give is given us by our Creator. God is the source, course, and goal of our lives. We are as He created us to be, and all we have comes from Him. Let us remember who we are and thus forgive ourselves and the world the thoughts of separation and 'sin' we gave to them. Let us offer them the miracles our Father gives to us through Christ's vision which purifies our perceptions. Through Christ's vision we perceive the light in ourselves, our brothers, and the world and so can freely offer them what God has given us. Through Christ's vision we look past the perception of separation and behold the beauty of our unity with each other and with our Father.
I and my Creator are One.
March 2nd 2014 Lesson 348
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 341 - 350:
13. What Is a Miracle?
A miracle is a correction.
It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on
devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes
error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the
function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it
paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for
fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
A miracle
contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And
thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it
fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception
which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is
forgiveness seen as justified.
Forgiveness is the home of
miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in
mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what
was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers
all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the
Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the
light of perfect purity and endless joy.
The miracle is taken
first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made
ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really
there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it
rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed
from what you thought was there.
Miracles fall like drops of
healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and
thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is
green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is
born can never die, for what has life has immortality.
Lesson 348
I have no cause for anger or for fear,
For You surround me. And in every need
That I perceive, Your grace suffices me.
- Invitation Prayer: Father,
let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surrounding me is
everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace
and joy I share with You. What need have I for anger or for fear?
Surrounding me is perfect safety. Can I be afraid, when Your eternal
promise goes with me? Surrounding me is perfect sinlessness. What can I
fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own?
- God's grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His.
- Anger and fear imply a judgement has been made that God is separate from us and is possibly unloving and/or unforgiving. We are angry because we find ourselves apparently alone surrounded on every side by dangers that fill our hearts with fear. But how could this be true when we are born of the Source that created all that is and we remain forever connected to Him? Every breath we take we take in Him; every thought we think, we think in Him; He is the source, course, and goal of everything that we are and can ever be. And He, being the Creator of all that is, is insuperable, and automatically protects His Creation because it is a part of Himself. There is nothing outside Himself to contradict His Will. What then is left for us but perfect safety, peace and happiness. Separation is a dream, an illusion, a fantasy. Yet as persistent and convincing as it is, it cannot change the truth of what we are as God-children, created perfect, Spirit, and free in the image and likeness of our Creator. The more we remember this single truth, the more it becomes manifest in our experience and the stronger will our faith in it grow.
I and my Creator are One.
March 1st 2014 Lesson 347
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 341 - 350:
13. What Is a Miracle?
A miracle is a correction.
It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on
devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes
error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the
function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it
paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for
fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
A miracle
contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And
thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it
fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception
which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is
forgiveness seen as justified.
Forgiveness is the home of
miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in
mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what
was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers
all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the
Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the
light of perfect purity and endless joy.
The miracle is taken
first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made
ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really
there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it
rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed
from what you thought was there.
Miracles fall like drops of
healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and
thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is
green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is
born can never die, for what has life has immortality.
Lesson 347
Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is the weapon I would use against myself, to keep the miracle away from me.
- Invitation Prayer: Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my will to have. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick. But You have offered freedom, and I choose to claim Your gift today. And so I give all judgment to the One You gave to me to judge for me. He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. He looks on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed. He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness. Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me.
- Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for God assuring you that He has judged you as the Son He loves.
- When we do not know what something is or what it means, we are neutral to it. We have no judgement about it, so we cannot be angry, happy or sad, etc., about it. Yet when we think we know something and invest it with our meanings and judgments, only then can we have an emotional response to it. Anger is a clear indication that we have judged against something. Now what if the information we think we know about a thing is incorrect, or our judgement about it is wrong? That certainly makes our anger baseless, and therefore unjustified. But more importantly, our incorrect judgment encourages us to be attracted to what is really not beneficial to us, and repulses us from what is beneficial. This is an unfortunate situation to be in for we are misguided by what we think we understand and believe. The solution though is to realize that we simply cannot judge, firstly because judgment is not our function, it belongs to the Holy Spirit. Secondly, it is impossible for us to even comprehend all the variables involved in a particular situation, far less to parse the relationships of these variables to deduce an objective and impartial result that is not only fair to everyone involved, but supports their edification now and for all time. This is a glimpse of the immense calculations that are involved in judgment, and why it is not our function to do. We need but surrender all judgments to the Holy Spirit within us whose function it is to judge, and accept His answers as ours. He knows all and understands clearly what our limited perceptions do not, for that is His function. And because He has our best interests at heart, we can be certain that His judgments will bring the miracles we need, but which our perceptions hide.
I and my Creator are One.
February 28th 2014 Lesson 346
Part II Introduction
We will continue
spending time with God each morning and night and at each waking hour,
using all future lessons as introductions to the times in which we leave
the world of pain, and go to enter peace, calling to God when we have
need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal. During these holy
times, we will say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father
to reveal Himself to us, as He has promised that He would when we
invited Him.
This is how our times with Him will now be spent:
we say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait
for Him to come to us. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has
willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do
so. We need only call to God,
and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His
Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed.
Our
lessons will now be preceded by a theme of special relevance that we
should review before each lesson until another is given us. They should
be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of
the holy times we sit in silence and wait for God to reveal Himself to
us. The next of these special thoughts follow and are relevant to
lessons 341 - 350:
13. What Is a Miracle?
A miracle is a correction.
It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on
devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes
error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the
function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it
paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for
fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.
A miracle
contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And
thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it
fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception
which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions
that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is
forgiveness seen as justified.
Forgiveness is the home of
miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in
mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what
was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers
all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the
Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the
light of perfect purity and endless joy.
The miracle is taken
first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made
ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet
faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really
there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it
rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed
from what you thought was there.
Miracles fall like drops of
healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and
thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is
green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is
born can never die, for what has life has immortality.
Lesson 346
Today the peace of God envelopes me,
and I forget all things except His Love.
- Invitation Prayer: Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all things. And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has stepped aside today. I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. I would forget all things except Your Love. I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law of love. And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own.
- And when the evening comes today, we will remember nothing but the peace of God. For we will learn today what peace is ours, when we forget all things except God's Love.
- The law of love guarantees that we have no need unfulfilled, and this is the path to peace for it removes the stress and worry associated with fulfilling desires. We are free of the need to impose any requirement on our brothers or on the world so that we may experience peace, the foundation of happiness. Defenses only increase weakness, and attack is unnecessary for we have found the peace of God through His law of love. Now can we truly forgive ourselves and the world, absolving both of the mad perceptions we held about them. The law of love bids us offer miracles to our brothers so that Christ's vision may purify our perceptions and remind us of the infinite fullness of God Love. Remembering God's unfailing Love is thus all we need to experience lasting peace and happiness.
I and my Creator are One.
