There is one life, and that I share with God.
This lesson goes along with Lesson 163. The death lesson. All the ways in which you are dead.
“You think death is of the body. Yet it is but an idea, irrelevant to what is seen as physical. A thought is in the mind. It can be then applied as mind directs it. But it’s origin is where it must be changed, if change is possible.”
This is what I was writing about yesterday – about focus and attention. You have the ability to change your mind about everything. The choice is yours.
Death is life’s opposite. It takes many forms. It is the one idea which underlies all feelings that are not supremely happy. It is the alarm to which you gave response of any kind that is not perfect joy. All sorrow, loss, anxiety and suffering and pain, even a little sigh of weariness, a slight discomfort or the merest frown, acknowledge death. And thus deny you live.
Pretty uncompromising, huh????
This is death:
1. sorrow, loss, anxiety, suffering, pain
2. even a little sigh of weariness
3. a slight discomfort
4 the merest frown
These things are completely made up by the mind that thinks them. This is not life. It is death. God did not create such nonsense. He only created Love. He created you.
There is one life, and that I share with God.
I got a great comment today about my book:
wow there it is on page 36, Gorgeous for God… I am stunned, no one has ever said that to me: ” Where I finally found my freedom is in ….MY TOTAL ACCEPTANCE TO MAKE AS MANY MISTAKES AS POSSIBLE.” I sat there reading the same paragraph over and over, I can not believe my ears.!!! Tears and I’d read it again, not ever had this occurred to me?? !!! Mistakes… make as many as possible, Oh my God that is Life-changing for me.. I can’t hardly breathe. I keep reading it because it won’t stay in my mind. I can’t remember it but there it is… make mistakes. Someone has given my permission to make mistakes..no one ever did that for me before…I hid, I covered up, I became small, invisible under a mountain of fat, who do you want me to be today so I am safe? I hid behind all my labels..I don’t have to do that any more.. OH God thankyou.. love Jayme
Thank you Jayme. This is a great reminder. I don’t try to be perfect. I am myself. I don’t monitor my behavior to what is my idea of “holy” or “perfection.” I allow myself to make mistakes because always the correction is right then, given immediately by the Holy Spirit.
The choice is to stay safe and comfortable (and not make any mistakes)
OR
to start taking some risks, make mistakes, be willing to look like a fool … and have a new experience.
I am entrusted with the gifts of God.
All things are given you. But do you realize it??
Do you spend time recognizing how many gifts surround you??
Often, there is only emphasis on LACK and no emphasis on ABUNDANCE.
What are you focusing on?
Are you focusing on what you don’t have?
or
Do you focus on what has been given to you?
What are you paying attention to?
You can absolutely develop tunnel vision, and see only love, God’s gifts, abundance, joy, happiness, grace and gratitude … IF YOU CHOOSE.
Do you have any idea HOW BLESSED YOU ARE in this moment???
Your mind has the ability to focus itself in any direction. You will focus on what you pay attention to. So, the question is: WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?
Is it on what you don’t have (what you need, what you want, what would make you happy, your failed relationships, your bills, your debt)?
OR
Do you focus on what you do have? Are you counting your blessings? Are you in a state of gratitude?
Right now, I’m living out of a suitcase and all my life belongings are in boxes in storage and I have not a single clue what is going to happen next in my life (how my bills will get paid, where my meals will come from, how will I survive, etc) and yet I have the ability to focus my energies on recognizing the gifts that are given to me.
I can choose to see myself in poverty & lack (which no longer enters my mind as an option) OR I can choose to see myself in a state of grace, surrounded by God’s gifts.
It’s all just a matter of what I choose to look upon in every moment.
I have everything. I am blessed indeed.
I choose to recognize the gifts, and to give thanks.
I have peace of mind. I have the ability to change my mind every time a lack thought comes in. I have the power to be happy.
God’s trust in me is limitless.
Love surrounds me.
I have an internet connection (which reminds me, I might not have consistent internet connection over the next week, so if there is not a blog post here first thing in the morning, just be patient.)
I have a place to stay. I have friends and family.
It’s a beautiful day.
And that’s just the beginning!
The practice of opening your eyes and looking at the gifts in your life is truly astonishing.
And once you have recognized the gifts that are overflowing in your life, it will be the most natural thing in the world to give them to others … because you will no longer be able to contain them.
“The gifts are yours, entrusted to your care, to give to all who chose the lonely road you have escaped. They do not understand they but pursue their wishes. It is you who teach them now. For you have learned of Christ there is another way for them to walk. Teach them by showing them the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of Christ, and recognize God’s gifts. Let sorrow not tempt you to be unfaithful to your trust.”
I love this lesson.
“Your sighs will now betray the hopes of those who look to you for their release. Your tears are theirs. If you are sick, you but withhold their healing. What you fear teaches them their fears are justified. Your hand becomes the giver of Christ’s touch; your change of mind becomes the proof that who accepts God’s gifts can never suffer anything.”
You are entrusted with the world’s release from pain.
“Betray it not. Become THE LIVING PROOF of what Christ’s touch can offer everyone. God has entrusted all His gifts to you. Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ.
SUCH IS YOUR MISSION NOW.
For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. He has shared His joy with you. And now you go to share it with the world.
See that? When you refocus your mind to look at your gifts and have a willingness to give them, and to think how much you have to offer to the world, to your brother, to someone in need, to someone who needs help (a smile, a dollar, a helping hand, your encouragement, your support), you will forget all about your own problems.
And when you turn around again, you will realize all your problems have been solved for you – without your participation – by the One who gives these gifts.
BECOME THE LIVING PROOF OF WHAT CHRIST’S TOUCH CAN OFFER EVERYONE.
I love you.
Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
Before we begin with today’s lesson, I want to remind you of something from yesterday’s lesson which precedes doing today’s lesson:
“Open the curtain in your practicing by merely letting go all things you think you want.”
Let go of all things you think you want.
Forget about what you learned in The Secret. Forget about the laws of attraction. Yes, the power of your mind will bring you a car, a house, a great career, or money … but it is so small that it is laughable.
There is too much emphasis on “getting” and hardly no emphasis on giving.
Your mind has the power to change the world, and you are asking for money and a new body???
In a flash, you will see the ridiculousness.
Everything you need in time to fulfill a function for God will be given to you, easily & effortlessly.
What most people do not realize is that when you ask for things in time (a car, a house, money) you get ALL THINGS in time. You don’t just get the ONE THING you are asking for, you get the whole ball of wax. The universe does not know of a car. It only knows that you are asking for an experience that is worldly. So while you will get the car, you also get all the other worldly experiences: sickness, loss, death, grief, pain, misery.
There is a famous self-help author who teaches the law of attraction and he is a millionaire, but what he does not tell you in his promotional material is that he is constantly sick. Of course, all you have to do is look at him to see it.
You have eyes to see everything clearly.
So yesterday’s lesson says:
LET GO OF ALL YOU THINK YOU WANT.
LET GO OF ALL YOUR TRIFLING TREASURE AND OPEN UP A SPACE.
You will probably resist this lesson, but if you practice honestly it will show you that you still have an investment on things in time. Which is fine & okay, but it will block a new experience. Just let go of all things you want.
And this leads to the first sentence in Lesson 165:
“What makes the world seem real except your own denial of the truth that lies beyond?”
See that?
When you let go of all things you think you want, the curtain will be lifted and you will see the truth that lies beyond.
Now, with a clear empty space “with your trifling treasures put away”, today’s lesson says to ASK WITH DESIRE. Now you are asking for something that will bring you everything. The Thought of God. Heaven.
The Thought of God:
1. protects you
2. cares for you
3. makes soft your resting place and smooths your way
4. lights your mind with happiness and love
5. Eternity and everlasting life shine in your mind because the Thought of God has left you not, and still abides with you.
“Who would you deny his safety and his peace, his joy, his healing and his peace of mind, his quiet rest, his calm awakening, if he but recognized where they abide?”
“Would he not instantly prepare to go where they are found, abandoning all else as worthless in comparison with them?”
Ask with desire.
For now you are among the saviors of the world. Your destiny lies there and nowhere else. Would God consent to let His Son remain forever starved by his denial of the nourishment he needs to live? Abundance dwells in him, and deprivation cannot cut him off from God’s sustaining Love and from his home.
We count on God, and not upon ourselves, to give us certainty.
And in His Name we practice as His Word directs us to do.
You can see how these lessons are the complete opposite of positive affirmation, laws of attraction, and The Secret.
Somewhere, you who are reading this, have already have failed with The Secret. You have tried to apply their laws and they did not work, at least not consistently.
Now, perhaps, you are willing to put your faith and hope in a Power greater than yourself. What have you got to lose by trying?
Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.
I have nothing but gratitude lately. There is nothing else left in me. I find myself simply in a state of pure joy.
This might sound like the hugest cliche ever, but … here goes … there is only love.
It’s astonishing. Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.
So I’m in New Hampshire now at my dad’s and I’m having a great fantastic time. My dad is a great man.
Also, he has a cat named Cossette and a dog named Sophia (who I call Princess Sophia, which is kind of a joke because the dog is part wild-pack dog and part wolf) and ever since I have arrived here, it’s like they are Sam & Enzo’s replacements. Love is everywhere. It’s not contained only in one form anymore. It’s the same identical love in everything, even though the form is completely different.
I was thinking yesterday: I will never in a million years find cats as awesome as Sam & Enz, and less than 24 hours later I find them in a dog and a cat on the other side of the U.S. in New Hampshire.
That’s God for you.
Loss is impossible. Love is everywhere.
Today’s lesson is a beauty.
“On this day is grief laid by, for sights and sounds that come from nearer than the world are clear to you who will today accept the gives He gives.”
“There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. There is a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched. All this today will you remember.”
“Faithfulness in practicing today will bring rewards so great and so completely different from all things you sought before, that you will know that here your treasure is, and here your rest.”
This is the day vain imaginings part like a curtain, to reveal what lies beyond them. Now is what is really there made visible, while all the shadows which appeared to hide it merely sink away.”
Now you will see with the eyes of Christ.
Now is the transformation clear to you.
Open the curtain in your practicing by merely letting go all things you think you want. Your trifling treasures put away, and leave a clean and open space in your mind where Christ can come, and offer you the treasure of salvation.
He has need of your most holy mind to save the world.
Let not today slip by without the gifts it holds for you receiving your consent and your acceptance. We can change the world, if you acknowledge them.
Someone found one of our cats, Enzo, the tan one!!
One down, one to go.
I had sent an email to the editor of the local newspaper a few days ago and they must have printed something because Enzo was found because someone read about it in the newspaper.
I feel like I just won the lottery.
They found him over on Capital Street, which is all the way through downtown Wisconsin Dells (??!!??)
He went from Lake Delton, County Road A, and somehow made it through a major intersection, probably stopped off at Starbucks for a double espresso, then walked over the bridge, over the Wisconsin River, walked through downtown through how many traffic lights. ?? 4 traffic lights, and 8 crosswalks? Probably stopped for a cheeseburger and a beer before landing in some lovely woman’s garage attic. She was nice enough to feed him. And then her friend told her that she had read something in the newspaper about 2 missing cats.
And sure enough, it was Enzo!!
He is home safe now.
Sam, the black one is still out there at large, but I feel great about it. He is in good hands, no matter what happens. This city is full of love.
There is no death. The Son of God is free.
This lesson was one I used to skip over.
I would glance at these two sentences – There is no death. The Son of God is free – and I would roll my eyes, sigh, close the book, and go make a cup of coffee. This lesson sounded much too religious and serious, and I decided that I did not need it.
It sounded too much to me like “Sinner, Repent!”
But once I finally got around to reading this lesson, it automatically become one of my favorites. If you have read my book Gorgeous for God, you have seen “the list.” The big list of all the ways in which you are dead.
Most people think death is of the body, never realizing that death takes on many forms – OFTEN UNRECOGNIZED – and happens on a daily basis.
The reason you get sick is because you are allowing death to come upon you each and every day. Each day, in small little ways, you allow darkness and death into your life.
It’s like drinking poison.
You are drinking deadly poison every time you allow yourself to experience these emotions:
1. sadness
2. fear
3. anxiety
4. doubt
5. anger
6. faithlessness
7. envy
8. jealousy
9. hatred
10. body identification
11. and all the forms in which the wish to be as you are not may come to tempt you
If you participate in any of the above, it’s no wonder you feel sick, heavy, tired and hopeless.
Most people will say: “I can’t help myself. I don’t know how to be happy. I just feel sad (fearful, angry, jealous, doubtful, etc)
Well … if you knew sadness (and all the rest) was poison, would you drink it???
Would you participate in these emotions anymore??
At least now you can be aware that you are harming yourself, and then you can make a new decision.
You wouldn’t drink poison out of a bottle, and you really shouldn’t drink it in the form of:
1. sadness
2. fear
3. anxiety
4. doubt
5. anger
6. faithlessness
7. envy
8. jealousy
9. hatred
10. body identification
11. and all the forms in which the wish to be as you are not may come to tempt you
There is no death. The Son of God.
You are free to walk away from all of the above. You are free to leave it behind, and never look back.
“There is no death, and we renounce it now in every form.”
This is the stand we take today.
“Our Father, bless our eyes today. We are your messengers, and we would look upon the glorious reflection of Your Love which shines in everything. We live and move in You alone. We are not separate from Your eternal life. There is no death, for death is not Your Will. And we abide where You have placed us, in the life we share with You and with all living things, to be like You and part of You forever. We accept Your Thoughts as ours, and our will is one with Yours eternally. Amen.”
Amen.
This comment, posted here on this blog, made me cry and laugh:
I remember seeing a woman on CNN during the hurricane in the south, she said “when i got on that tree branch I did not believe in God, and when I got off … I did.
Maybe that says it all.
I love you.
That’s awesome. Knowing the truth does NOT take 365 lessons, or workshops, or teachers, or classes, or time. All it takes is one moment of the unexpected, and you will know God.
These past few days have been the best time of my life. How do I even begin to explain it?
These past few months, my life has gone a certain way, with routines and plans. I’ve had certain goals that I wanted to achieve: find a publisher, bring attention to Gorgeous for God, bring attention to A Course in Miracles, write to magazine editors, contact tv producers, spread the word that there is a way to experience love and miracles all the time.
That all changed on Sunday.
I actually found MYSELF in a brand new experience, and none of that other stuff matters to me anymore. I couldn’t care less if I never find a publisher. I don’t care about selling books anymore.
That is small, insignificant and meaningless … as I realize the magnitude of God’s Love and the magnitude of the forces of nature.
On Saturday night, we got hit with floods and I was evacuated on Sunday and then I lost my cats. I’ve been living out of a suitcase. I fly to New Hampshire tomorrow for a month. You would think life would be utterly chaotic and confusing during a time like this, but instead I’m the calmest and happiest I’ve ever been.
I’ve spent the past 2 days walking through the woods looking for my cats. I found them (one at a time) and lost them again in the process of transferring them to a new home. They freaked and took off (into a new set of woods!)
Good old Wisconsin. It’s woods everywhere.
But in finding them, I see that I have nothing to worry about. Sam had been missing for 4 days and when I finally found him, there he was: just walking around like nothing at all had happened, wagging his tail, being the way he always has been. I laughed out loud when I saw him. It was so funny. He’s been through 2 tremendous lightening rain storms, flooding, and he’s walking around like nothing at all had happened.
So, I got to play with him, love him, and then I tried to transfer him to the new place, and then he took off. He definitely had no intention of being an inside cat, kept prisoner. Which is exactly what Enzo did yesterday. I found him, then lost him also. The second we tried to get him through the door, he also bolted.
I still would like to find them, of course. But I’m not worried anymore. I met the neighbors in the new area, and everyone was super helpful and supportive. One holy encounter after another. This is the place where life gets exciting – in the everyday moments.
Who knew?????
Meeting the neighbors was more exciting than anything I’ve done in a long time.
We think we’ll be happy when we make more money or get a great career, completely forgetting that the best moments come from talking to the neighbors.
I never once mentioned Gorgeous for God, A Course in Miracles, or God and it was awesome.
In the process of all of this, my priorities got reorganized.
Thank the Lord.
The best part of all … is that Sam and Enzo continue to be my greatest teachers!!! They are teaching me something brand new by being “lost.” They are showing me what is important … and what is not important. And this could never could have been revealed to me if things had stayed the same.
Suddenly, everything I was doing last week and last month (and the past year, let’s be honest here) has zero meaning to me. It’s utterly meaningless. I realize I don’t care about Gorgeous for God at all. I’d be happy to get a job – any job – find the cats (or get new kittens), get a dog, and live life simply. Happily ever after.
In a state of BEING.
Sometimes (often) you don’t realize what you have – or how good you have it – until you lose it.
Honest to God, I didn’t realize how perfect my life already was!
Walking through the woods, I realized how happy I am in SIMPLE ACTION. It felt great to be in the woods. When was that last time I was out in nature??? It felt great to be away from the computer. It felt great to not have a telephone.
These past two days have been the best time of my life. Thank you Sam & Enzo. Thank you Mother Nature! Thank you God. I’ve had no cares and no worries, which is spectacular considering everything has been uprooted and disrupted.
With the flooding, I am amazed at how nature constantly balances itself. I need do nothing. Someone said “everyone thinks the flood happened because of the weather, but the weather happened because of the lake.” (Lake Delton, which is man-made, and which drained itself dry yesterday in 2 hours)
That is so true. We start manipulating the land, and this is what happens.
“Don’t mess with Mother Nature.”
If you manipulate anything, you will get the results of it. I’ve been having revelation after revelation these past two days, and I’m so grateful.
This flood is teaching me to let things flow naturally. Don’t manipulate natural forces.
Let everything be as it.
If a place does not naturally have a lake, then it is probably not a good idea to make one.
And if things are not happening easily & effortlessly, then it is probably not a good idea to force your own agenda.
For one year, I have tried to get a publisher, and no effort of mine has been successful, so it’s probably just good advice to let the river flow wherever it is flowing, and not worry about it.
I am as God created me.
“This single thought, held firmly in mind, would save the world.”
I am not going to write a long blog post today because this lesson says:
“This single thought, held firmly in mind, would save the world.”
All I have to do is think “I AM AS GOD CREATED ME” and this will save the world.
Hold this thought firmly in your mind and it will save the world.
I am as God created me.
You don’t have to add anything to it. Just hold that single thought firmly in your mind today. That’s it! What could be simpler?
Think to yourself:
I am as God created me.
Here in Lake Delton, Wisconsin where I live, a dam broke yesterday and drained a 245-acre lake in 2 hours, taking 5 houses with it. The lake is completely dry now. It also swept away a major highway.
As you can see, the road has been destroyed, with a river going through it:
This CNN video is a great example of what the bible says: do not build your on sand. Build the foundation on stone.
CNN Video: Flooding Rips Homes Off Foundation
2nd Video: In this video, the house is swept away in its entirety
Matthew 7: 25-29
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
That’s for sure! Watch the video:
CNN Video: Flooding Rips Homes Off Foundation
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus says: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
To read the whole chapter (one of my very favorites in the bible) click here:
Here is Luke 6:
48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
I’ve lost my cats, Sam and Enzo. Or at least, I’ve temporarily misplaced them. They are out there somewhere.
Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.
Yesterday during my 90-minute talk (at the very end), I said: “If you come away with anything from this talk, let it be this: THE RELINQUISHMENT OF ANGER AND ATTACK.”
Today’s lesson is the practical application of how the relinquishment of attack is accomplished.
This lesson asks us “take a stand against our anger, that fear may disappear and offer room to love.”
Here is the total answer to all your problems. Look on everyone with love. Take a stand against your anger, that fear may disappear and offer room to love.
You’ll notice that this change of mind is your responsibility. You are not going to wake up one morning and realize you are free from problems. You must take a stand against anger. You must make a conscious decision that you don’t want conflict anymore. That above all else, you want to see.
Christ vision is given to you automatically the moment you decide that’s what you want.
From the text: “Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother.”
If you could LIVE that one sentence, you wouldn’t need A Course in Miracles. You wouldn’t need 365 lessons. You wouldn’t need a teacher. You wouldn’t need time. You wouldn’t need healing. All your problems would disappear. All fear would dissolve. You would recognize your own wholeness and completion, along with your brother’s wholeness and completion.
“Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother.”
That simplifies it, huh?
Lesson 161 is great. It says “One brother is all brothers. Every mind contains all minds, for every mind is one. Such is the truth.”
This means you don’t have to go looking very far for healing to be accomplished. It’s in your mind. God is with you. The Holy Spirit is with you. All brothers are with you. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. As you accept Atonement and correction in your own mind, all minds are healed along with you because all minds are joined as one. This is what makes you the savior. You have the ability to heal the world because the world is what your mind is.
From chapter 6: “Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.”
Today:
“Select one brother, symbol of all the rest, and ask salvation of him. See him first as clearly as you can, in that same form to which you are accustomed. See his face, his hands and feet, his clothing. Watch him smile, and see familiar gestures which he makes so frequently. Then think of this: What you are now seeing conceals from you the sight of one who can forgive you all your sins; whose sacred hands can take away the nails which pierce your own, and lift the crown of thorns which you have placed upon your bleeding head. Ask this of him, that he may set you free:
Give me your blessing, holy Son of God. I would behold you with the eyes of Christ, and see my perfect sinlessness in you.
“And He will answer Whom you called upon. For He will hear the Voice for God in you, and answer in your own. Behold him now, whom you have seen as merely flesh and bone, and recognize that Christ has come to you.”
Give me your blessing, holy Son of God.
Today’s idea is your safe escape from anger and from fear. Be sure you use it instantly, should you be tempted to attack a brother and perceive in him the symbol of your fear. and you will see him suddenly transformed from enemy to savior, from the devil into Christ.
