Eternal holiness abides in me.
“My holiness is far beyond my own ability to understand or know. Yet God, my Father, Who created it, acknowledges my holiness as his. Our Will, together, understands it. And Our Will together, knows that it is so.”
THANK THE LORD.
Of my own self … I am nothing.
THANK THE LORD I AM NOT ALONE.
My holiness is not of me. It is not mine to be destroyed by sin. It belongs to God.
Eternal holiness abides in me.
Last night a reader left me a comment, saying that I seem upset a lot lately, and that maybe I should take a sabbatical from Gorgeous for God and from the computer.
That sounds like a great idea, except for only one thing: it impossible to get away from the energy of the place I find myself. Even if I stopped blogging and stopped using the computer, I would still find myself in a place where things are shifting immensely. If it seems like I am upset a lot lately, it’s because this world is upsetting to me.
I look around and I don’t know what the hell this place is. Hell is what it is. My only salvation is to keep remembering that I don’t belong here and that my home is in Heaven … and thankfully, I know how to find peace, joy and happiness on a moment by moment basis by changing my mind.
What would Jesus do?
I always think of Jesus as the ultimate perfect example. He still got upset. He was all the passion in the universe. He turned over the money tables. He called a spade a spade. He didn’t look away from death and destruction, rather he looked directly at it with love and compassion. I imagine him crying when people were suffering.
Yes, I get upset. I cry. I can’t get away from the way I feel when I see people hurting. It affects me directly. I can actually physically FEEL healing and cellular movement within my own body. It doesn’t feel like pain or pleasure – it feels more like mountains moving in me. Sometimes I just start crying for no reason at all. It has no source, but it’s like something that breaks in my heart. Not as a metaphor, but as a real pressure that seems like my heart cracks. And then tears start coming out of my eyes. It doesn’t come from memories or thought, but rather it is like something pushing through me … like a newborn baby or a newborn world.
It always surprises me, in a good way.
Eternal holiness abides in me.
But yes! It is a good reminder and great advice for me to STOP BEING UPSET – to take a sabbatical – and to start being helpful – to simply stand in this place without participating in it – and so I am immensely grateful for the comment. Thank you.
I have the willingness to give it a try – to be a happy learner of the Atonement – and turn in that direction towards God. A Course in Miracles aims at a complete reversal of thought. My primary goal for myself is to remember this:
Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart of God. Where is the world and where is sorrow now?
It says in the Teachers Manual that one who lives constantly in the light cannot sustain a physical body for long:
“If God were reached directly in sustained awareness, the body would not be long maintained.”
“Those who have laid the body down merely to extend their helpfulness to those remaining are few indeed. And they need helpers who are still in bondage and still asleep, so that by their awakening can God’s Voice be heard.”
DO NOT DESPAIR, THEN, BECAUSE OF LIMITATIONS. IT IS YOUR FUNCTION TO ESCAPE FROM THEM, BUT NOT TO BE WITHOUT THEM. IF YOU WOULD BE HEARD BY THOSE WHO SUFFER, YOU MUST SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE. IF YOU WOULD BE A SAVIOR, YOU MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT NEEDS TO BE ESCAPED.
Salvation is not theoretical.
Ha!
I love these words from Jesus.
“Let us not, then, be concerned with goals for which you are not ready. God takes you where you are and welcomes you. What more could you desire, when this is all you need?”
“The world will end when it’s thought system has been completely reversed. This final lesson, which brings the ending of the world, cannot be grasped by those not yet prepared to leave the world and go beyond its tiny reach. What, then, is the function of the teacher of God in this concluding lesson? He need merely learn how to approach it; to be willing to go in its direction. He need merely trust that if God’s Voice tells him it is a lesson he can learn, he can learn it. He does not judge it either as hard or easy. His Teacher points to is, and he trusts that He will show him how to learn it.”
As I am typing here, it is occurring to me that maybe it is time for me to be willing to go in a new direction!
“To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected.”
Gorgeous.
“And now sit in true humility, and realize that all God would have you do you can do. Do not be arrogant and say you cannot learn His Own Curriculum. His Word says otherwise. His Will be done. It cannot be otherwise. And be you thankful it is so.”
What, O teacher of God, is it that you want? You have been called by God, and you have answered. Would you now sacrifice that Call? Few have heard it yet, and they can but turn to you. there is no other hope in all the world they can trust. There is no other voice in all the world that echoes God’s. If you would sacrifice the truth, they stay in hell. And if they stay, you will remain with them.
There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day. It is a thought of pure joy; a thought of peace, a thought of limitless release, limitless because all things are freed within it.
So, there it is: Let’s have a day of pure joy.
He’s my man.
And … drumroll … The New York Times has endorsed Barack Obama.
Read it here:
Barack Obama for President
For more fun and games, here are four Saturday Night Live clips, which are HILARIOUS. Click the image to watch:
Click to read the SNL transcript – Bush endorsement of McCain
I love You, Father, and I love Your Son.
Yesterday’s lesson was: Forgiveness, Forgiveness, Forgiveness.
Today’s lesson is: Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude.
For most of you, it’s probably evident that I had a fairly difficult summer. As you probably have already learned, I am pretty good at keeping up appearances no matter how the black the hole gets. But underneath was a current of disappointment, frustration and let me admit it … despair that I was losing my faith.
I was in survival mode – just scraping by.
Last night I realized – looking back in hindsight over the summer – that I allowed myself to STOP CARING. I allowed myself to slide down, inch by inch … down, down, down.
But last night I realized, well, if I am able to STOP CARING then, well, I am able to START CARING!!
If I am able to BECOME depressed then it must also be possible for me to become NOT depressed!
Quite a revelation!!
And the gates to Heaven opened!
I was thinking about my cat Sam, who is still missing. I think about him every single day. I keep wishing he would return. I get the sense that wherever he is – dead or alive – he is fine. He’s not GREAT, but he’s fine. And then I realized that Sam was offering my a good lesson: that in the same way I want him to come home to me … COME HOME SAME – my Father wants me to come home to Him. COME HOME LISA. I realized that I have been getting along fine. Not great, but fine. Surviving. And all the while, my Father in Heaven has been wanting me to come home.
It made me cry … tears of joy.
From A Course in Miracles, Chapter 5, Section 8:
God in his knowledge is not waiting. But his Kingdom IS bereft while YOU wait. All the Sons of God are waiting for your return, just as YOU wait for theirs. Delay does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in time. You have elected to be in time rather than in eternity, and therefore have changed your belief in your status. You do not belong in time. Your place is ONLY in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever.
Amazing, huh? I’m waiting for Sam to come home, which is just an extreme example of the universe waiting for me to come home. Except – here’s the interesting thing – the universe is NOT waiting, but it’s ME that’s waiting. It’s me who’s delaying. I’m like my cat Sam who is just out there wandering, somewhere, while I pray for his return to come home.
Home is always where it always was. Heaven never left. My home remains exactly as it always was, and my Creator longs for my return. He didn’t move … I did.
I love You, Father, and I love Your Son.
“My gratitude permits my love to be accepted without fear. And thus am I restored to my Reality at last.”
At last!
Thanks for standing with me this summer. Thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for not leaving me, while I wandered off on “thorny byways.”
Thank God and Thank you that every moment offers me another opportunity to choose again.
I had a summer of not caring for myself, and not really caring for anyone else either. I let a lot of things fall apart. I gained weight. And the scary thing is when you can actually see the downward slide – you can see yourself gaining weight or you can see things falling apart – and that makes you go deeper into oblivion.
Thankfully, every day is a new beginning to choose again. I stopped caring which means I can start caring.
Last night at 11:00pm, my faith was restored again and all my doubts vanished.
Father, I come to you today, because I would not follow any way but Yours. You are beside me. Certain is Your way. And I am grateful for Your holy gifts of certain sanctuary, and escape from everything that would obscure my love for God my Father and His holy Son.
I love you, my friend.
Forgiveness is the only gift I give.
Forgiveness is the gift I give to myself and to other people. It is the ONLY gift. It is the only gift I give because it is the only gift I want. And everything I give I give myself.
THIS IS SALVATION’S SIMPLE FORMULA.
Jesus is the perfect demonstration of today’s lesson. He shows me the way. He allowed himself to be crucified without being angry. He went to the cross without defending himself.
Up on the cross he said only one thing: “Forgive them Father, for they not what they do.”
“FORGIVE THEM FATHER FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”
That’s the whole lesson of Jesus’ entire teaching. His whole ministry was to teach the lesson of forgiveness, to show it in all his doings, to demonstrate it, to live it, to be it.
FORGIVE THEM FATHER FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.
Forgiveness is the only gift worth giving.
If there is someone acting insanely in your world, or who is angry, or sad, or vengeful, or who is ignoring you, or attacking you … there is only one thing to do … forgive.
Look how many opportunities you have to practice these lessons!!
Amazing, right?
We all have something in our life right now that we want to fix, improve or change.
I’ll bet money there is a person or a situation in your life that you wish was different. That “if only” the person or situation was different, then you would be happy and at peace.
Well. LOL. If you’ve been following along with the workbook lessons or with this blog, then you know it’s impossible to fix something outside yourself. IMPOSSIBLE. You cannot change another person. It’s absolutely 100% impossible. Everyone is being exactly the way that they are … and there is no need to change them. However, there is every need to change your mind about the person.
Forgiveness, Forgiveness, Forgiveness.
It’s the Key. It’s the Answer. It’s the Only Gift.
In a world of war, condemnation, attack and political insanity you can do much good by forgiving it all.
![Forgive Someone. [Photoshopped.] by .[-Kara Marie-]..](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2389/2390009516_767505114c.jpg?v=0)
The Holy Spirit speaks through me today.
“The Holy Spirit needs my voice today, that all the world may listen to Your Voice, and hear Your Word through me. I am resolved to let Your speak through me, for I would use no use but Yours, and have no thoughts which are apart from Yours, for only Yours are true.”
I would be savior to the world I made.
That’s nice, huh?
I would be savior to the world I made.
In recognition that this world is my own doing, then I will allow it to be undone through me.
So in order to let the Holy Spirit speak THROUGH me, first I have to become aware that he is speaking TO me. I must recognize that there is a Voice in my own head, in my own thoughts, that is slightly different than the usual mind-chatter of fear, planning, striving, doing and worrying.
What is this Voice saying to me right now? It’s talking about movement and energy and it’s telling me that I don’t have much time to write and that I have to get in the shower quickly and get going.
LOL.
The Voice (which is my own thoughts) is not telling me any insider secrets or spiritual gems.
I have come to discover that this Voice is NOT a booming, holier-than-thou, shout it from the highest mountain kind of voice. It doesn’t preach. It doesn’t command.
It inspires me, and moves me to action.
This Voice speaks to me as a friend who cares about me and who wants only what is best for me.
“We teach today what we would learn, and that alone.”
I’m not one of those teachers that acts as if the Holy Spirit is separate from me. You have probably already noticed this. I write from my heart. I speak from my own mind – I AM MYSELF – knowing that this is what the Holy Spirit is.
The Holy Spirit is not separate.
I used to do the whole Question and Answer thing where I would ask the Holy Spirit a question, and then listen to His answer. But that was years ago and I don’t do that anymore. For purposes of today’s lesson, I can talk about it, but I would like to add in here that the whole Q & A thing is what separation is. So be careful you don’t get trapped in the whole channeling thing.
The Holy Spirit is what you are.
There are some people that mistakenly think some people are able to download the Holy Spirit better than others, and then they flock to that individual as if they can learn something from them. Be careful not to make idols of other people!
The Holy Spirit is in you! He’s speaking to you.
Remember that A Course in Miracles is called “mind-training.” You are training your mind in a systematic way to start to listen and to hear this still small voice, which has been with you since time began.
There are two words that I love in the Introduction to the Workbook Lessons: total transfer.
Total Transfer.
This means that when you first start out you have limited beliefs about yourself as a separate body in a world of separation. Then through practice and willingness, something extraordinary happens! Total transfer! You become the Christ!
When something is changed totally, it means there is not a trace of anything else that remains.
And for now, I am running late. I will come back later and talk about this idea in my head of energy and movement. I have been thinking how it’s good to choose a small goal and make a commitment to it, and let that be your god for a day or a week or a month to observe how energy works. Most people when they choose a goal, they choose something big … and usually it’s so overwhelming that the energy never moves at all. But when you choose a small goal, you will instantly begin to observe energy moving.
I’ve been thinking that you use (waste) more energy in doing nothing (sitting in a chair, waiting for divine inspiration), than you do when participating in physical work.
For example, a runner who does not run wastes more energy “not running” than he does when he actually puts on his shoes and goes running. Then he is moving with his natural energy, and this action actually gives him more energy.
I know when I don’t write I feel physically exhausted. But when I do write it might seem like I’m using a lot of energy (as if I’m doing something that would tire me out) but in fact it gives me an additional burst of energy, more than if I had done nothing.
So, I am thinking that today, if you care to see this is action: I want you to pick a small goal. Make it a tiny goal. Perhaps it’s some part of a larger goal. For example, if you have an idea you want to lose 30 pounds, then instead decide you will lose 2 pounds. I want you to see how the energy starts to move.
These are the thoughts that are coming into my head.
The Holy Spirit looks through me today.
I love this lesson. Christ is asking if He can use my eyes today “and thus redeem the world.”
The answer is YES.
Yes, please. Have my eyes. Look through me.
A lot of people turn their life and will over to the care of God or to Jesus or some higher power without really realizing exactly what they are doing or saying. You might have said “Have all of me! I’m yours! Use me! I’ll do anything!”
It was probably some moment of desperation. Or it might have been a bargaining chip you used in prayer to get you out of some mess. Or perhaps you simply wanted a higher adventure.
Giving your life over to the God IS the highest adventure.
But chances are, you didn’t really know what you were committing yourself to. You probably didn’t really read the fine details of the contract you signed your name to.
Because in truth, when you declare anything – silently in your mind or verbally out loud – that vibration creates a real agreement between you and all the universe. Angels rush in. The Holy Spirit rushes in. God rushes in.
You might begin to think … well, I didn’t sign up for this!
Except … LOL … you did!
You absolutely signed on the dotted line to allow the Holy Spirit and God work through you.
In the Teachers Manual of A Course in Miracles it asks “Who are God’s Teachers?”
“A teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. His qualifications consist solely in this; somehow, somewhere he has a made a deliberate choice in which he did not see his interests as apart from someone else’s. Once he has done that, his road is established and his direction is sure. A light has entered the darkness. It may be a single light, but that is enough. He has entered an agreement with God even if he does not yet believe in Him. He has become a bringer of salvation. He has become a teacher of God.”
So see? You did sign on the dotted line – you have entered into an agreement with God – the instant you were helpful to someone else. Everyone at some point in their life has seen someone else’s interests as their own. Everyone. And this makes you a teacher of God, even if you don’t believe in God.
Today’s lesson is a first step in giving over one of your body parts: your eyes.
It always seems easier when you are offering all your love, joy, money, etc. when you are at a distance (or in a desperate place, saying “I’ll do anything! Just get me out of this mess!”) but then it’s a whole different story when you are called on to give something specific. It’s a little like someone who says “If you need anything, anything at all, just ask!” but when you ask for $50, they hesitate and want to know what it’s for.
Same with this. You turned your life and will over to God. And now today you are asked to give your eyes to Christ.
And there might be some hesitation, like, What?? Give my eyes? Are you crazy?
It’s not as bad or difficult as you think. This is a fun lesson: The Holy Spirit looks through me today.
The lesson says that the Holy Spirit is asking “this gift” from me that “He may offer peace of mind to me, and take away all terror and all pain.”
Amazing, huh? I give something to the Holy Spirit and He gives something back to me.
“As I am saved, the world is saved with me. For all of us must be redeemed together. Fear appears in many different forms, but love is one.”
My Father, Christ has asked a gift of me, and one I give that it be given to me. Help me to use the eyes of Christ today, and thus allow the Holy Spirit’s Love to bless all things which I may look upon, that His forgiving Love may rest on me.”
Oh my God. I love it.
Look with the eyes of Christ. Look upon everything through eyes of love and forgiveness. I’m sure there is some event or person in your life right now – in this moment – that you can use to practice to see that this lesson is true.
For me, yesterday it was my friend who “attacked” me about getting a job and saying I never finish anything. I silently decided to “forgive and forget” but simultaneously I also decided “Screw him, I’m not going to call him till I have an awesome (or shitty) job and then I can call him and say: Okay, I did it. I got a job. Are you happy? Asshole.”
And then of course, I burst out laughing at the insanity of my own mind.
It’s freaking funny when you look squarely and honestly at the working of your own mind.
How would Christ look at this situation?
He would see only love.
And that’s what happened to me. Suddenly, I could see everything clearly.
So what did I do? I called my friend and talked to him like a friend. We laughed and talked and all is well. And then I went on Craigslist and found 3 awesome potential jobs. I mean, really exciting jobs that I would love to do!
HA.
Where before I was dragging my feet as if a job would be a prison sentence, and now I am excited like a little kid as if getting a job is the biggest present the universe could offer.
I simply needed to find work that I would love to do, and that would feel purposeful and right for me, and Craigslist is awesome.
The situation didn’t change. I CHANGED. I decided to “look again” and that’s the miracle.
Look again. Change your mind. See things differently.
My body is a wholly neutral thing.
Today is the perfect lesson for me. THANK YOU GOD. This past Saturday night a good friend of mine knocked the wind right out of my sails. I felt like my wings were destroyed.
I woke up this morning thinking “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t go on.”
But then I opened the Course and it says “The body is a wholly neutral thing. I am a Son of God.”
A good reminder that I cannot be hurt. A good reminder that I’m not a body, and that my wings are not physical and cannot be destroyed.
He said I have to get a job and that I never finish anything, and that I never do what I say I’m going to do, and that I’m full of enthusiasm but that I never follow through with anything.
And all I could think was: He’s right.
But it knocked me to the ground. My hopeful optimism left me in that second.
I couldn’t speak, and I’ve been hobbling along … until now.
These lessons come in handy at times like this when you think you are confronted by attack from other people. My body is a wholly neutral thing. I am unaffected by anything anyone has to say about me, or to me, or directly to my face.
Of course, that’s not entirely true. It was like a dagger going through my heart. Here’s a friend who I trust and love, and who inspires me, and he chops my legs off.
But for today, I will practice the lesson: My body is a wholly neutral thing. I don’t have any legs to chop off and my brother is my savior.
“A neutral thing does not see death, for thoughts of fear are not invested there, nor is a mockery of love bestowed upon it. It’s neutrality protects it while it has a use. And afterwards, without a purpose, it is laid aside.
THE BODY IS NOT SICK NOR OLD NOR HURT.
“It is functionless, uneeded and cast off. Let me not see it more than this today; of service for a while and fit to serve, to keep its usefulness while it can serve, and then to be replaced for greater good.
Father, Let me use this dream to help Your plan that we awaken from all dreams we made.
See that? Use everything. If someone attacks you, use that incident to remember the truth. You cannot be hurt. Nothing can touch you. In every moment you have the power to rejuvenate, regenerate, and be restored again to wholeness.
There is no such thing as broken wings. Learn to fly again. There is no such thing as being crippled. There’s no such thing as having the wind knocked out of you. The only thing that can be attacked is your body, and it’s a wholly neutral thing. Your Spirit can not die.
You’ve got wings. Use them. Don’t stay in limitation. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Just get up, dust yourself off, and fly.
All fear is past and only love is here.
Sometimes these lessons seem REALLY NOT TRUE.
Maybe you – who is reading this – can be the guest blogger today in the comment area, because I don’t have it in me.
Lesson 293: All fear is past and only love is here.
I’ll be giving a 90-minute talk on Paltalk tomorrow night – Sunday, October 19, 2008 – from 8:30pm-10:00pm EST.
The topic is: Entering the Real World: The Return to Sanity.
It is a live chat and you can ask questions.
The room is ACIM Gather.
Click the Paltalk image to download Paltalk:
If you have a Mac, you can click here to listen:
The room is ACIM Gather.
I hope to see you there.
love, lisa
A happy outcome to all things is sure.
God’s promises make no exceptions. And He guarantees that only joy can be the final outcome for everything. YET …
Yet …
Yet …
Yet …
Yet it is up to us when this is reached, how long we let an alien will appear to be opposing His.
IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHEN THIS ENDING TAKES PLACE.
A HAPPY ENDING IS CERTAIN.
For God’s Will is done in earth and Heaven.
A happy outcome to all things is sure.
We thank You, Father, for Your guarantee of only happy outcomes in the end.
Help us not interfere, and so delay the happy endings You have promised us for every problem that we can perceive; for every trial we think we still must meet.
Your happy ending is today … if you choose. When the end is reached is up to you.
This is a day of stillness and peace.
“Christ’s vision looks through me today. He sight shows me all things forgiven and at peace, and offers this same vision to the world. And I accept this vision in its name, both for myself and for the world we see surrounding us!”
God, I do not know the way to You. But You are wholly certain. Father, guide me, Your Son, along the quiet path that leads to You. Let my forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You return to me.
Under your body, this is what you look like:
You are the Christ. You are Jesus. You are love. You are everlasting peace, joy and happiness.
Paint your body features on top of this image and you’re looking at yourself.
Of course, this image/symbol is entirely wrong. Who you are has no form, but this is the closest I can come to expressing it. Underneath all your ideas of limitation, you are the Christ. Below all your false ideas of yourself as you constructed yourself (as weak, guilty, lonely, sad, sick) is perfection as God created you … holy, lovely, and beautiful.
You are all light.
Look through the eyes of Christ. Try it as a Great Experiment today. Allow Christ vision to look through your body’s eyes today. It will be something entirely different than you have ever experienced. In you is Christ Himself, and now let Him look through you.
This is a day of stillness and of peace. This is a day of miracles.
What do you see?
Natoli Mania:
http://www.news3online.com/index.php?code=28Z2s41g75M5×53cmLyJ
very funny.
