I choose to see my brother’s sinlessness.

Forgiveness is a choice. I never see my brother as he is, for that is far beyond perception.

!!!!!!!! Amazing.

What my brother IS is far beyond perception. So what my body’s eyes show me is NOT what my brother is.

“What I see in him is merely what I wish to see, because it stands for what I want to be the truth. It is to this alone that I respond, however much I seem to be impelled by outside happenings.”

I got a phone call this morning that disrupted all my plans for the day. Now I am practicing the lesson to see what comes next. It is never about trying to change external factors, but rather to take a quiet moment, relax, to realize “there are no accidents. Something is being offered to me” and then to allow the new plan to be revealed.

I’m not going to push my own agenda in this situation. I am simply going to remember the truth. I am going to remember my brother’s sinlessness. I am going to remember my own sinlessness. I am remembering THIS MOMENT is the only moment there is. There is nothing else. There are no plans. There is no today. There is no this week. There is no this year and there is no next year. There is only the memory of God, given back to me when I choose to remember it.

I am the light of the world.

From A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section 5:

I am come as a light into the world which does deny itself everything. It does this simply by dissociating itself from everything. It is therefore an illusion of isolation, MAINTAINED by fear of the same loneliness which is its illusion. I have told you that I am with you always even to the end of the world. That is why I am the light of the world. If I am with you in the loneliness of the world, the loneliness is gone. You cannot maintain the illusion of loneliness if you are not alone.

My purpose, then, is to overcome the world. I do not attack it, but my light must dispel it because of WHAT IT IS. Light does not ATTACK darkness, but it does shine it away. If my light goes with you everywhere, you shine it away with ME. The light becomes ours, and you CANNOT abide in darkness, any more than darkness can abide anywhere you go. The remembrance of me is the remembrance of yourself and of Him Who sent me to you.

What tremendous freedom to not respond to events that my body’s eyes show me! What joy! A huge weight is lifted off you when you allow things to be EXACTLY as they are, without trying to change it.

What I see is merely what I wish to see, because it stands for what I want to be the truth. It is to this alone that I respond however much I seem to be impelled by outside happenings.

I choose to see what I would look upon, and this I see, and only this. My brother’s sinlessness shows me that I would look upon my own. And I will see it, having chosen to behold my brother in its holy light.

Memory of God is restored to me as I see my brother’s sinlessness. His holiness reminds me that he was created one with me, and like myself. In him I find my Self, and in Your Son I find the memory of You as well.

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

There is nothing here in this world that will satisfy you completely, thus the endless searching and seeking. Do you notice every time you get what you think you want, you are right back to wanting something else???

Nothing in this world will bring you lasting joy and peace. Nothing. Once you have accepted this, you might be a little disoriented at first because you are so used to wanting things in the world. One’s whole entire life is about wishing, hoping, and asking for things. Birthdays. Letters to Santa. Dreams about your future, and how you will get the things you want - money, relationships, great job, new adventures, a beautiful place to live - and then you will be happy.

But you already know that the acquisition of things and people doesn’t work. How many times have you gotten more money, a new relationship, a new house, a new car - only to be right back in your usual mode of wishing things were different?

You will save yourself a lot of time if you give up the idea that anything in form will make you happy. Everything in form disappointments at some point, as long as you are holding onto the idea that form has any value.

Lesson #1: Nothing I see means anything.

Today is the day to find the treasures your Father offers you!! Today is the day!

Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions. LET ME NOT ACCEPT SUCH MEAGER GIFTS AGAIN TODAY.

**God’s Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him.

THIS IS MY CHOICE.

Hallelujah! This is my choice. People constantly ask me: how it is you are always happy? and my answer is simple:

This is my choice.

I have accepted the treasure that my Father has given to me.

I seek but the eternal. I focus all my attention on that which is invisible which is the same thing as saying “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven” and all else will be added unto you.

Forget about form. Just forget about it entirely. Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven. Think about God.

You are Spirit. You are the Mind of God. You are Light. All power has been given to you to manifest God. Through your holiness the power of God is made available.

Think on this instead of what you want/need in the world.

I assure you, you will begin to get happy.

Seek but the eternal and all your troubles will melt away. Seek and you shall find.

Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.

Conflict must be resolved.

A simple practical lesson that does not need any commentary, since it gives exact about instruction about what to do:

Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here. 

Conflict must be resolved.

It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped.

It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose of the mind accorded it. For only then are defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.

Father, forgiveness is the light You chose to shine away all conflict and all doubt, and light the way for our return to You. No light but this can end our evil dream. No light but this can save the world. For this alone will never fail in anything, being Your gift to Your beloved Son.

Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.

I did a great radio interview last night with Joany Cravener. We were talking about A Course in Miracles and I was telling her how I get quite a lot of emails from people who sincerely follow and practice the lessons of A Course in Miracles but who write me and say: Why do I keep forgetting all this??

And she said … “fear.”

“The reason people “forget” the simple instructions to love and forgive is because of fear. Fear of God. Fear of the light. Fear of the loss of their own self-identity.”

ha! Amazing, right? Great interview and great answer. Thank you Joany!

Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.

Truth shines away all illusions. Truth never makes attack. It merely is. And by its presence is the mind recalled from fantasies, awaking to the real. Forgiveness bids this presence enter in, and take its rightful place within the mind. Without forgiveness is the mind in chains, believing in its own futility. Yet with forgiveness does the light shine through the dream of darkness, offering it hope, and giving it the means to realize the freedom that is its inheritance.

Fear binds the world. It binds you to the world, because it is a world of your own making. It is not real and it does not exist. You are free to leave it behind any time you choose. What you “see” are images that started in your mind with your own idea of what you wanted … and if you don’t like what you see, you are free to change your mind.

A lot of people are terrified of the light. They don’t know what will happen if they let go of their plans for security and safety. They think they will lose all that they have, or that they will die or their relationships will crumble. So they hold onto the little they have, trying to protect it, meanwhile wondering why their life isn’t working.

It’s very much like stepping off the cliff. If you want to take flight, you have to eventually leave the solid ground.

You will eventually make a decision that you will be 100% constant and consistent about these instructions in A Course in Miracles.

Remember …

This is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.

Either you are doing the little that is asked of you … or you are not. And you will be able to tell which path you are following by the way you feel. If you are joyful, then you are standing with God. If you are confused, doubtful and angry, then you are binding the world with fear.

It’s Thanksgiving today. It’s Thanksgiving every day. Your holiness blesses the world. You are a light that Heaven gratefully acknowledges as its own.

Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest.
Through your holiness the power of God is made available.

Here is true “manifestation.” You stop trying to manifest things to you as if you are a magnet … and instead you allow God to be made manifest through you. !!!!

Through your holiness the power of God is made available.

That is so amazing to me. What a privilege. God is made manifest through me. I let that love flow through me so everyone can see it. What a gift. I’m laughing again.

Lesson 37 and Lesson 38 will simply blow your mind. These lessons are about you.

Your holiness blesses the world. There is nothing your holiness cannot do.

If you want to give yourself a good gift today, go read those 2 lessons.

“Your holiness blesses the world. This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world, or why you are here. Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. Thus are you and the world blessed together.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love it!

This idea contains your first glimmering!

My function is to see the world through my own holiness. How could I possibly have a problem? Problems and darkness disappear when I acknowledge my own holiness, and accept my Identity in God. I am the light of the world.

Where are problems now?

“Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed along with you.”

I love you so much. Thank you for being here for me and taking this journey with me. It means more to me than you will ever know. I am blessed along with you.

What a tremendous gift that we have been given: a way out of hell. I love Jesus. I love God. I love you. I am blown away that I have an instruction manual that tells me exactly what to do and what not to do. I love its simplicity.

“You want to be more Inner Being like, you just have to worry a whole lot less and laugh a whole lot more, and criticize never and praise always. And when you develop those patterns, you will be in the flow with your Inner Being where you will be intuitive, you will be dancing the dance with others that are like you and you will be just like these birds that are flocking together in pure harmony, always moving in the perfect motion and having a joyous time in the process of it.” - Esther Hicks

There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.

There is no will except the Will of Love.

Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. Death is illusion; life, eternal truth.

There is no opposition to God’s Will.

Father, there is no conflict, for my will is Yours.

Forgiveness shows us that God’s Will is One, and that we share it. Let us look upon the holy sights forgiveness shows today, that we may find the peace of God.

Amen.

I will not hurt myself again today.

In church this past Sunday, the morning after I heard that I can bring my cat Enzo to the Inn with me, Glad was reading from the bible in John 10 about The Good Shepherd.

I was really quite amazed. Because in the recognition that everything is an illusion, YOUR CARE INCREASES. You might think you would become indifferent, unemotional and unsympathetic when you realize that the world isn’t real, saying about everything “It’s only an illusion! It’s only an illusion! I can stay home and do nothing! It’s an illusion!” but in the acceptance of the Atonement it’s not that way at all! You become more active than ever, as you realize your deep responsibility for everything you see. Harm becomes impossible. Protection becomes your motivating guiding force in life. Your heart opens up, and an overwhelming love encompasses you. You fall madly in love with all your brothers, all the animals, all the children, and for every living thing … and you want to help them.

You become The Good Shepherd.

All your brothers are your sheep and they are in your care. If they are lost, you help bring them back.

You wouldn’t want harm to come to any one of them, and you, as the shepherd, certainly would not want to inflict pain upon them … your own sheep! You would love them, care for them, and protect them. You would lay down your life for them.

This is the role of the savior: to help your brothers find their way back to God.

There is something spectacular in the Urtext, the original ACIM manuscript, which surprisingly did not make it into the final published version, but look at this, Chapter 4, Section 9, Jesus to Helen Schucman about Bill Thetford:

The reason why Bill needs this experience is because he needs rehabilitating himself. How often have I answered “help him” when you asked me to help you? He, too, has asked for help, and he has been helped whenever he was truly helpful to you. He has also gained to whatever extent he could give. He will help YOU more truly by going, if he can remember all the time he is there that his ONLY reason for being there is to REPRESENT ME.

HA! If you are asking/praying for help from Jesus, then go be truly helpful to someone else. How simple! I am laughing out loud. If I am in a black cloud, with problems galore, then my solution is to go help my brother. Here is the entire solution and the whole way out of limitation and depression. Start extending your love. Your function is to represent Jesus on earth, through the body, representing the totality of the Love of God, right here. Heaven on earth.

Harm becomes impossible now.

John 10

¹Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

²But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

³To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

⁴And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

⁷Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

⁸All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

⁹I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

¹⁰The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

¹²But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

¹³The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

¹⁵As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

¹⁷Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

¹⁸No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

I have already chosen what You Will.

Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws, and interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. Yet what I am in truth is but Your Will, extended and extending.

WHAT I AM IN TRUTH IS BUT YOUR WILL, EXTENDED AND EXTENDING.

Yes!

This am I, and this will never change.

WHAT I AM IN TRUTH IS BUT YOUR WILL, EXTENDED AND EXTENDING.

As You are One, so am I one with You. And this I chose in my creation, where my will became forever one with Yours. That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot change, and be in opposition to itself. Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.

Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source We have no will apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to God.

Today I want to introduce you to my new friend Bianca, the owner of pause coffee wine bar here in Wisconsin. She’s a certified alien:

Seriously. This chick is not from this planet at all! She’s from a galaxy far far away. Being an alien myself, I recognized her immediately as one of my own. LOL.

I love you Bianca!

Last week I watched her bring herself and her mother back to life. No ordinary feat (as her mother killed herself when Bianca was 16, and before that she hadn’t seen her mother since she was 12, and even then it was just a glimpse through a schoolyard) but I watched her bring herself and her mother back to life with grace and ease. She was transported back to 1968. Literally. She took a trip back (not by any decision of her own, by rather, was catapulted back 40 years) and she actually met the characters back there, and physically shook their hands and talked with them. She sat with them and listened to their stories. She got to see first-hand what actually happened back there while her mother was still alive. This is no concept, and no nighttime dream, and no imaginary story I am telling you. This all happened during daylight hours while Bianca’s eyes were wide-open.

All the people who knew her mother began appearing in physical form. And they’ve got amazing stories to tell.

And then there are the letters! Oh, the letters! Amazing love letters! Letters that her mother sent to Bianca and her brother over the years, but which her father destroyed before they got a chance to read them. Her grandmother (her mother’s mother) had made photocopies of all the letters before they were sent, probably realizing they might be destroyed.

“A year of sobriety has passed, and I am finally able to write to my babies. I have never for a moment stopped loving you two. You both are the first thoughts every morning. Your names are on my lips all day long and you are in my prayers at night before I go to sleep. Remember many people love you both. I know this won’t be easy at first - REMEMBER THAT I NEVER STOPPED LOVING YOU. I will never forget my angels, how sick I was from my addiction and how I allowed my addiction to come first. I never meant that to happen. Remember I love you. I’m your mother.”

Handwritten love letters that go on for pages. And journals. And newsletters. And poetry. And lyrics. She also discovered a coffee house called Jawbone (right around the frigging corner from pause! a coffeehouse! of all things!) where her mom spent all her days with people who wanted to change the world, along with an album from musicians from the Jawbone coffeehouse that you can still buy online. We went to the “Jawbone” a few days ago: it’s a cigar shop now, but you can see what it would have been in the 70s. And it all just materialized out of nowhere … because Bianca asked for this to happen.

What Bianca learned is that the story she has been telling herself all these years (that her mother was a drug-addict horrible woman who abandoned her) didn’t happen the way she thought it happened. Her mother was in love with everyone, and quite seriously couldn’t understand the madness and insanity that is this world. Her mother wanted to know “Where is God in all of this?” (during Vietnam)

Bianca got to go back there and see the landscape with her own eyes. She got to meet her mother. What she discovered was that her mother is a extraordinary woman with a heart filled with love … and that she never left her … and that she’s been watching over her all these years and is with her now.

This is from Bianca’s facebook:

…stop.laughing.kiddo! The biggest challenge that I am facing right now is creating the exact.correct words to convey just how hilarious.perfect.monumental.miraculous this entire situation is. Every time I start thinking about how fucking insane it all is, I just start laughing. It was too easy. All those years, all those awfully painful years, just became worth it. All those awfully.painful.years just disappeared with this Jawbone discovery. Isn’t that funny? Well, I’m laughing about it, so it must be funny. But what’s also very funny is that I feel like I always knew that my mother was involved in a WISCONSIN.DELLS.COFFEE.HOUSE.1968. I feel like I always knew it. But I didn’t. But it feels like there was no.time. (there is no time) between not knowing and knowing. I feel like I snipped out all those years. I feel like I have been happy all of my life. I.Already.Knew.That. Hmm. I need to work on this. It still isn’t conveying just how In.cred.ible. T.H.I.S. … I.S. —-

T.H.I.S … I.S. —

“I feel like I have been happy all my life.”

Quite an amazing accomplishment coming from someone who’s been telling me for the past month about her horrible, hated, and awful childhood with her treacherous parents.

Jesus says that time is a tiny trick, a sleight of hand. He says “the miracle minimizes the need for time” and that you can travel back to before an event (in Bianca’s case, 40 years, back to 1968) and alter the sequence and everything that came after. The memories get erased and are replaced with something else. Like deleting information from a computer chip. You hit a button … and whatever was on that chip deletes from the file forever.

You can absolutely travel anywhere into the past or future and alter events. Easily and effortlessly because time is not sequential and does not exist. You are a Mind. You are Spirit. You’re not a body. You can go anywhere you please: past, present, future - to before an event, after an event, you can drop in anywhere - 40 years ago, 40 years from now, 2000 years ago, 2000 years from now … and you’ll be in that space. Literally. Physically.

And when you can do this, you’ll know there is no world.

From Chapter 1, Section 3:

The miracle is a learning device which lessens the need for time. The sudden shifts from horizontal to vertical perception which the miracle entails introduces an interval from which the doer and the receiver both emerge much farther along in time than they would otherwise have been.

A miracle has thus the unique property of abolishing time by rendering the space of time it occupies unnecessary. There is NO relation between the time a miracle TAKES and the time it COVERS. It substitutes FOR learning that might have taken thousands of years. It does this by the underlying recognition of perfect equality and holiness between doer and receiver on which the miracle rests. It is unstable, but perfectly consistent, e., it does not occur predictably across time, and it rarely occurs in comparable forms. But within ITSELF it is perfectly consistent. Since it contains NOTHING BUT an acknowledgment of equality and worth, all parts ARE equal. This establishes the prerequisite for validity.

We said before that the miracle abolishes time. It does this by a process of COLLAPSING it. It thus abolishes certain INTERVALS within it. It does this, however, WITHIN the larger temporal sequence.

The validity of the miracle, then, is PREDICTIVE, not logical, within the temporal schema. It establishes an out-of-pattern time interval, which is NOT under the usual laws of time. Only in this sense is it timeless. By collapsing time, it literally saves time, much the way “daylight saving time” does. It rearranges the distribution of light.

ha!

The miracle is the only device which man has at his immediate disposal for controlling time. Only the Revelation TRANSCENDS it, having nothing to do with time at all. The miracle is much like the body, in that both are learning aids which aim at facilitating a state in which they are unnecessary. When the Soul is finally in the original state of direct communication, neither the body nor the miracle serves any purpose.

While he is IN the body, however, man can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of creativity. He can create an empty shell (see previous reference), but he DOES NOT create nothing at all. He can wait, delay, paralyze himself, reduce his creativity almost to nothing, and even introduce a real developmental arrest or regression. But he CANNOT abolish his creativity. He CAN destroy his medium of communication, but NOT his potential.

The basic decision of the miracle-minded is NOT to wait on time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste, as well as be wasted. The miracle-worker, therefore, accepts the time-control factor of the miracle gladly, because he knows that every collapse of time brings all men closer to the ultimate RELEASE from time, in which the Son and the Father ARE one.

And of course, this IS today’s lesson: I have already chosen what You Will.

Today we will accept our union with each other and our Source We have no will apart from His, and all of us are one because His Will is shared by all of us. Through it we recognize that we are one. Through it we find our way at last to God.

Today is pause-giving (Thanksgiving at pause). A time to PAUSE and GIVE THANKS, and eat a Thanksgiving feast.

I choose the second place to gain the first.

I am in love with Jesus.

Lately all I’ve been doing is laughing. Yesterday the owners of the Inn said I can bring Enzo with me (Yes!) … however …. he has to be an entirely outside cat. My heart just sunk to the ground. They said I can keep him in the garage.

I started to explain how it would work if he was inside but they had already made their decision. I sat there for a second in sheer disappointment … but then! BUT THEN! It’s so good, I remembered Heaven! This course is genius. I love Jesus so much. I looked across the table and remembered: these are my brothers who I love. They are giving me everything.

I am not here to get my way within a dream. I am here for the salvation of the world. I am here to remember God in everyone and everything, in every event, in every encounter.

I am restored to sanity and joy in the instant I remember “to remember” Heaven.

Jesus was in my head speaking, saying: Don’t defend yourself. Be happy. He gets to live here. The guests will love him. Don’t worry. This is great.

And in that moment, it was great! I felt a feeling of total peace wash over me.

I realized just how much of my life I’ve spent manipulating and controlling to get my way. Explaining. Trying to rearrange so that things works out the way I think they should work out. I kept thinking we could work out a compromise situation that would make everyone happy.

I choose the second place to gain the first.

I choose to step back and let Him lead the way.

I choose Heaven over illusions.

I choose to remember this is a journey, a great adventure of creation.

Who would choose a sigh and sadness when they can just as easily choose laughter??

Who would stall & linger in depression when they can just as easily choose the peace of God?

Easy questions with easy answers.

And so I was immediately happy and had a day filled with miracles - easy, effortless interactions with everyone … but then later I was back to obsessing about the cat being cold this winter. And there is Jesus again, in my head, saying: DROP IT! FORGET ABOUT THE CAT! Who would choose illusions over the joy of Heaven?

And then I burst out laughing again. I opened up A Course in Miracles, saying, Okay, give me something I need to read and it landed on Chapter 23, Section III: Salvation without Compromise.

What a perfect message!

You will know if you are compromising because you will have lost your peace and joy. You will feel a sudden heaviness on your heart, like you’ve been defeated. And when you are attempting to get your way, it doesn’t feel good, and that is attack. That is compromise.

Salvation is no compromise of any kind. Salvation gives up nothing. It is complete for everyone. Let the idea of compromise but enter, and the awareness of salvation’s purpose is lost because it is not recognized. This course is easy just because it makes no compromise. Yet it seems difficult to those who still believe that compromise is possible.

“Mistake not truce for peace, nor compromise for the escape from conflict.”

That is so awesome. I thought getting my cat inside the house would end the conflict, but that’s a compromise approach. Remembering Heaven is what ends the conflict.

Immediately, instantaneously, and forever.

“To be released from conflict means that it is over. The door is open; you have left the battleground.”

So I was checking out the internet for cat houses and tips for keeping a cat warm in the winter and meanwhile Enzo (who by the way, is 90% outside cat anyways!) is playing with a hair clip of mine, throwing it in the air and catching it, and it landed in my nightstand which usually is filled with books and junk but which now are empty. And they are two sturdy wood boxes stacked on top of each other, and I look over and there is Enzo, lying in one of them … happy as can be! It was so funny. His cat house!

So I put them side by side, and he loves it. I’ll put it in the garage attic with heating pads and heating lights and it will work out great.

I’m done with trying to get my way. I’m done with trying to figure out what my needs are and how I can get them taken care of. I choose the second place to gain the first.

There is only the Will of God. All things we perceive are upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. My Father’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

If I am not perfectly happy, then I must be following a different will because God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

Father, I am glad that nothing I imagine contradicts what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace.

!!!!!

I love it. It is God’s Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace.

And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.

I need but call and You will answer me.

Okay, something I have learned. Something juicy and exciting. Something riveting and mind-blowing.

Here it is:

When you accept Atonement for yourself, the whole world transforms. Instantly and immediately. It turns inside out. Upside down. Right-side up. The whole thing flips. You get transported from a dark world of chaos to a bright world of love.

The world transforms before your very eyes.

It happens in the exact same second that you accept Atonement - which means to accept everything as One with you, One with God, no separation, no differences. Just pure light.

Only love …. all the time.

What happens? You find yourself incapable of judging. Incapable of defense. Nothing bothers you. You stop taking things personally. Problems roll off you like oil on water. Problems literally disappear before they reach you. You find yourself laughing constantly … delighted that Jesus has decided to take up residence in you.

Mostly, it’s a wonderful surprise.

Today’s lesson tells you straight out … you are not asked to take salvation on the basis of unsupported faith.

This lessons must be practiced in your own daily life. Accepting the Atonement is not a concept. If you are still reacting to figures in your dreams, you are unconscious. You would not react at all if you were conscious. It’s so simple. To be awake means to be aware of what you are doing. It means to know when your blood starts to boil. It means to know when you are sliding in depression. You’re conscious. You’re awake. And when you are conscious, you are in full awareness of the power that has been given to you by God.

Lashing out in judgment or defense becomes like playing a clown or a fool. When you are conscious, you see the ridiculous parody of unconscious emotions. You look at others who are sad or angry and you see they simply do not know what they are doing. It opens your heart up and fills you with compassion. To accept Atonement means simply to know yourself. To know the way you think. To know the way you act. To know what makes you tick.

In your acceptance of the Atonement, you realize that this is God’s Plan - a happy game that children play - and that you’re a perfect part of it, and that there is work to do. It’s simple.

And the reason it is simple is because Jesus does all the work. I don’t do anything except signify my willingness to have all this be accomplished through me.

I step back and let Him lead the way.

What I have learned is that the Holy Spirit guides me, supports me, and tells me where to go. I don’t have to guess. He shows me which doors are open and which doors are closed. He leads me. He lights the way.

These are real events. These are not mere concepts that sound nice. I call and Jesus answers … every time!

I have learned from experience that MY WAY is doomed to fail. It’s a wild card 50%-50%. Maybe it will succeed or maybe it will fail. Or if it does succeed, it will fail eventually.

But God’s way is 100% guaranteed to work. All I have to do is follow.

I need but call and You will answer me.

This is faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.

This is a direct experience. God moves you. You might initially start to feel a small stirring in you: like butterflies in your stomach or a fluttering in your heart. Then maybe a restlessness. You might start to feel uncomfortable. You might be asked to do things you don’t really want to do.

But as you do them - as you allow yourself to be moved by Jesus - you begin to witness miracles. Truly. Mind-blowing events that you know absolutely could not have come from you … except that you are witnessing first hand that these miracles are occuring THROUGH you.

If you are honest, you will realize that the Holy Spirit does all the work. It will surprise you. Delight you. And probably leave you breathless.

**Father, I thank You that Your promises will never fail in my experience, if I but test them out. Let me attempt therefore to try them, and to judge them not. Your Word is one with You. You give the means whereby conviction comes, and surety of Your abiding Love is gained at last.

I am forever an Effect of God.

I was created in God’s Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. Which means I’m still in Heaven and that I’m still in God. God created me. He created me like Himself.

Nothing that I did in time & space altered this fact. All of my mistakes have been corrected. All of my “sins” have been erased. All of my false ideas about being limited and weak have disappeared. These crazy ideas didn’t do anything! Illusions had no effect on me because I am an Effect of God.

God is my Cause. He is my Father. Where He established me is where I abide.

This is the reason there is no such thing as process or awakening. You are forever an Effect of God. If you are an Effect of God, why would you need transformation? Why would perfection need to be improved? You are as God created you. You are in the holy place where you always were - home in God - and perhaps you momentarily mistakenly thought you wandered off.

But in fact, you didn’t go anywhere! You thought you separated yourself, but you didn’t! It’s impossible to separate yourself from God in the same way it’s impossible for a wave to think it can separate itself from the ocean.

You are forever a part of God!

In a bright flash of recognition, you will realize you are completely transformed and that it didn’t take any time. It happens by the grace of God and by your acceptance of your Identity as Spirit, Love, Joy and Light.

The earth disappears. At first it is transformed. Then, it is forgiven. And then it fades entirely into God’s holy Will.

Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for never leaving me. Thank you for your care and kindness and love.

Thank you for creating me like Yourself.
I recognize that I am Your Effect, the way a sunbeam is part of the sun. I am never separate from you. I am One with all things.

Your plan I follow here, willingly and gladly.

As it is in Heaven, so on earth.

“Let us today behold earth disappear, at first transformed, and then forgiven, fade entirely into God’s holy Will.”

“I need you as much as you need me.”

-A Course in Miracles, Chapter 8, Section V.

Time for a food post!

This pumpkin bread rocks the house. 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil! LOL. Trust me, it’s delicious.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
small can of pumpkin (15 oz)

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup warm water add slowly.

Very easy to make:

1. Mix the first ingredients together in one bowl
2. Mix the second ingredients together in a different bowl.
3. Mix the two bowls of ingredients together
4. Add 2/3 cup warm water, slowly, and mix.
5. Pour into two greased bread pans.

Bake for 1 hour at 350.

Test doneness by inserting a sharp knife into bread. If the knife comes out clean, the bread is done.

Serve hot, warm or cold with lots of butter

All things I think I see reflect ideas.

Lesson 325 is is one of my favorite lessons. It flipped my mind the first time I read it. It continues to flip my mind. It’s trippy, exciting and true:

All things I think I see reflect ideas.  

“This is salvation’s keynote: What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned. And from forgiving thoughts a gentle world comes forth, with mercy for the holy Son of God, to offer him a kindly home where he can rest a while before he journeys on, and help his brothers walk ahead with him and find the way to Heaven and to God.” 

The world is a hologram of light.

What if you knew you were dreaming?

“The end of dreaming is the end of fear, and love was never in the world of dreams” - ACIM, Chapter 28, Section 4

“There can be no salvation in the dream as you are dreaming it.” - ACIM Chapter 29, Section 10, The Forgiving Dream:

How can God’s Son awaken from the dream? It is a dream of judgment. So must he judge not, and he WILL awaken. 

The real world still is but a dream. Except the figures have been changed. They are not seen as idols which betray. It is a dream in which no-one is used to substitute for something else, or interposed between the thoughts the mind conceives and what it sees. No-one is used for something he is not, for childish things have all been put away. And what was once a dream of judgment now has changed into a dream where all is joy, because that is the PURPOSE that it has. Only forgiving dreams can enter here, for time is almost over. And the forms which enter in the dreams are now perceived as brothers, not in judgment, but in love.

FOR TIME IS ALMOST OVER.

Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Your but make up dreams.

!!!!!!!!!!

hahaha.

Lately, with these lessons, they make me laugh out loud. They make me soooo happy. How simple is salvation. God’s ideas reflect the truth, and my thoughts apart from God’s but make up dreams. It gets easier and easier and easier. Just think with God! All day long, think with God! Those thoughts reflect the truth.

Everything else but makes up dreams.

Father, Let me behold what only Your Thoughts reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.  

What I see “out there” reflects only (and always!) the thoughts that are contained in my mind. What a gift. If I don’t like what I see, I can change my mind.

I merely follow, for I would not lead.

“Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed. I cannot lose the way.”

“I can choose to wander off a while, and then return. Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.”

A good friend said to me the other day that the simplicity of A Course in Miracles can be expressed in this way:
1. Show up.
2. Get out of the way.

LOL.

It’s so true. Just show up. Pay attention. Stay focused. And then get out of the way because the Holy  Spirit leads. He moves me. He catapults me. I follow.

Lately “to follow” is not accurate. It’s more like I’m in the passenger seat with the Holy Spirit driving and we arrive somewhere and He announces: WE’RE HERE!

Honey, we’re here! Bags out of the car! We’ve arrived!

That’s more accurate. I follow in the sense that I have the willingness to go wherever He is going and to wherever He is taking me. I trust that He knows where He’s going. I am happy to go there with Him.

He leads. I follow.

It used to be that I would listen for instructions, for example: I would sit quietly and ask the Holy Spirit questions and he would answer and I would follow and do what He asked. But more and more there is no time for that. He’s in me now. He is me now. He moves me. There’s no Lisa asking a question. There is just the Holy Spirit leading.

From the Introduction to the Clarification of Terms:

 This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed. It is not concerned with what is beyond all error because it is planned only to set the direction towards it. Therefore it uses words, which are symbolic, and cannot express what lies beyond symbols. It is merely the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts. The course merely gives another answer, once a question has been raised. However, this answer does not attempt to resort to inventiveness or ingenuity. These are attributes of the ego. The course is simple. It has one function and one goal. Only in that does it remain wholly consistent because only that can be consistent.

Amazing. I’m laughing. All the questions, including all those contained within A Course in Miracles, are set within the ego’s framework.

Even the most lofty spiritual questions to be helpful are set within the ego’s framework:

What would You have me do?
What would You have me say?
And to whom?

At a certain point, questions cease and then there is only action, which comes from God.

In Heaven, there is no need for help. And yet while I find myself here there is work to do.

Lesson 169: By grace I live. By grace I am released.

We have repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done. For oneness must be here. Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was; forever to remain as it is now. We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully recognize as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation’s script in His Creator’s Name, and in the Name of His Creator’s Son.

And now we ask for grace, the final gift salvation can bestow.

So let us follow One Who knows the way. We need not tarry, and we cannot stray except an instant from His Loving Hand. We walk together, for we follow Him. And it is He Who makes the ending sure, and guarantees a safe returning home.

We walk together, for we follow Him.

I love you.

I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear.

These lessons are so perfect and systematic. It’s freaky-deak on some days.

I am laughing my ass off over here at the sheer mathematics of these workbook lessons. They always equal my thoughts. Lesson 323 = where I am right now in my mind. These lessons add up. They subtract fear thoughts. They balance, restore, and harmonize.

It’s like science.

Today I gladly make the “sacrifice” of fear.

I obviously pushed some buttons yesterday, hit a few nerves, with the post about my cat.

You guys only get to see the public comments posted here on the blog … I get to see all the private comments sent to my email box! I love it because you guys get to see where I am in my own mind, and when you write to me I get to see where you are in your own mind. I love comments! Keep them coming!

Total exposure.

I love the practice of A Course in Miracles. It includes everything - all my ideas, all my thoughts, all the activities going on in my life, every interaction … it is all-inclusive. The bible says you gotta cross every t and dot every i.

Turn over every single rock and expose whatever thoughts are under it to the light.

Have the willingness to look at your fears in order to let them go.

Be honest.
Be yourself.

Today’s lesson is a great reminder that I am only asked to let go of suffering - ALL SUFFERING - all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let God’s Love come streaming into my awareness, healing me of pain, and giving me eternal joy.

All.

I am asked to let go of ALL suffering, ALL sense of loss and sadness, ALL anxiety and doubt.

These lessons are uncompromising.

These lessons are not asking me to give up a cat or not give up a cat … but rather to use the cat to see where I am still holding onto to ideas of suffering, loss, sadness, anxiety and doubt.

That’s all! Everything is a lesson God would have me learn!

There is no sacrifice. There is no loss.

I am laughing like crazy.

How the story will end??

It will end in joy, in peace, in benediction, with a blessing, in a blaze of bright light.

The story ends in laughter.

So that’s the HOW, but what about the WHEN?

“The world will end when its thought system has been completely reversed. Until then, bits and pieces of its thinking will still seem sensible. The 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 begin 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 it, and he trusts that He will show him how to learn it.”

Just this second Enzo walked in through the window, walked across the computer, and is now chowing down on food over there. LOL. Everything is good. God is good. I don’t have to worry about a thing. I don’t have to plan anything. I can be here just for today and do the lesson. Nothing more than that is asked.

I am asked to “sacrifice” my limited ideas, and fear-based thoughts.

Such is the “sacrifice” the Holy Spirit asks of me, and one I gladly make; the only “cost” of restoration of God’s memory to me, for the salvation of the world.

Good Lord Almighty.

This is awesome.

I am laughing.

“And as we pay the debt we owe to truth - a debt that merely is the letting go of self-deceptions and of images we worshipped falsely - truth returns to us in wholeness and in joy. We are deceived no longer. Love has now returned to our awareness. And we are at peace again, for fear has gone and only love remains.”

I love this (from the Teachers Manual, How Will the World End?):

“To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. And now sit down in true humility and realize all God would have you 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 that it is so.”

Absolutely!

I joined Facebook last week and just now I was adding a friend and it makes you type in two words to make sure you are a human being and the two words given to me were like a direct message from Jesus to me:

shine     listen

I can give up what was never real.

My cat Enzo comes instantly to mind. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with him as I cannot take him to the house with me. It’s a bed & breakfast with terrifically beautiful furniture and it’s not the place for pets.

And yet … he’s the love of my life. What am I gonna do? The past few days I’ve been thinking: well Lisa, here you are with another lesson that is challenging your ideas of what you still value in the world.

I was thinking how much joy Enzo brings me, how I physically get excited when he walks into the room, how peaceful I feel when he sits on my lap, how I wake up feeling happy when he jumps up on the bed and camps out near my head.

It shows me that I am capable of these emotions - extreme joy, fantastic happiness, eternal peace. And yet, I still think I need a cat to generate these feelings of excitement, peace and joy. Can I do it without the cat? Obviously, these strong emotions are within me as I have already displayed them numerous times on a daily basis. Can I let go of the external stimulation and still feel exactly the same way?

Extreme joy, fantastic happiness, eternal peace.

Is it possible to feel this way consistently and constantly? Without the cat?

Yes, it would have to be so.

Here is one of those situations that I cannot sort out by myself. All I can do is practice today’s lesson:

I can give up but what was never real.

I find it fascinating that this is today’s lesson - I can give up but what was never real - as it’s all I was thinking about yesterday: the cat’s not real, the cat’s not real, the cat’s not real … but then immediately came the thought: BUT I LOVE HIM!!

And then I drove back to the Dells, all excited that I was going to get to see him again. As if he was my lover or something. Special relationship. It’s doomed to fail at some point, in some way. But for now, my God, he makes me happy.

Right now, my task is to simply look at these ideas of loss and attachment.

“I can give up but what was never real.”

“I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go I find the gifts illusions tried to hide, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to give God’s ancient messages to me.”

“His memory abides in every gift that I receive of Him. And every dream serves only to conceal the Self which is God’s only Son, the likeness of Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever, and He still abides in me.”

Father, to Your all sacrifice remains forever inconceivable. And so I cannot sacrifice except in dreams. As You created me, I can give up nothing You gave me. What You did not give has no reality. What loss can I anticipate except the loss of fear, and the return of love into mind?”

That last paragraph actually has a few sentences that make me start pulling out the justifications to keep the cat. I feel like God did give the cat to me. He came out of nowhere as a kitten just when I needed him the most. I was taking a walk one day and he ran out and climbed the length of my body and sat on my shoulder, purring. I always felt like he’s not a cat, but a gift from God.

But obviously, he’s still causing me pain as I think about losing him. So there is a lesson in here for me to learn.

I can give up but what was never real.

Father, my freedom is in You alone.

The house I am now living in is big and beautiful and quiet.

It’s what I always wanted - a big house with tons of guests rooms for friends and family, a place of peace, joy and happiness - and yet it’s strange to be here. It’s immense how quickly the scenery changed.

I always wanted a big house and I thought it would be years down the road. You know, first you need a job, then you need money, probably a huge bank loan, then the whole process of physically moving in, getting a UHaul truck, buying furniture, contacting the gas, electric, and telephone companies, etc.

But it didn’t happen that way at all. One day I was penniless without a job, and then next day I’m living in a 5-bedroom house that is heated, warm, and filled with love.

I’m wandering around the rooms, feeling isolated. This place is huge. It’s interesting to observe myself walking around the house, trying to find peace.

Last night I noticed how restless I am. I can’t sit still. I can’t get a proper internet connection (it disconnects within 3 minutes) so I am face-to-face with myself. There’s nowhere to go! There’s no distractions! I don’t watch tv so I don’t have that. I try to read a book and immediately I’m walking around, rearranging the furniture, opening the fridge but there is nothing to rearrange (as everything is perfect here) and I’m not hungry so I’m just opening and closing the fridge door looking for something.

It’s so funny when you begin to observe yourself!

My freedom is in God alone.

I’m having major deja vu. It’s wild. I’ve seen all this in dreams. It’s so quiet here. I love the first floor - I got rid of all the tvs from the main floor and there are two living rooms, one with a fireplace and another living room that is my own private space with french doors but I am going to make this room available for guests as a library with all my favorite books. It’s the best room in the house, sunny and bright, with huge windows overlooking a dam, a pond and 200 geese (what are they still doing here in November??)

The Holy Spirit moves me and God’s Voice directs me.

“Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You.

But I trust in You.  

“You Who endowed me with my freedom as your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me, and the way to You is opening and clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in Your alone. Father, it is my will that I return.” 

Today, we answer for the world, which will be freed along with us. How glad are we to find our freedom through the certain way our Father has established. And how sure is all the world’s salvation, when we learn our freedom can be found in God alone.”  

I would love to hear from you about your favorite books so I can buy them for the new library. Right now I am thinking Tolstoy, Emerson, Thoreau, Kierkeegard, A Course in Miracles, Emmet Fox, Anne Lamott, Jerry and Esther Hicks, Carlos Castaneda, and Laurie Colwin’s cooking books.

I can probably fit 4 bookcases in here.

So please let me know your favorite books.