A Miracle A Day: 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007

Day 365 - FINAL ENTRY

Today's Lesson:

This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.

And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.

Miracles I'm noticing - and Reflections on 2007:

This has been an incredible year. When I decided to post the daily lessons from A Course in Miracles, I had no idea what that would mean in my life. One of the things I noticed is that when I put my mind to something, I can accomplish it. The mental discipline it took for me to not only study the lessons each day, but post them here was something I don't think I've ever committed to doing before and now I know I can do whatever I determine I can do.

Watching the miracles that unfolded for the ACIM study group I'm a part of was also a miracle in itself. Peace, parenthood, business ownership, connection to personal authenticity, abundance, love - all of these were characteristics in the lives of the participants this year, and those participants attribute their miraculous lives at least in part to their study of this course.

Today's text reminds us to choose once again if we would take our place among the saviors of the world or would remain in hell, and hold our brothers there. It is really a very simple choice! We always choose between our weakness and the strength of Christ in us. And what we choose is what we think is real. When we choose to bring our weakness to Christ, he will take charge of everything we do. Whenever we make a faulty choice, we get trials which are simply lessons we failed to learn presented again so we can make a better choice.

I watched the documentary "Jesus Camp" last night on A&E and the fear that was instilled in those children was a perfect example of choosing fear over love and calling it God. I have learned so much since I began studying this course, and for me it is the difference between motivation and inspiration. Motivation is man-made - it is external and based on fear. Inspiration is God-created - it is internal and based on love. Motivation is a push from behind, telling me what I should do and using guilt and fear as its motive. Inspiration is a pull from within, lighting me up and inviting me to listen to my heart - the Christ in me - and using love to light that fire.

I was thinking as I was watching this movie last night: what might people do if allowed to listen to their own hearts and do what they think is right instead of being filled with fear? These little 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-year-old kids were told that Harry Potter was evil and if he would have been in the Old Testament he would have been put to death. I realize that this is just one side of the story and depicts one certain evangelical Christian side mixed with politics. I don't need to get caught up in the drama.

So I started really thinking about what we would all be like if we didn't have someone else telling us "how it is" or what we should think. What if we really allowed ourselves to listen to what's inside us. Would we be inherently good or inherently evil? I firmly believe that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and if we just remember that, we really can't go wrong.

Today's text tells us the images we make cannot prevail against what God Himself would have us be. We should never be fearful of temptation, then, but see it as it is; another chance to choose again, and let Christ's strength prevail in every circumstance and every place we raised an image of ourselves before. That's the ego vs. spirit debate.

We are as God created us, and so is every living thing we look upon, regardless of the images we see. What we behold as sickness and as pain, as weakness and as suffering and loss, is but temptation to perceive ourselves defenseless and in hell.

It goes on to say let us be glad that we can walk the world, and find so many chances to perceive another situation where God's gift can once again be recognized as ours! As we fight against things we don't agree with (like some of the scenes in "Jesus Camp"), we simply give more energy to those things that make us upset. And there should be no reason to be upset when we remember who we are (created in the image and likeness of God - along with everyone else we see).

The bottom line is that we are all one, regardless of race, religion, creed, nationality, doctrine, upbringing, wealth, poverty or belief. As I remember that and choose love instead of fear, I really do transform the world. Let there be peace on earth - and let it begin with me.

Thank you for studying with me this past year. Although I won't be reflecting on this blog in 2008, I will be studying again. And I'll be listening to Marianne Williamson on XM Channel 156 as she teaches the daily lessons. Look inside yourself and when you have a choice, choose love over fear - Spirit over ego. Notice what you notice and you will see that your life has become more peaceful, more loving, and happier. And isn't that what miracles are all about?

Much love and light to you and everyone in your world!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Day 364

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Day 363

Friday, December 28, 2007

Day 362

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Day 361

FINAL LESSONS

Introduction

Our final lessons will be left as free of words as possible. We use them but at the beginning of our practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go beyond them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and makes our footsteps sure. To Him we leave these lessons, as to Him we give our lives henceforth. For we would not return again to the belief in sin that made the world seem ugly and unsafe, attacking and destroying, dangerous in all its ways, and treacherous beyond the hope of trust and the escape from pain.

His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. It is His way that everyone must travel in the end, because it is this ending God Himself appointed. In the dream of time it seems to be far off. And yet, in truth, it is already here; already serving us as gracious guidance in the way to go. Let us together follow in the way that truth points out to us. And let us be the leaders of our many brothers who are seeking for the way, but find it not.

And to this purpose let us dedicate our minds, directing all our thoughts to serve the function of salvation. Unto us the aim is given to forgive the world. It is the goal that God has given us. It is His ending to the dream we seek, and not our own. For all that we forgive we will not fail to recognize as part of God Himself. And thus His memory is given back, completely and complete.

It is our function to remember Him on earth, as it is given us to be His Own completion in reality. So let us not forget our goal is God, and points the way to Him and to the Heaven of His peace. And shall we not forgive our brother, who can offer this to us? He is the way, the truth and life that shows the way to us. In him resides salvation, offered us through our forgiveness, given unto him.

We will not end this year without the gift our Father promised to his holy Son. We are forgiven now. And we are saved from all the wrath we thought belonged to God, and found it was a dream. We are restored to sanity, in which we understand that anger is insane, attack is mad, and vengeance merely foolish fantasy. We have been saved from wrath because we learned we were mistaken. Nothing more than that. And is a father angry at his son because he failed to understand the truth?

We come in honesty to God and say we did not understand, and ask Him to help us to learn His lessons, through the Voice of His Own Teacher. Would He hurt His Son? Or would He rush to answer him, and say, "This is My Son, and all I have is his"? Be certain He will answer thus, for these are His Own words to you. And more than that can no one ever have, for in these words is all there is, and all that there will be throughout all time and in eternity.

Today's Lesson:

This holy instant would I give to You.
Be You in charge. For I would follow You,
Certain that Your direction gives me peace.

And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that will He also give. And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. He is in charge by my request. And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This is such an appropriate way to close out this fabulous year of 2007. To reduce our last days of study - and the last days of this blog - to stillness.

I will still notice the miracles all around me, and for the last few days of this year I will let you know what I see. But it is not for my ego - it is simply to point out that through this year of study, we are all able to see the miracles that abound in all our lives. My hope is that you, too, can see in your own lives, all that wonderful beauty God has placed here for us. We may call them coincidences or luck or chance, but deep down we know there are no such things as coincidences. As Wayne Dyer says, and I've said here before, in mathematical terms, coincidental angles are those angles that fit together perfectly. No mistakes, no luck, no chance.

My miracle yesterday was a call I received from a radio host here in town whom I have know for many years. He called to see if I could come in and be on his show this morning to talk about New Years' Resolutions. I spoke about this very topic in Minneapolis on December 6, so I'm well prepared for it, even with very little notice. As we talked on the phone, he mentioned that he has some other dreams for his life that he isn't living out, and he asked if we could meet after the show and talk about some of those. It turns out that his dream is an area of my business that I need help with as well, so there's a strong possibility that we may be able to support each other in growing our dreams through barter, so neither of us has to put out any cash. If that's not something that fits together perfectly, I don't know what is.

Miracles are simply shifts in perception from fear to love. And that's what showed up in my space yesterday, and will show up today and every day that I ask God to help me learn His lessons, through the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

Enter the Peace that surpasses all human understanding, but is perfect in the eyes of Spirit.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Day 360

Today's Lesson:

Peace be to me, the holy Son of God.
Peace to my brother, who is one with me.
Let all the world be blessed with peace through us.

Father, it is Your peace that I would give, receiving it of You. I am Your Son, forever just as You created me, for the Great Rays remain forever still and undisturbed within me. I would reach to them in silence and in certainty, for nowhere else can certainty be found. Peace be to me, and peace to all the world. In holiness were we created, and in holiness do we remain. your Son is like to You in perfect sinlessness. And with this thought we gladly say "Amen."

Miracles I'm noticing:

I notice more all the time how peace has become the theme of this Course in its final days and how I really want to be intentional about making peace a big part of my daily practice in 2008. I know that the way I will go from working on the Course to actually transferring my working to actual living is through peace and meditation.

Today's lesson talks about the Great Rays which remain forever still and undisturbed within me. According to the Glossary of Terms from A Course in Miracles, the Great Rays are "the Rays of light and holiness that shine out from the Christ within each person. These are lit by a spark that God placed in each individual at creations. We begin the journey by seeing our brothers as bodies. Then we at some point begin to see the little spark in them. Then we will see the Great Rays shining out from that spark. We 'see the Great Rays shining from them [our brothers], so unlimited that they [the Rays] reach to God' (T-15.IX.1:1). The body will then fade from our sight and we will give up special relationships for relationships without limit. The body will then disappear and we will again know the light of the Rays in direct knowledge. Note: The Rays are revealed through vision; they are not composed of visible light nor seen through the body's eyes."

If you have access to the text, you can read more about the Great Rays in Chapter 10, Section IV.8 and Chapter 15, Section VI. 4, 6.

The way I interpret the Great Rays in people is more about their energy or their spark. As the definition above says, this is not something you can see visually, but more what you can sense and just Know. It says that these Great Rays are there in everyone and at some point we will be able to "see" them in everyone.

Today's text is called "Recognizing the Spirit," and it says that we either see the flesh or recognize the spirit. "There is no compromise between the two. If one is real the other must be false, for what is real denies its opposite.... Choose the spirit, and all Heaven bends to touch your eyes and bless your holy sight, that you may see the world of flesh no more except to heal and comfort and to bless." That is seeing the Holy Rays.

Today's text also goes into some of what I use in my speeches and training which I learned from my Bob Proctor training and The Secret. Henry Ford actually said this back in the early 1900s when he said "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you are right." Today's text says, as it is speaking of choosing the body or the spirit:

"Only in arrogance could you conceive that you must make the way to Heaven plain. Thee means are given you by which to see the world that will replace the one you made. your will be done! In Heaven as on earth this is forever true. It matters not where you believe you are, nor what you think the truth about yourself must really be. It makes no difference what you look upon, nor what you choose to feel or think or wish. For God Himself has said, 'Your will be done.' And it is done to you accordingly.'"

It also reminds me of something my spiritual teacher has said, and also something I read in Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations With God. All that matters is who I say I am. And every day I am telling people by my actions and my being who I am. I am created in the image and likeness of God, and as I live my life by that Knowledge, I allow others to be who they are as well. For me, the distinction in that statement is Knowing who I am. If I think I am a physical being, I will see the world through those eyes - I will recognize the flesh. But if I think I am a spiritual being having a human experience, then I will recognize the spirit. That is what I choose.

Today's text goes on to say that if we believe we can choose to see the Son of God as we would have him be, we forget that no concept of ourselves will stand against the truth of what we are. We cannot undo truth. But we can change concepts. The truth is that we are created in the image and likeness of God. One vision, clearly seen, that does not fit the picture as it was perceived before will change the world for eyes that learn to see, because the concept of the self has changed.

We will see the world as we see ourselves. And we will always be right about that. If we think the world is evil, we will see that manifest. If we forgive, we will see the world as forgiving. If we see ourselves as bodies, we will perceived the world as treacherous, and out to kill. If we are spirit, deathless, and without the promise of corruption and the stain of sin upon us, then the world will be seen as stable, fully worthy of our trust; a happy place to rest a while, where nothing need be feared, but only loved.

Yesterday I had a minor altercation with my mother (I know I promised I was through with issues with my mother, but apparently I was being tested and I flunked). She was telling me yet again about how I need to be careful so my purse doesn't get stolen. I asked her why she was always so fearful about everything from the weather to burglars. I asked he what had happened in her past that kept her in such fear. I wish I had just sent her a silent blessing and just listened, but I knew that she wouldn't be bringing this up yet again if I didn't have something to heal in myself. Where do I not see her - and myself - as spirit because if that were the case, I would see the world as fully worthy of trust, and so would she. That is an area where I'm still in need of lessons, I guess.

The awareness of that conversation which will lead me to new choices is my miracle for today. Stay tuned for the last week of this Course, which will conclude next Monday, December 31!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Day 359

Today's Lesson:

God's answer is some form of peace. All pain
Is healed; all misery replaced with joy.
All prison doors are opened. And all sin
Is understood as merely a mistake.

Father, today we will forgive Your world, and let creation be Your Own. We have misunderstood all things. But we have not made sinners of the holy Sons of God. What You created sinless so abides forever and forever. Such are we. And we rejoice to learn that we have made mistakes which have no real effects on us. Sin is impossible, and on this fact forgiveness rests upon a certain base more solid than the shadow world we see. Help us forgive, for we would be redeemed. Help us forgive, for we would be at peace.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I went with my family to church last night and really did notice the distinctions between what I'm studying here and my traditional fundamentalist upbringing. Sin is a big part of that tradition, and that was the part I had the most reaction to. On my way to church, I told myself that I would bring God with me, and that I would participate in the parts that resonated with me, and leave the parts that didn't. I found myself unable to recite the creeds and sing along with some of the hymns that I used to just blindly recite. Everything meant much more to me as I observed and reflected. I realized that I still do appreciate the old Christmas carols and smiled as a young child in the pew across from my family belted them out at the top of her lungs.

I also realized that although I haven't been going to a "church" for the past couple of years, I congregate with my Course group each week, and that has been my opportunity to commune with the Holy Spirit.

I will look forward to beginning again January 1 with my fourth year of this Course and transferring all I'm learning to other parts of my life. I am grateful that I am learning that God's intention is peace and joy - and that all sin is understood as merely a mistake, which can be corrected.

Merry Christmas - and happy holidays.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Day 358

Today's Lesson:

No call to God can be unheard nor left
Unanswered. And of this I can be sure;
His answer is the one I really want.

You Who remember what I really am alone remember what I really want. You speak for God, and so You speak for me. And what You give me comes from God Himself. Your Voice, my Father, then is mine as well, and all I want is what You offer me, in just the form You choose that it be mine. Let me remember all I do not know, and let my voice be still, remembering. But let me not forget Your Love and care, keeping Your promise to Your Son in my awareness always. Let me not forget myself is nothing, but my Self is all.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This lesson is just so simply profound. There is nothing else I want than what God - through the Holy Spirit - wants for me. I don't need to worry about anything because God only wants what is best for me. The Holy Spirit speaks for God, and so speaks for me. And I know that the Holy Spirit is who I want to speak for me whenever I speak. My job is to be quiet and remember - and to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit.

Today as I prepare to go home to be with my family for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I will remember this lesson. Be quiet and remember. I don't need to get into any squabbles or anything that may come up as I gather with my mother, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew based on the past. We will all create the future we will be living into with the choices we make when we're together now.

That is surely a miracle!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Day 357

Today's Lesson:

Truth answers every call we make to God,
Responding first with miracles, and then
Returning unto us to be itself.

Forgiveness, truth's reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be:

"Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed."

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson is really powerful in its simplicity. I can offer miracles, which means that I can notice everything that God has put in place. Truth is - that's really all I need to know. I can notice God first in my brother if I'm not able to notice Him first in myself. And when I recognize that, there is nothing else I need to worry about because everything will be revealed to me as well.

There is nothing more that needs to be said today. That's the miracle!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Day 356

Today's Lesson:

Sickness is but another name for sin.
Healing is but another name for God.
The miracle is thus a call to Him.

Father, You promised You would never fail to answer any call Your Son might make to You. It does not matter where he is, what seems to be his problem, nor what he believes he has become. He is Your Son, and You will answer him. The miracle reflects Your Love, and thus it answers him. Your Name replaces every thought of sin, and who is sinless cannot suffer pain. Your Name gives answer to Your Son, because to call Your Name is but to call his own.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson is a great reminder that God is always present and the Holy Spirit will enter at the slightest invitation. Whatever our past, it has no bearing on the future we are living into if we just change our minds in the present. And that present changes constantly. We can always make a new choice.

As I prepare for my Christmas gatherings with family, it will be a transformed time because of my change of mind. I'm looking forward to being together!

Happy Holidays!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Day 355

Today's Lesson:

There is no end to all the peace and joy,
And all the miracles that I will give,
When I accept God's Word. Why not today?

Why should I wait, my Father, for the joy you promised me? For You will keep Your Word You gave Your Son in exile. I am sure my treasure waits for me, and I need but reach out my hand to find it. Even now my fingers touch it. It is very close. I need not wait an instant more to be at peace forever. It is You I choose, and my Identity along with You. Your Son would be Himself, and know You as his Father and Creator, and his Love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Last night I got together with a group of friends - some of whom are studying this course, but mostly it's people from the group studying the book Working With The Law by Raymond Holliwell - and we watched the Louise Hay movie "Heal Your Life." It was wonderful. It was about realizing that maybe what is currently happening in our lives - listening to the voices in our heads and hearing what they are saying and realizing it's negative stuff - isn't working anymore and that it may be time for a change. The movie showed many different people and what was going on in their lives and was wrapped around Louise Hay's life story and how she has worked for 20 years to build Hay House to connect authors and speakers who share the message of changing your thoughts to change your health and your life.

I was just thinking that Louise Hay's message, coupled with today's lesson, is truly a winning combination for taking on the changes we know we want to make in our lives. I really want to get on an exercise program and get into the physical shape I used to be in, but which has been put on hold in my life as I grow my business. Today's lesson says that there is no end to the all the peace and joy and miracles I will GIVE when I accept God's Word. Indeed - why not today?

I never have to worry about being in this alone - I've always got God and Spirit with me (to say nothing about the wonderful friends with whom I study this course, and will be starting again on January 1).

2008 will be GREAT!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Day 354

Today's Lesson:

We stand together, Christ and I, in peace
And certainty of purpose. And in Him
Is His Creator, as He is in me.

My oneness with the Christ establishes me as Your Son, beyond the reach of time, and wholly free of every law but Yours. I have no self except the Christ in me. I have no purpose but His Own. And He is like His Father. Thus must I be one with You as well as Him. For who is Christ except Your Son as You created Him? And what am I except the Christ in me?

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday I worked with a brand new client in a small manufacturing company delivering personal accountability training. This company hasn't had any training before and this is a pretty hefty topic to take on in the first go-round - or so I thought. But they were ready. This was a perfect example - for me - of how people are hungry for deeper meaning and purpose. This training doesn't have anything to do with their specific company, but it's a topic they can use in their work and personal lives. It allows support for the Gandhi quote: "Be the change you wish to see in the world" because it gives them a tool for asking different questions and being personally accountable for the results.

I don't know what will happen at this company in the future, but I think the transformation they began to see yesterday with the 7 people in the class will have some pretty powerful effects. I don't say this because I - ego Jodee - was there, but because everything I've been studying and learning and transforming in myself can't help but become part of the training. So they got some Proctor and they got some Course in Miracles because it's just who I am. And they were ready.

What this shows me is that there are no accidents in any part of my life. I've got stories from every single stage of my own experience that I can share with the participants because I'm seeing the application to what I'm teaching. And the best thing for me is that I get to teach what I most need to learn.

Today's lesson talks about certainty of purpose and the more I do my work, the more certain I am that my mission is to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit, no matter what I'm doing.

I'll be doing this same training today for another new client and am really looking forward to watching what happens with them. I'm guessing that if I get out of the way, I'll see similar results. That's my miracle for today!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Day 353

Today's Lesson:

My eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet today
Have but one purpose; to be give Christ
To use to bless the world with miracles.

Father, I give all that is mine today to Christ, to use in any way that best will serve the purpose that I share with Him. Nothing is mine alone, for He and I have joined in purpose. Thus has learning come almost to its appointed end. A while I work with Him to serve His purpose. Then I lose myself in my Identity, and recognize that Christ is but my Self.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting with my good college friend Sherri who was in town from Seattle for a meeting. Our getting together has always been amazing because she is the one friend from college who, no matter how much time passes between our visits, we always pick up right where we left off. She is truly a blessing in my life.

Last night, over only one glass of wine(!), we solved all the problems of the world, which, when it came right down to it, was actually quite simple to do. We realized that by changing our own minds, we were actually able to change the world. Of course this is a process that will continue every single day each of us is alive on this earth - and that's the beauty of the conversation we created last night.

Reflecting on our time together, I realize that that is what I love to do most in the world - engage in deep and meaningful conversation with a close and trusted friend (of course, sitting in a cafe in Paris would be a great place to do that, so travel is definitely included in my favorite things to do :) ).

We talked about what I'm learning in this course along with what I'm learning from my Proctor studies and what impacts I'm seeing in my life because of those influences on my business, my audiences, my clients and my friends.

When I read today's lesson, it is my reminder that last night's conversation was no accident - it was the result of who I "be" in the world. The lesson says that when Christ and I have joined in purpose, thus does my learning almost come to an end. I understand that philosophically, but I don't see myself at the end of my learning until my physical life in this incarnation is over (I don't feel anywhere near that!). I do understand the concept of purpose in another light, though. It's no accident that I was drawn to a coaching program four years ago that focused on life purpose. It's also no accident that my work with Bob Proctor focuses on purpose by helping me and my clients concentrate less on the "how" and more on the "why" of their goals. The "why" is the purpose. When I remember that my eyes, my tongue, my hands, my feet have but one purpose and that is to bless the world with miracles through Christ, every task and every activity is completely joy-filled.

That awareness (and my awareness of that awareness) is now and forever the greatest miracle I can imagine!

Reflect for yourself this holiday season - in the midst of the hustle and bustle, the year-end project completion, the baking, cooking, partying, etc. - on all the abundance and joy that you enjoyed in 2007 and make up your mind to notice the miracles all around you and waiting for you in 2008!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Day 352

Today's Lesson:

Judgment and love are opposites. From one
Come all the sorrows of the world. But from
the other comes the peace of God Himself.

Forgiveness looks on sinlessness alone, and judges not. Through this I come to You. Judgment will bind my eyes and make me blind. Yet love, reflected in forgiveness here, reminds me You have given me a way to find Your peace again. i am redeemed when I elect to follow in this way. You have not left me comfortless. I have within me both the memory of You, and One Who leads me to it. Father, I would hear Your Voice and find Your peace today. for I would love my own Identity, and find in It the memory of You.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Getting to the end of the year makes each lesson that much more self-explanatory. I notice that judgment is probably my greatest lesson, and I realize that judgment really is very ego-driven for many reasons. First of all, if I believe that others are judging me, and my own judgment is merely a defense against that "fact," it would be very egotistical of me to believe that others think about me that much. When I notice myself judging others (and there was a time earlier this year when I noticed that more than I do now, which leads me to believe I'm making progress in this area), I remember that there is no peace for a judgmental mind and really have gotten very good at forgiveness in its place.

The peace of God Himself comes from love. Why would I choose anything but love? That is the miracle - to see everything from love's vantage point as opposed to fear's and judgment's. And it's so much simpler to believe the best from and about everyone!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Day 351

14. What Am I?

I am God's Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible, and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own.

Our use for words is almost over now. Yet in the final days of this one year we gave to God together, you and I, we found a single purpose that we shared. And thus you joined with me, so what I am are you as well. The truth of what we are is not for words to speak of nor describe. Yet we can realize our function here, and words can speak of this and teach it, too, if we exemplify the words in us.

We are the bringers of salvation. We accept our part as saviors of the world, which through our joint forgiveness is redeemed. And this, our gift, is therefore given us. We look on everyone as a brother, and perceive all things as kindly and as good. We do not seek a function that is past the gate of Heaven. Knowledge will return when we have done our part. We are concerned only with giving welcome to the truth.

Ours are the eyes through which Christ's vision sees a world redeemed from every thought of sin. Ours are the ears that hear the Voice for God proclaim the world as sinless. Ours the minds that join together as we bless the world. And from the oneness that we have attained we call to all our brothers, asking them to share our peace and consummate our joy.

We are the holy messengers of God who speak for Him, and carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us, we learn that it is written on our hearts. And thus our minds are changed about the aim for which we came, and which we seek to serve. We bring glad tidings to the Son of God, who thought he suffered. Now is he redeemed. And as he sees the gate of Heaven stand open before him, he will enter in and disappear into the Heart of God.

Today's Lesson:

My sinless brother is my guide to peace.
My sinful brother is my guide to pain.
And which I choose to see I will behold.

Who is my brother but Your holy Son? And if I see him sinful I proclaim myself a sinner, not a Son of God; alone and friendless in a fearful world. Yet this perception is a choice I make, and can relinquish. I can also see my brother sinless, as Your holy Son. And with this choice I see my sinlessness, my everlasting Comforter and Friend beside me, and my way secure and clear. Choose, then, for me, my Father, through Your Voice. For He alone gives judgment in Your Name.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It occurs to me as I write this this morning that my mother must be the person in this lifetime who was sent to teach me the biggest lessons. Last night I talked to her on the phone and, although some of her comments occurred to me in the moment - as they always do - as fear-based and almost rote, I was not affected negatively by them. My mother is the perfect teacher for me to understand and work through fear. I could have counted the number of times she said things like, "Make sure you watch for deer when you drive," and "you know when you get a personalized license plate you have to pay extra for that each year," and her insistence that I watch my pennies and don't spend too much on Christmas presents or food to bring home for the holiday.

Those comments used to really bug me, and even as I started studying this course three years ago, would draw even more attention to the distinction between love and fear. But last night as I noticed myself not getting drawn into her conversation or being combative or resistant, the entire conversation lightened up and she was the one to notice. In fact, she said, as I was laughing at her "watch for deer" reference, that she realized she was nagging, but that what would I do if she didn't? It was a lighter moment than it used to be and I'll bet when I get that, she'll stop doing it. It's all about my mirrors and teachers and, as my friend Tracy says, she's paid well to teach me my lessons.

I also notice that I have far less need to vocalize the lessons I'm learning or the miracles I'm noticing. It's almost becoming second nature to notice miracles, and I forget to record them here. As a speaker and teacher, I suppose it helps to have examples for my audiences, which is why I like to record my "vignettes," as one of my teachers calls them so I don't forget the details. But it's important to me to recognize when it is ego and when it is sharing spirit. I know that many people in the world still want proof and answers and the best way to do that is to share personal stories. But for me that is much more about sharing spirit than recognizing ego (I think). That is the distinction I will be aware of as I move into 2008 and my fourth year of studying this course.

I watched Esther and Jerry Hicks' DVD "The Secret Behind The Secret" last night and I realized that I would like to be as open to Spirit as Esther is. Esther is a channel for the non-physical being Abraham, and the messages Abraham is bringing to us through Esther are wonderful. Esther says that she is able to be this channel because she is able to clear her mind and she doesn't have preconceived notions or roadblocks that would keep Abraham from coming through. That's another intention for 2008 - to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit. I notice that happening on occasion when I speak now, but I'm going to be much more intentional about that in 2008.

In contemplating what I learned from and about Abraham on that DVD last night, I came across this clip from a talk Esther-Abraham gave about the involvement in The Secret and I think it explains very well what we (those of us studying this course and seeking for knowledge and truth through Spirit rather than through ego) are up to. The Secret is really that we are all extensions of Source energy, and in this clip, Abraham says that the producer of the The Secret didn't believe that everyone was ready to hear that. It is similar to what Jerry Hicks mentioned in the DVD about the message from Napoleon Hill in Think And Grow Rich. The information in the original Think And Grow Rich was edited in the 60s because someone didn't think the world was ready to hear about vibration at that time either. But now it's been edited back in because Ross Cornwell (the editor of the version I'm studying) did believe the world was ready to hear it. That is why we study this version.

So here's the clip - and this is certainly a miracle of awareness!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Day 350

(NOTE: I am posting Sunday's lesson early because I will be in Minneapolis out of email access tomorrow)

Today's Lesson:

Miracles mirror God's eternal Love.
To offer them is to remember Him,
And through His memory to save the world.

What we forgive becomes a part of us, as we perceive ourselves. The Son of God incorporates all things within himself as You created him. Your memory depends on his forgiveness. What he is, is unaffected by his thoughts. But what he looks upon is their direct result. Therefore, my Father, I would turn to You. Only Your memory will set me free. And only my forgiveness teaches me to let Your memory return to me, and give it to the world in thankfulness.

And as we gather miracles from Him, we will indeed be grateful. For as we remember Him, His Son will be restored to us in the reality of Love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I will post my thoughts on Monday morning when I get back as they relate to this lesson.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Day 349

Today's Lesson:

Today I let Christ's vision look upon
All things for me and judge them not, but give
Each one a miracle of love instead.

So would I liberate all things I see, and give to them the freedom that I seek. For thus do I obey the law of love, and give what I would find and make my own. It will be given me, because I have chosen it as the gift I want to give. Father, Your gifts are mine. Each one that I accept gives me a miracle to give. And giving as I would receive, I learn Your healing miracles belong to me.

Our Father knows our needs. He gives us grace to meet them all. And so we trust in Him to send us miracles to bless the world, and heal our minds as we return to Him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It occurs to me as I type this lesson that if I'm in the space and awareness to be studying this course and interpreting it here, that just that very fact - if I really apply what I'm learning - keeps me from harm and provides me comfort and assurance that allows my vibration to remain high. There's a scientific element to the spirituality I feel. I obey the law of love, which corresponds to the book my Friday master mind is reading, "Working With the Law" by Raymond Holliwell. There he defines eleven principles he calls laws, which, in the book, are synonyms for God.

Our Father knows our needs and will give us grace to meet them all. What is there to fear? That space of vibration gives us a much different outcome in our lives and allows us to attract very different energy to us than if we were bound to a constant state of fear and doubt and worry.

So today I'm again grateful for the awareness that allows me to see each day as a miracle - and to see and experience many more miracles than I remember to write here. They really are everywhere!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Day 348

Today's Lesson:

I have no cause for anger or for fear,
For You surround me. And in every need
That I perceive, Your grace suffices me.

Father, let me remember You are here, and I am not alone. Surrounding me is everlasting Love. I have no cause for anything except the perfect peace and joy I share with You. What need have I for anger or for fear? Surrounding me is perfect safety. Can I be afraid, when Your eternal promise goes with me? Surrounding me is perfect sinlessness. What can I fear, when You created me in holiness as perfect as Your Own?

God's grace suffices us in everything that He would have us do. And only that we choose to be our will as well as His.

Miracles I'm noticing:

The first thing I wanted to do after reading this lesson was look up the word "grace" in the glossary from A Course in Miracles. So here is what it says:

Grace

Root meaning: A pure blessing or a state of pure blessing, given by God, which makes no demand on the receiver, which the receiver must do nothing to contribute to or earn.

Christian: An undeserved gift from God that saves or sanctifies us.

ACIM:
1. The heavenly state in which everything is freely given us and there are no difficulties, struggles, guilts, or burdens.
2. The salvation that we receive in the holy instant.
3. The act of God reaching down and giving us the revelation of His Presence, either a) in the form of a temporary experience of divine union, or b) in the form of the final step, in which He permanently awakens us to Heaven.

Something I've been hearing recently reminds me of the course's first definition of grace above. I heard someone say recently that he believes there has to be struggle and guilt because without the fear of God people will do the wrong thing and we need to have that guilt to keep us on the straight and narrow. I really don't agree with that, and maybe it's because I've been studying this course. I don't believe that we need external forces to keep us in check. I believe our ego believes that, and when we can stop identifying with our ego and allow Spirit to guide us, I believe we will experience the grace of God as defined here.

I don't choose my behaviors because if I don't I'll be punished. I choose my behaviors because I am made in the image and likeness of God and I see that in every human being and that calls me to act in a certain way, even though my ego wants to judge and condemn. I am eternally grateful for the awareness which has led me to this course and to the wonderful people who continue to come into my space through my work. I really do have no cause for anger or fear and that awareness is today's miracle!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Day 347

Today's Lesson:

Anger must come from judgment. Judgment is
The weapon I would use against myself,
To keep the miracle away from me.

Father, I want what goes against my will, and do not want what is my will to have. Straighten my mind, my Father. It is sick. But You have offered freedom, and I choose to claim Your gift today. And so I give all judgment to the One You gave to me to judge for me. He sees what I behold, and yet He knows the truth. He looks on pain, and yet He understands it is not real, and in His understanding it is healed. He gives the miracles my dreams would hide from my awareness. Let Him judge today. I do not know my will, but He is sure it is Your Own. And He will speak for me, and call Your miracles to come to me.

Listen today. Be very still, and hear the gentle Voice for God assuring you that He had judged you as the Son He loves.

Miracles I'm noticing:

There is a theme of peace and quiet running through the recent lessons, and I am beginning to understand more and more what one teacher I've been working with means when she talks about how our minds spin ... and also about our monkey mind. My ego is running my subconscious and as I get quiet, I realize that the thoughts that seem to take over automatically have not been from my Higher Self, but from the ego. It's really great to notice that I can tell the difference now and I'm noticing that those ego thoughts are not as prevalent as they used to be.

As I become more aware, it is really fun to notice that when I'm not really paying attention and then suddenly am aware of my thoughts, there are times now when I don't recognize the ego. I'm aware that the Holy Spirit - my Higher Self - is coming through those ego thoughts. I was going to say that the H.S. is beginning to reprogram the ego's subconscious, but I don't think that's how it works. The H.S. is the default - that's what is there and always has been there - it is the ego that has reprogrammed the original subconscious, so I think it's more a matter of remembering than reprogramming.

In one of her lectures Marianne Williamson talks about how sometimes behavior modification is the way we need to work back to Spirit because we "fake it 'til we make it" so we can get used to that "new" way of seeing the world. She says we may not have gotten to the point yet where we don't think those negative thoughts, but at least we can notice that we aren't saying what we're thinking when we think those thoughts, and that's progress.

My other teacher, Isis, says that we really can make up our minds to totally eliminate the ego if that's what we really want. It does take some concerted effort. She says there is no need for the baby steps if we just make up our minds. But I find that being aware of my progress does help me and I am noticing a big difference in my mind, even if people around me don't notice as much (I've been a good faker so people don't always notice my progress).

What I've noticed most for myself is my own authenticity and I think those closest to me notice that, too, because they were the ones to bear the me that came out when the guard came down. It's like when teachers tell parents that their young children are angels at school and the parents are shocked because they are devils at home. That's how I think I've been at times, and that's the progress I can measure.

So if we eliminate judgment - one area I'm still noticing that rears its ugly head at times - then we can eliminate anger. Let's give our judgment - and our anger - to the Holy Spirit so we don't have to worry about that anymore. When we are still and listen, we notice that the Holy Spirit has done the judging for us, and we have been judged as a Son of God. It doesn't get any better than that!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Day 346

Today's Lesson:

Today the peace of God envelops me,
And I forget all things except His Love.

Father, I wake today with miracles correcting my perception of all things. And so begins the day I share with You as I will share eternity, for time has stepped aside today. I do not seek the things of time, and so I will not look upon them. What I seek today transcends all laws of time and things perceived in time. I would forget all things except Your Love. I would abide in You, and know no laws except Your law of love. And I would find the peace which You created for Your Son, forgetting all the foolish toys I made as I behold Your glory and my own.

And when the evening comes today, we will remember nothing but the peace of God. For we will learn today what peace is ours, when we forget all things except God's Love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

What a wonderful lesson for today! Despite everything that happens today, at the end of the day I need only remember the peace of God. What a great way to start every day! There is no need to dwell on anything but God's Love and, really, that is all that is true anyway - everything else is just a story I made up, like the toys I made and believe to be real.

I have read and studied this course so many times over the past three years and sometimes it's funny how it seems to be the first time I've read some of this. Today's lesson makes so much sense to me - it's crazy how my ego tries to hold on to the "reality" it has made.

So no matter what happens today, I will feel the peace of God and remember that only that is real and true.

That's my miracle!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Day 345

Today's Lesson:

I offer only miracles today,
For I would have them be returned to me.

Father, a miracle reflects Your gifts to me, Your Son. And every one I give returns to me, reminding me the law of love is universal. Even here, it takes a form which can be recognized and seen to work. The miracles I give are given back in just the form I need to help me with the problems I perceive. Father, in Heaven it is different, for there, there are no needs. But here on earth, the miracle is closer to Your gifts than any other git that I can give. Then let me give this gift alone today, which, born of true forgiveness, lights the way that I must travel to remember You.

Peace to all seeking hearts today. The light has come to offer miracles to bless the tired world. It will find rest today, for we will offer what we have received.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Just reading today's lesson is a great reminder that when we have problems, it is a great opportunity to replace them with miracles. We would not recognize the miracles if we only had miracles in this life on earth. It is the contrast from the times we are in need that allow us to see the miracles.

I'm finding that as I go through this course for the third time (looking forward to beginning Year 4 on January 1!), miracles become much more common for me - and I realize that I may be overlooking many of them as I hope to report them to you here. It's just become a way of life for me this past few months. I don't really notice the down times as much as I used to, maybe because there aren't as many of them. Or maybe the down times are just on a higher level now, so the mid-point between the highs and lows is raised.

This is a wonderful time of year with all the holiday festivities to remember that it is as blessed to receive as to give, and those of us who are studying this course seem to be getting much better at the giving while we still have some progress to make in the receiving end. That's why I'm excited to join my good friends - and fellow course students - Darcy and Sheila on Thursday for the latest Grateful Goddess gathering where they will be talking about Giving and Receiving. Check out their website for some great holiday gifts. Order today in time for Christmas and you'll be giving a wonderful gift that will return to you many fold.

I got Gratitude Journals for my sister, mom and niece and I'll put the first entry in as I reflect on the gratitude I feel for them in my life.

Peace to everyone at what could be a stressful time of year. Stop and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of this glorious and joyous time, and try to check your guilt and busyness at the door - just for one day. As you feel peace in your own life, you will be able to give it away. Notice what that does for the people in your life. And that's the miracle we can all give this holiday season!

Let there be peace on earth - and let it begin with me!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Day 344

Today's Lesson:

Today I learn the law of love; that what
I give my brother is my gift to me.

This is Your law, my Father, not my own. I have not understood what giving means, and thought to save what I desired for myself alone. And as I looked upon the treasure that I thought I had, I found an empty place where nothing ever was or is or will be. Who can share a dream? And what can an illusion offer me? Yet he whom I forgive will give me gifts beyond the worth of anything on earth. Let my forgiven brothers fill my store with Heaven's treasures, which alone are real. Thus is the law of love fulfilled. And thus Your Son arises and returns to You.

How near we are to one another, as we go to God. How near is He to us. How close the ending of the dream of sin, and the redemption of the Son of God.

Miracles I'm noticing:

As we get close to the end of this year and I reflect on my learning from this past year of studying this course, I can really see my progress toward living today's lesson. I had a minor meltdown yesterday - I reacted to a comment someone made in a way I wish I hadn't and that episode, while not something I'm proud of, really showed me my progress. As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized what that was about - my reaction was showing me how my comments may cause someone else to react because I've said similar things to what the person said who set me off. I immediately forgave myself and the other person, and I'm not dwelling on it - the only reason I even remembered it now is so I could tell about the miracle, which was seeing that entire episode in love instead of in fear.

So that's what I noticed today. I trust that as I encounter each situation today, I will use what I'm learning and get back what I give my brother in love.

That's the miracle for today!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Day 343

Today's Lesson:

I am not asked to make a sacrifice
To find the mercy and the peace of God.

The end of suffering can not be loss. The gift of everything can be but gain. You only give. You never take away. And You created me to be like You, so sacrifice becomes impossible for me as well as You. I, too, must give. And so all things are given unto me forever and forever. As I was created I remain. Your Son can make no sacrifice, for he must be complete, having the function of completing You. I am complete because I am Your Son. I cannot lose, for I can only give, and everything is mine eternally.

The mercy and the peace of God are free. Salvation has no cost. It is a gift that must be freely given and received. And it is this that we would learn today.

Miracles I'm noticing:

My old paradigm tells me - over and over again - that sacrifice means giving up something I really want which will leave me wanting. But today's lesson reminds me that there is only giving - no taking away and leaving without. I think part of the challenge with really getting this lesson is my belief that it is better to give than to receive, which leaves me always feeling I need to give, and to shrug off others' attempts to give to me. But what I realize is that I am depriving others of the opportunity to give when I don't learn to receive gratefully. The gift of salvation is freely given AND received.

What a great time of year to be reminded of this lesson! Enjoy the holidays instead of dreading the hassles and the headaches. It really can be the most wonderful time of the year if we just make up our minds in that way.

Happy and Merry!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Day 342

Today's Lesson:

I let forgiveness rest upon all things,
For thus forgiveness will be given me.

I thank You, Father, for Your plan to save me from the hell I made. I ti s not real. And You have given me the means to prove its unreality to me. The key is in my hand, and I have reached the door beyond which lies the end of dreams. I stand before the gate of Heaven, wondering if I should enter in and be at home. Let me not wait again today. Let me forgive all things, and let creation be as You would have it be and as it is. Let me remember that I am Your Son, and opening the door at last, forget illusions in the blazing light of truth, as memory of You returns to me.

Brother, forgive me now. I come to you to take you home with me. And as we go, the world goes with us on our way to God.

Miracles I'm noticing:

A good friend of mine who just had a baby 2 months ago was informed by her husband that he wants a divorce. It's in times like this that I realize how much this course has meant and continues to mean to me. As I consider today's lesson and my friend's situation, I see that the best way for her to begin to live her own life is to forgive him. That way forgiveness will be given to her. I realize how difficult it must be to see that right now, and her anger and bitterness and upset are what she needs to feel right now. But I'm holding space for her as she figures things out for herself and her new baby.

Today's lesson tells us that we can make the decision to walk through the gate of Heaven right now without delay. We can choose to let creation be as God has it be without trying to make it be something else. And with that choice comes forgiveness and freedom.

Choose that today and see how your outlook on life will change from hell to Heaven. That recognition is the miracle for today!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Day 341

13. What Is a Miracle?

A miracle is a correction. It does not create, nor really change at all. It merely looks on devastation, and reminds the mind that what it sees is false. It undoes error, but does not attempt to go beyond perception, nor exceed the function of forgiveness. Thus it stays within time's limits. Yet it paves the way for the return of timelessness and love's awakening, for fear must slip away under the gentle remedy it brings.

A miracle contains the gift of grace, for it is given and received as one. And thus it illustrates the law of truth the world does not obey, because it fails entirely to understand its ways. A miracle inverts perception which was upside down before, and thus it ends the strange distortions that were manifest. Now is perception open to the truth. Now is forgiveness seen as justified.

Forgiveness is the home of miracles. The eyes of Christ deliver them to all they look upon in mercy and in love. Perception stands corrected in His sight, and what was meant to curse has come to bless. Each lily of forgiveness offers all the world the silent miracle of love. And each is laid before the Word of God, upon the universal altar to Creator and creation in the light of perfect purity and endless joy.

The miracle is taken first on faith, because to ask for it implies the mind has been made ready to conceive of what it cannot see and does not understand. Yet faith will bring its witnesses to show that what it rested on is really there. And thus the miracle will justify your faith in it, and show it rested on a world more real than what you saw before; a world redeemed from what you thought was there.

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water. Now the world is green. And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never die, for what has life has immortality.

Today's Lesson:

I can attack but my own sinlessness,
And it is only that which keeps me safe.

Father, Your Son is holy. I am he on whom You smile in love and tenderness so dear and deep and still the universe smiles back on You, and shares Your Holiness. How pure, how safe, how holy, then, are we, abiding in Your Smile, with all Your Love bestowed upon us, living one with You, in brotherhood and Fatherhood complete; in sinlessness so perfect that the Lord of Sinlessness conceives us as His Son, a universe of Thought completing Him.

Let us not, then, attack our sinlessness, for it contains the Word of God to us. And in its kind reflection we are saved.

Miracles I'm noticing:

First of all, I love section 13 above. It's so simple to understand miracles as already here in our world to quench our thirst right here today. We just need to open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to see what is right in front of us. Miracles are everywhere, and always have been - we maybe just haven't been awake to see them. So WAKE UP, everyone!

Yesterday I spoke at the Twin Cities Council for Quality in Minneapolis. The group was smaller than I expected - I was told there would be 75, and I'm guessing about 40 were there. But it was a great group. You know how sometimes it feels like everything is just "on" and you're on a roll? That's how I felt yesterday. I was talking about setting goals for 2008 and why resolutions usually seem to fall flat - because we're not setting resolutions we're passionate about. I did a small amount of subtle selling because I wasn't getting paid for this speech, so I thought I could get some advertising in. Afterwards one person told me she was very impressed with my blend of "selling" and "telling" so that was good.

But the most interesting comment came from one gentleman who stopped by to tell me that everything I said was biblically based. I took that as a compliment, and told him that people really do recognize universal Truth.

That was pretty cool, because I've never been blatant about the spiritual dimension about which I speak. I flashed back to a time a few years ago when my speaking mentor, Bob Ash, said the same thing to me, long before I really "got" that. Call it what you will - biblical, spiritual - it doesn't matter to me. I realized that as I was typing today's lesson. I used to get really defensive whenever I would hear someone speak of God or the Bible or anything religious because I was raised in such a fundamental home that I was turned off by those things.

I realize now that that wasn't God's fault. I shouldn't take out on Him the interpretations of people around me. I sense that He has always been waiting around for me to "get it" and now He's smiling as I speak to corporate audiences all over about goal setting and thinking and results and outcomes, when really He's there guiding what I say, making sure I don't say anything to turn anyone off the way I've been turned off.

That awareness - and recognition by that man in the audience - is my miracle for today!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Day 340

Today's Lesson:

I can be free of suffering today.

Father, I thank You for today, and for the freedom I am certain it will bring. This day is holy, for today Your Son will be redeemed. His suffering is done. For he will hear Your Voice directing him to find Christ's vision through forgiveness, and be free forever from all suffering. Thanks for today, my Father. I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom for Your holy Son and for the world he made, which is released along with him today.

Be glad today! Be glad! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today. Our Father has redeemed His Son this day. Not one of us but will be saved today. Not one who will remain in fear, and none the Father will not gather to Himself, awake in Heaven in the Heart of Love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

What a powerful lesson today! I'm in Minneapolis getting ready to speak for members of the Twin Cities Council for Quality and today's lesson really frees me up to just be a conduit for the Holy Spirit. What a joy! There is no room for anything but joy and thanks!

How would the world look if every day all of us would get up, put our feet on the floor, and think, "I was born into this world but to achieve this day, and what it holds in joy and freedom"? The world can - and does - look that way when each of us decides to see it only through those eyes. In that way the world does change. It's up to each of us.

I'm reminded of a song from John Denver and the Muppets - here it is. It's in Every One Of US!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Day 339

Today's Lesson:

I will receive whatever I request.

No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain. What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering. Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear with love.

Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You offer me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This is such a great lesson! What a wonderful thing to remember - that I will do nothing by myself. I can remember a time in my life when I really did feel alone; fortunately, since I've been studying this course and surrounding myself with a posse of wonderful people, I haven't felt that for a long time. But I can imagine what people who don't know this information can feel. I have a friend now who is going through a nasty divorce with a little baby and a big house and I know she's feeling very alone. I'm thinking my best offering is my love and light as she goes through this time. I can't change anyone else and I know she has to be in a space of sorrow and loss and anger and pain right now. I wish I knew how to help her, but maybe my love and light will be the best thing for her right now.

No one desires pain ... I have to keep telling myself that as I see her, and so many others, in pain. It also reminds me of Ho'oponopono: I love you, I'm sorry, thank you, please forgive me. That is another thing I can do to help her right now. I'm going to meditate on that thought and today's lesson: "I will receive whatever I request."

Awareness is a miracle and I'm so blessed and grateful for my awareness!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Day 338

Today's Lesson:

I am affected only by my thoughts.

It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things. His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed.

Your plan is sure, my Father, - only Yours. All other plans will fail.
And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have
given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and
lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promised to lead me home, because
it holds Your promise to Your Son.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday I had the opportunity to create and deliver a brand new presentation to a client. The presentation was called THINK About It and it was all about changing the way we think to change the results in our lives. We spent two hours introducing about 180 of their employees - in three different shifts - to subconscious conditioning and conscious thought and the impact taking responsibility for your thoughts can have on the results in your life. The CEO sat in on all three presentations and was thrilled with the outcome. His intention was to give his employees something that would challenge them both at work and outside of work, but he wanted something that wouldn't be directly work related. It was such a blast to see all these employees paying such close attention to this new information (to them).

What we learned yesterday was so relevant to today's lesson and I know that's no accident. When those employees (who numbered about 50% of the total employee base - yesterday's session was entirely mandatory so that number was outstanding) together determine that they can affect the entire world just by changing their thoughts, imagine what that huge percentage can do to affect the culture of that organization!

I've heard it said that when one percent of the population of a city practices meditation, they can lower the crime rate in that city. ONE PERCENT! Think about what FIFTY PERCENT of the population of one company can do when they change their minds!

I'm so blessed and grateful to have this opportunity to infuse what I'm learning here with my corporate clients. I know what my role is and I know it's simple when I listen to God's plan for me and not my own! All other plans will fail - so there's no need to try to control or to be right about anything I'm thinking. I just need to let go and let God!

Monday, December 03, 2007

Day 337

Today's Lesson:

My sinlessness protects me from all harm.

My sinlessness ensures me perfect peace, eternal safety, everlasting love, freedom forever from all thought of loss; complete deliverance from suffering. And only happiness can be my state, for only happiness is given me. What must I do to know all this is mine? I must accept Atonement for myself, and nothing more. God has already done all things that need be done. And I must learn I need do nothing of myself, for I need but accept my Self, my sinlessness, created for me, now already mine, to feel God's Love protecting me from harm, to understand my Father loves His Son; to know I am the Son my Father loves.

You Who created me in sinlessness are not mistaken about what I am. I was mistaken when I thought I sinned, but I accept Atonement for myself. Father, my dream is ended now. Amen.

Miracles I'm noticing:

If everything is in divine order in the entire universe, from the sun rising in the east each morning to its setting in the west each evening and everything in between, there is absolutely no need for me to worry about anything. What do I think I can do about the things I worry about if the big things are already handled? If I seek outside myself for anything, I will always be disappointed. Today's text reminds us that we seek outside ourselves for something more than everything, as if a part of it were separated off and found where all the rest of it is not.

When we believe we can suffer lack, we are setting ourselves up to be unhappy, because, today's text tells us, lack is death. So to believe in our own sinlessness is to see that we are whole, complete and perfect - created in the image and likeness of God. That sets aside all worry and doubt and fear and allows us to be fully self expressed and to live our genius.

That realization will propel me on my way to delivering three sessions of a 2-hour presentation to a client today, knowing that the information comes not from me, but from the Holy Spirit that exists in all of us. I'm merely the conduit to deliver the message that we all know, but just forgot.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Day 336

Today's Lesson:

Forgiveness lets me know that minds are joined.

Forgiveness is the means appointed for perception's ending. Knowledge is restored after perception first is changed, and then gives way entirely to what remains forever past its highest reach. For sights and sounds, at best, can serve but to recall the memory that lies beyond them all. Forgiveness sweeps away distortions, and opens the hidden alter to the truth. Its lilies shine into the mind, and call it to return and look within, to find what it has vainly sought without. For here, and only here, is peace of mind restored, for this the dwelling place of God Himself.

In quiet may forgiveness wipe away my dreams of separation and of sin. Then let me, Father, look within, and find Your promise of my sinlessness is kept; Your Word remains unchanged within my mind, Your Love is still abiding in my heart.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday we had the most wonderful day of beautiful snow that we've had in several years. The temperature was relatively mild, and the snow fell straight down all day (usually here in North Dakota we get horizontal snow with the wind!). Although I had to shovel the driveway four times (and I still have to go out and finish this morning), it really was beautiful and it reminds me of the winters of my childhood when I couldn't wait for the first snowfall.

Last night, with the Christmas lights on several houses and the snow falling silently in the reflection of the street lights, it was a great reminder of the peace of God which exists all the time, even when we don't realize it behind all our clutter and noise. Forgiveness does sweep away all those distortions and when we can just open our minds and hearts, the peace of God enters in.

That's a great thing to remember at this time of year that can get so crazy. Enjoy the peace that is always present. That's the Present for this season!

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Day 335

Today's Lesson:

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. 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 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.

What could restore Your memory to me, except to 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.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It seems as though I'm not noticing the miracles as much as I used to because I'm getting more and more used to the miracles that surround me. It's becoming second nature for miracles to be everywhere. I'm noticing that I see what I believe and the world is looking much more beautiful to me and that's becoming "normal." I really don't notice the "bad" things as much anymore because I've become much more aware of my brother's sinlessness. Taking a step back and acknowledging that is really cool.

An example is yesterday's master mind studying the book Working With the Law. We spent an hour talking about that book in a very spiritual dimension and when I really stop and think about that, it's probably pretty unusual that 12 people would take an hour out of the middle of their Friday to gather together and talk about Universal Laws in a very spiritual dimension.

There is one man who is new to our group (the rest of us were together studying Think and Grow Rich) and yesterday at the end of the dialogue he said that he wasn't thinking about this information in the same realm we were. He said that we were talking very much more spiritually than he was thinking. He just sees universal laws as the way it is. He grew up with a father who was very into Think and Grow Rich and Tony Robbins and all kinds of works like that, so my theory is that he doesn't have as much to undo as the rest of us might. But it was great to have his perspective. That is what I mean by miracles just being the way it is for me in the way I see things. I'm much more grateful for everything instead of judging it and I really noticed that yesterday.

So, although I'm certainly not "there" by any means, today's miracle is noticing how far I've come on this journey to seeing my brother's sinlessness. Blessed and grateful!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Day 334

Today's Lesson:

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me. 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 today. And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.

I seek but the eternal. For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this. What, then, can be his solace but what You are offering to his bewildered mind and frightened heart, to give him certainty and bring him peace? Today I would behold my brother sinless. This Your Will for me, for so will I behold my sinlessness.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I wonder how difficult it is for people to step into their sinlessness? Many of us have been so conditioned that we are by nature sinful that it may seem like quite a stretch to see ourselves as whole, complete and perfect, and created in the image and likeness of God. To me, that seems much more peaceful than to be worried all the time about messing up. I'm reminded of when I played basketball in high school and our coach kept reminding us of the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. Playing to win means taking some chances, trusting in your preparation and practice to bring you the outcome you've prepared for. Playing not to lose is playing it safe, doing things right and hoping the outcome is what you want.

One of my master mind groups is currently reading the book Working With the Law by Raymond Holliwell. Today's reading there was about the Law of Thinking and the Law of Supply. If we have programmed our minds to expect the worst, why should we be surprised when that is what continues to appear in front of us? That is the Law, according to Holliwell. The Law of Supply tells us that there is always plenty of supply when the demand is there. But sometimes we just don't realize what we really need and want. As soon as the demand is realized, the supply will come forward. So if we are existing in the space of not enough, that will also show up as reality for us.

When we get into the mindset of sinlessness we have no need for forgiveness, because we realize there is nothing to forgive. God intends for all of us to achieve full awareness of His reality, which is that we are whole, complete and perfect. It is our ego that keeps us from realizing this, and the ego is very strong. Unless it keeps working to fix its hold on us, it will die away, so it is desperate. Today's text tells us that "This world will bind your feet and tie your hands and kill your body only if you think that it was made to crucify God's Son. For even though it was a dream of death, you need not let it stand for this to you. Let this be changed, and nothing in the world but must be changed as well. For nothing here but is defined as what you see it for.

"How lovely is the world whose purpose is forgiveness of God's Son! How free from fear, how filled with blessing and with happiness! And what a joyous thing it is to dwell a little while in such a happy place! Nor can it be forgot, in such a world, it is a little while till timelessness comes quietly to take the place of time."

Awareness and waking up - those are my miracles for today!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Day 333

Today's Lesson:

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 give int, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its 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.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This lesson is almost urgent in its simplicity. It is necessary and vital that we each decide today to resolve any conflicts we are in or any grudges we are holding onto. I don't think this means that we need to seek out people with whom we have been in conflict, but rather look inside ourselves for the barriers we have placed that impede the peace of God. The truth can shine upon the space created where the conflict used to be.

I've been talking a lot more recently about this Course and the effects that studying it have had upon my life. We talked about it yesterday in my Wednesday master mind group (hi everyone from the Wednesday master mind!) and I also told a friend about this study last night as we got together after work to catch up. I feel profoundly affected by this, my third year of study, and I know that it is up to ME to forgive any conflicts in my world. As I forgive, the world heals.

Today's text challenges us to make a decision, once and for all, about whether we want to live in dreams or the truth. There is no partway to that decision. It says "the choice is not between which dreams to keep, but only if you want to live in dreams or to awaken from them." It goes on to say that "every dream is but a dream of fear, no matter what the form it seems to take. The fear is seen within, without, or both. Or it can be disguised in pleasant form. But never is it absent from the dream, for fear is the material of dreams, from which they all are made."

The crucial point at which we find ourselves today asks us to wake up - to recognize once and for all what really matters in our lives. Until we wake up, we will be living in a dream world. The text goes on to say "Dreams are not wanted more or less. They are desired or not. And each one represents some function that you have assigned; some goal which an event, or body, or a thing should represent, and should achieve for you. If it succeeds, you think you like the dream. If it should fail you think the dream is sad. But whether it succeeds or fails is not its core, but just the flimsy covering."

The thoughts the Holy Spirit gives us are never ones of fear. We can choose right now to change our thoughts so that the future we are creating today is one that is free of conflict and open to the Holy Spirit. Waking up - and knowing consciously that I'm choosing to wake up - is my miracle for today. Sharing what I'm learning allows me to let my light shine so that others may be invited to do the same. Together we will light the world.

What will you choose today? Wake up and forgive. It's as simple as that.