Day 166

Today's Lesson

I am entrusted with the gifts of God.

All things are given us. God's trust in us is limitless. He knows His Son. He gives without exception, holding nothing back that can contribute to our happiness. And yet, unless our will is one with His, His gifts are not received. But what would make us think there is another will than His?

Here is the paradox that underlies the making of the world. This world is not the Will of God, and so it is not real. Yet those who think it real must still believe there is another will, and one that leads to opposite effects from those He wills. Impossible indeed; but every mind that looks upon the world and judges it as certain, solid, trustworthy and true believes in two creators; or in one, himself alone. But never in one God.

The gifts of God are not acceptable to anyone who holds such strange beliefs. He must believe that to accept God's gifts, however evident they may become, however urgently he may be called to claim them as his own, is to be pressed to treachery against himself. He must deny their presence, contradict the truth, and suffer to preserve the world he made.

Here is the only home he thinks he knows. Here is the only safety he believes that he can find. Without the world he made is he an outcast; homeless and afraid. He does not realize that it is here he is afraid indeed, and homeless, too; an outcast wandering so far from home, so long away, he does not realize he has forgotten where he came from, where he goes, and even who he really is.

Yet in his lonely, senseless wanderings, God's gifts go with him, all unknown to him. He cannot lose them. But he will not look at what is given him. He wanders on, aware of the futility he sees about him everywhere, perceiving how his little lot but dwindles, as he goes ahead to nowhere. Still he wanders on in misery and poverty, alone though God is with him, and a treasure his so great that everything the world contains is valueless before its magnitude.

He seems a sorry figure; weary, worn, in threadbare clothing, and with feet that bleed a little from the rocky road he walks. No one but has identified with him, for everyone who comes here has pursued the path he follows, and has felt defeat and hopelessness as he is feeling them. Yet is he really tragic, when you see that he is following the way he chose, and need but realize Who walks with him and open up his treasures to be free?

This is our chosen self, the one we made as a replacement for reality. This is the self we savagely defend against all reason, every evidence, and all the witnesses with proof to show this is not us. We heed them not. We go on our appointed way, with eyes cast down lest we might catch a glimpse of truth, and be released from self-deception and set free.

We cower fearfully lest we should feel Christ's touch upon our shoulder, and perceive His gentle hand directing us to look upon our gifts. How could we then proclaim our poverty in exile? He would make us laugh at this perception of ourselves. Where is self-pity then? And what becomes of all the tragedy we sought to make for him whom God intended only joy?

Now do we live, for now we cannot die. The wish for death is answered, and the sight that looked upon it now has been replaced by vision which perceives that we are not what we pretend to be. One walks with us Who gently answers all our fears with this one merciful reply, "It is not so." He points to all the gifts we have each time the thought of poverty oppresses us, and speaks of His Companionship when we perceive ourselves as lonely and afraid.

Yet He reminds us still of one thing more we had forgotten. For His touch on us has made us like Himself. The gifts we have are not for us alone. What He has come to offer us, we now must learn to give. This is the lesson that His giving holds, for He has saved us from the solitude we sought to make in which to hide from God. He has reminded us of all the gifts that God has given us. He speaks as well of what becomes our will when we accept these gifts, and recognize they are our own.

The gifts are ours, entrusted to our care, to give to all who chose the lonely road we have escaped. They do not understand they but pursue their wishes. It is we who teach them now. For we have learned of Christ there is another way for them to walk. Teach them by showing them the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of Christ, and recognize God's gifts. Let sorrow not tempt us to be unfaithful to our trust.

Our signs will now betray the hopes of those who look to us for their release. Our tears are theirs. If we are sick, we but withhold their healing. What we fear but teaches them their fears are justified. Our hand becomes the giver of Christ's touch; our change of mind becomes the proof that who accepts God's gifts can never suffer anything. We are entrusted with the world's release from pain.

Betray it not. Become the living proof of what Christ's touch can offer everyone. God has entrusted all His gifts to us. Be witness in our happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. Such is our mission now. For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. He has shared His joy with us. And now we go to share it with the world.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This lesson is so powerful that I really don't need to add much here. I've just spent an incredible week with some very amazing people at Bob Proctor's Life Success Consultant training and I am transformed as I return home today. As I read today's lesson and really internalize its message, I realize that my fear only holds the world back. As I change my mind, I prove that anyone who accepts the gifts they have been given can never suffer anything. As I shift, the world shifts.

That's my miracle for today!