Day 212

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(192) I have a function God would have me fill.

I seek the function that would set me free from all the vain illusions of the world. Only the function God has given me can offer freedom. Only this I seek, and only this will I accept as mine.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I've written about this before here, but today's review really reminds me that I have a specific function in this lifetime that only I can fill. And only when I fulfill that function can I really be set free. It's a great reminder that no one can play my song - and I don't want to die with the song still in me. So if I don't play it, nobody will.

It's funny how many things I'm reading all have a similar message. Bob Proctor's The Secret Science of Getting Rich and James Swartz's Seeing David in the Stone are my two newest ones. The "coincidences" are everywhere!

Oh - and here's another one. My quarterly dues are due for my chorus they are $82.50. So Saturday I got an unexpected check in the mail from my car insurance as a dividend. It was $88. Cool!

Day 211

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(191) I am the holy Son of God Himself.

In silence and in true humility I seek God's glory, to behold it in the Son whom He created as my Self.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I ran into a friend yesterday who is on a similar spiritual path as I. However, her path seems to be so much more difficult than mine. It seems as though she has to go through things so much MORE than I do. By that I mean she feels things so much more deeply, she seems to struggle more than I do and there is always some drama at hand in her life. As I listened to her latest insight yesterday, I got to thinking about how each person's path is her or his own. I don't think it has to be difficult, but maybe that's my path. I think things are so much easier when I have the awareness I have and can choose things differently. Apparently her path means that she has to feel things deeper and take on more than I do. I started thinking that maybe the higher you get on the enlightenment scale, the more difficult things get; but then I just went to gratitude for wherever I am, and stopped comparing.

I am not a body. I am free!
For I am still as God created me.

And that's perfect for me. Blessed and grateful!

Day 210

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(190) I choose the joy of God instead of pain.

Pain is my own idea. It is not a Thought of God, but one I thought apart from Him and from His Will. His Will is joy, and only joy for His beloved Son. And that I choose, instead of what I made.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I'm finding it very interesting how everything I'm reading and studying right now has the same message and uses very similar analogies and stories. I just finished Eric Butterworth's book and am listening to Byron Katie and Wayne Dyer as well as Bob Proctor and Michael Beckwith on the audio to The Secret Science of Getting Rich. All of them have similar themes in that the answers are in me. I just need to get beyond all the old conditioning and remember the Truth.

It's no coincidence that I am studying all these materials as I prepare for our first Winner's Image seminar on August 9. The Winner's Image is all about getting to the heart of who we are so we can project our true selves to ourselves and the world. All of these materials are great support for that message, but for me the true lesson is in just trust what I Know and sharing that with the audience.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

What a great message!

Day 209

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(189) I feel the Love of God within me now.

The Love of God is what created me. The Love of God is everything I am. The Love of God proclaimed me as His Son. The Love of God within me sets me free.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I'm just finishing Eric Butterworth's book, written in 1968, called Discover the Power Within You and it's given me an entirely new perspective on Christianity, God, and spirituality. Butterworth was a Unity minister whose specialty was practical mysticism. On the back of the book it says he is often described as "the modern-day Emerson" (no wonder I like him!).

This book makes the course work we're doing here so much more logical and practical than my strict Christian upbringing did. The first year studying the course I remember feeling a lot of questions, but they were strictly based on my upbringing, which was steeped in a literal translation of the Bible. Butterworth's book points out how really gifted a storyteller Jesus was, and how he had a wonderful way of using parables and stories to make a point. It tells the same Bible stories, but shows what the original translations were for some of the stories we've come to see as more literal and we find that Jesus' gift for parables and the language of his day means something much different than what many of us have been raised to believe.

Here's an example:

"The miracle is in the availability of substance, not particularly in the way it manifests. When Jesus was confronted with the need to pay the Roman tax, He simply told Peter to go fishing and that he would find a gold coin in the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17:27). Peter did as he was asked and he found the coin in the fish's mouth and used it to pay the tax. It is too bad that this story has been related so literally, since there is an increase in the 'credibility gap' for the intellect. Actually, when we know the idiom, there is nothing unusual about this story at all. What was more natural than for Peter, who was a fisherman, to go fishing, market the fish, and pay the tax with the proceeds. This is exactly what the story says idiomatically.

"In our West, the cattlemen talk about a steer being worth 'forty dollars on the hoof.' In the Orient, they talk about an ox having 'twenty gold pieces in his horn.' And in the Middle East, we find this expression among fishermen: 'The fish had a gold coin in his mouth.' In every case, these are figures of speech referring to the ultimate market price to be gained from the sale of the product.

"Jesus is teaching the lesson that when you have a need, the answer is right where you are. The miracle may not be in the way it manifests, but in the ever-availability of ideas, of guidance, of all things working together for good. You may be guided to go fishing, or to get a job, or to 'break' the loaves and fishes. But there is abundance for you - if you accept it" (p. 182).

So this book has given me a whole new understanding of even what I'm learning in this course. It is the Love of God which sets me free to do and be and have everything in this wonderfully abundant universe. I really am free when I see everything as a miracle, instead of seeing nothing as a miracle.

Day 208

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(188) The peace of God is shining in me now.

I will be still, and let the earth be still along with me. And in that stillness we will find the peace of God. It is within my heart, which witnesses to God Himself.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It occurred to me last night as I was attending a Core Passion workshop my friend Jodie was conducting that every training event, every technique or process or learning system, every certification is simply something that someone, somewhere made up at some point in time. Standards and norms and regulations were once only in someone's imagination. It's just that someone, somewhere had enough courage or knowledge or drive or passion or insight to make a standard of their beliefs and knowledge, and eventually others adopted that standard.

I wonder how often I might doubt my knowing about things because it's mine and believe that I have to defer to an authority or someone who knows better (or has published a book or developed a patent or announced a standard) to get "the right answer."

I used to be deathly afraid, for some reason, that if I had an idea or an insight that wasn't referenced somehow to something I'd read somewhere else that my thought would be rejected and, in turn, I would be rejected. It was a lot easier to accept rejection or ridicule if it was really someone else's statistic or belief or insight than if it were an original thought. Besides, I think I wanted to show that I was well-read and that it couldn't be such a bad idea if someone else had shared it with me. Another reason I felt I had to quote the source of an idea that matched mine was so that in case you looked it up, you wouldn't think I had plagiarized. Fear, fear, fear.

I'm so happy and grateful now that I have enough confidence to think for myself and to trust my own knowing without having to quote the source. Or that I can use someone else's original thought and build upon that to create my own insight.

Maybe that's not a profound, new, original thought. But for me it really clicked last night and allowed me to see things in a slightly new way for myself. If everything is only made up anyway, maybe there is something I can know or understand in a way that might be unique and helpful. Instead of being so afraid of messing up, I can finally bare my authentic knowingness and deal with the consequences of people's feedback without fear. When I can get into that authentic knowingness, more often than not people don't have anything to criticize or laugh at anyway because it comes from a place of connection to truths that we all share anyway.

Fear is universal, but so is love. And people resonate much more authentically and at a higher level with love and truth and honesty and beauty. I'm blessed and grateful that I can see the light!

Day 207

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(187) I bless the world because I bless myself.

God's blessing shines upon me from within my heart, where He abides. I need but turn to Him, and every sorrow melts away, as I accept His boundless Love for me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Our master mind group met last night to study "Think and Grow Rich." The chapter we read last night was called Desire, and was all about determining whether our "wants" are actually our "desires." Our handout helped us determine that by giving us these distinctions:

How Do You Know If Your WANT Has Become Your DESIRE?

• The physical results you desire begin to manifest themselves.
• You see the world through the prism of your desire.
• You are not affected by outside circumstances.
• You attract like-minded people.
• You are awakened and your view of the world changes.
• Your intuitive factor grows.
• You easily give up things that are not in harmony with your purpose.
• Your wants change.
• You gain emotional control.
• You move from a competitive to a creative mindset.

How Do You Know if Your DESIRE Has Shifted to a BURNING DESIRE?

• You have an unquenchable thirst for true knowledge.
• You become aware of your oneness with Source, God, or Infinite Intelligence.
  
  (c) StickMan Productions
  

During our conversation last night, one person seemed a bit stuck in determining the burning desire. He wanted so desperately to hang onto his belief and the entire group rallied around him to help him see what he couldn't see for himself. It reminded me how accurate the whole "you can't see the forest for the trees" analogy is. What I learned from that experience was how I've been there - bent on my opinion and unwilling or unable to allow a new perspective. I immediately shifted from trying to help him see what he couldn't see to an attitude of gratitude for my awareness and the new mantra came to mind, too - ("I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.")

Last night that was the order the phrases came to mind, too. I am sorry for having judged and for not "getting it" for myself sooner. Please forgive me for those thoughts and for judging. Thank you for my awareness, and finally I love you - and I love me.

I think I'm beginning to see everything through the eyes of "desire" as defined above. Life is good!

Day 206

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(186) Salvation of the world depends on me.

I am entrusted with the gifts of God, because I am His Son.
And I would give His gifts where He intended them to be.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Last night as I was getting gas on the road to my training this morning, I overheard the guy in the car at the pump ahead of me shouting to another person in the car. It was quite disconcerting to me because I just don't really see things like that happening around me too often. He was outside the car with the dipstick in his hand and she was in the car. He was yelling to her something about how he couldn't see what he was looking for or something like that.

It got me thinking about public displays of frustration. As I walked by their car to go inside to pay for my gas, I glanced at her in the car. She looked a bit sad (or was I making that up?). My first thought was, "How could anyone yell at another person - another human being - like that?" In my current state of awareness, it doesn't even come to my mind to yell at someone, but flashes of a younger me came to my mind and I was reminded of times in my life where I said some things I regretted.

In that moment I dusted off my new mantra from Joe Vitale's new book Zero Limits: "I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you." And it occurred to me that I can change the world.

So today's message is especially significant: "Salvation of the world depends on me."

Coincidence? I think not. Miracle? You betcha!

Day 205

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(185) I want the peace of God.

The peace of God is everything I want. The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life, while I abide where I am not at home.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

If I could just embrace today's review, how different the world would look! I almost wrote "If everyone could just embrace today's review, how different the world would look" and then it occurred to me that I must be the change I wish to see in the world. There is no world "out there" - it is only "in here."

Great reminder for me.

I had the pleasure of spending yesterday with a fine group of people in a planning session for our one our affiliate consulting companies. We were brainstorming the future trends in training and development on the decks and patios at one of the associates' homes. It was a wonderful and brain-stimulating day. The founder of the company, now retired, had some amazing words of wisdom to share at the end of the day. I'll do my best to paraphrase here.

He said he wasn't sure why he decided to come to the retreat because he didn't think he'd have anything to add, but he wanted to tell us about his journey the past 3 months. His wife died of cancer about 3 months ago, and since then he had been diagnosed himself with bladder cancer. They went in and removed the tumor, which was a success. But in the process, his doctors encouraged him to "get his affairs in order." He said his wife had done a great job of getting all the papers in one big bundle before she died (he hadn't gotten to them yet), but he felt relatively certain that he had done that. So once the operation was over, he sold both his cars and bought a brand new Porche (it is a fine-looking machine!). His son asked him if he was crazy, but he told his son that was how he wanted to "get his affairs in order." He knows firsthand of the brevity of life, and he wants to live his life.

He finally got around to going through the papers his wife had left him and on the top of the stack was a note from her telling him that, without his knowing, she had taken out a $100,000 life insurance policy, and now he would be able to buy the Porche he always wanted. He told us there are no coincidences - and the moral of the story is to do the unexpected. He told us that now we had done all this planning and had a good idea of the next step. His advice was to do the unexpected. Do what no one else thinks practical or even possible. That just might be the "right" thing to do.

Miracle? I think so.

Day 204

Today's Review:

I am not a body, I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(184) The Name of God is my inheritance.

God's Name reminds me that I am His Son, not slave to time, unbound by laws which rule the world of sick illusions, free in God, forever and forever one with Him.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

As I continue reading my current book, Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within, I am reminded how useless it is to worry about anything. It occurred to me for the first time while reading last night how very true the statement from the Bible is about the birds and the flowers not worrying about how they will be fed or cared for, yet they always have enough food and have beautiful "clothing." If God cares for the birds and the flowers, wouldn't he care for us as human beings?

I've heard that story many times before, but last night it just really hit me that of course God would care for me. Why should I worry about having enough to eat or having clothes to wear or a home to live in? We spend so much time worrying about things which we don't need to worry about. How much better spent would be the brain power we spend worrying!

Trust and faith are amazing concepts that would serve us so much better than worry. God is good and life is good and my being wants greater good and more fulfillment. God will see to it that I am taken care of so that I might best serve the world by being exactly who I am. What a miracle!

Day 203

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(183) I call upon God's Name and on my own.

The Name of God is my deliverance from every thought of evil and of sin, because it is my own as well as Him.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I experienced a couple of examples of the Law of Attraction at work yesterday. It becomes more and more evident the more I look for it. I don't see things as coincidences anymore. Yesterday I got a call from a friend of a friend in Chicago who is working with the Bob Proctor Life Success programs I'm also now trained and certified to present. She and I had a great talk about all the possibilities we could think of for sharing this information with potential clients and partners. After about 45 minutes, she had committed to coming to our August 9 workshop on The Winner's Image here in Fargo-Moorhead and we had talked about us coming back to Chicago to have an open house of sorts there in November.

It's similar to another conversation my friend (and business associate) and I had on Friday to set up some other meetings and potential presentations. It's so easy when we believe! This is wonderful information and will literally change people's minds which will change their results. What's not to believe in?

I've had other conversations with people I never thought would be open to what I'm learning, but when I stop making them wrong (in my head) and just be open and authentic, they are attracted to that energy instead of repelled, which makes perfect sense.

That whole concept is similar to what I'm learning through this course and other studies I'm doing. When I be what I'm learning, and start living the way I'm learning, I invite others to be the same and the world starts to shift.

I'm reading a book right now that is really helping me with my recent challenge with Christianity and spirituality. I've been questioning whether or not I'm truly a Christian if I can't accept that the only way to God is through Jesus. This book is called Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within by Eric Butterworth. It talks about the need for unity in our spiritual lives which will lead to unity within our entire world. It rethinks certain Bible verses in light of who Jesus was, and encourages each of us to find God within ourselves instead of looking outside. In one section in the introduction, Butterworth addresses 10 of the most frequently asked questions about Jesus. The answers are very interesting.

The questions are: 1) What was Jesus' last name? (hint: it wasn't Christ.) 2) What about Jesus Christ? 3) By what name did Jesus' friends and family call him? 4) Was Jesus born on December 25 in the year beginning the Christian era? 5) Since Jesus is called "the son of David," is Mary listed in the genealogy? 6) Was Jesus a Christian? 7) Did Jesus intend to start a new religion named for Himself? 8) Is God a Christian? 9) Did Jesus claim perfection for Himself? 10) What does IHS mean?

I found the answer Butterworth gives to question 8 especially interesting: "Think about it. There was no Christianity when Jesus walked the earth. What he taught was a Universal Truth. His followers later made it into what we think of as the Christian religion. Most of this happened over centuries engineered by those more concerned with perpetuating a monument than disseminating a message.

"I have often speculated on what Jesus would have done if he had been seated around a table with a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Moslem, and a Shintoist - discussing ultimate Truth. I just can't believe that Jesus would have said, 'You must all forsake your beliefs and come and follow me.' I think he might have pointed out that the differences were chiefly a matter of semantics, and that there is an underlying principle similar to the Christ idea in every religion. I think he would have stressed the basic unity within the diversity of religions, pointing out that the greatest need of all persons is to find that indwelling unity with God, which is found in the principle of divine Sonship, that we call the Christ."

Shifting my understanding from Jesus-centeredness to Christ-centeredness by allowing Jesus to be an example of what all of us are capable of achieving allows me to be the best me I can be without shame or guilt, and strive for love in place of fear.

That is surely a miracle!

Day 202

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(182) I will be still an instant and go home.

Why would I choose to stay an instant more where I do not belong, when God Himself has given me His Voice to call me home?

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It occurred to me yesterday that people who I am around and want to be around are people who are called to action, not people who are in the state of complaining and staying stagnant. A friend called to ask more about a workshop that I will be presenting in the next few weeks with two colleagues, and our conversation turned to some areas of her life that she really wants some change. She was open to hearing some ideas and she seemed to be moved to take some new action. As we were finishing our conversation, she told me that she is always inspired when she talks to me. And I really get that. That is one of my gifts. I inspire others to greater things for themselves. And when people aren't called to action for greater things in their lives, they aren't attracted to me in conversation.

I offered to meet with another friend of mine who is having trouble in his marriage. I'm not anticipating him taking me up on that offer, because I really sense that he's not called to action for greater things. There is no judgment in that statement, it's simply an observation. But I'm still committed to sending light and love his way as he struggles in his understanding.

I remember maybe 10 years ago being in a similar position in my own life. I wasn't happy where I was, but I didn't know why. I kept getting so many thoughts and ideas about what I knew I knew, and I was so distraught with all this information. I remember vacuuming my apartment with tears running down my cheeks and just wishing that I didn't know this - I wished that I could be less intelligent, less awake (to use a term I now understand, but didn't then) because ignorance is bliss and I just wanted to be blissful. I didn't know what to do at the time, but I knew it wasn't what I was doing. Thankfully I got through that, but I wouldn't want to go back there. I just don't know that I was compelled to further action, because I didn't know what the options were.

That's why I want to support everyone who comes into my awareness, whether that's in person or psychically.

That's why these daily lessons are so important to me - they help me remember what I do want, and give me ways to get there.

I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.

BLESSED AND GRATEFUL!!

Day 201

REVIEW VI

Introduction

For this review we take but one idea each day, and practice it as often as is possible. Besides the time we give morning and evening, which should not be less than fifteen minutes, and the hourly remembrances we make throughout the day, use the idea as often as we can between them. Each of these ideas alone would be sufficient for salvation, if it were learned truly. Each would be enough to give release to us and to the world from every form of bondage, and invite the memory of God to come again.

With this in mind we start our practicing, in which we carefully review the thoughts the Holy Spirit has bestowed on us in our last twenty lessons. Each contains the whole curriculum if understood, practiced, accepted, and applied to all the seeming happening throughout the day. One is enough. But from that one, there must be no exceptions made. And so we need to use them all and let them blend as one, as each contributes to the whole we learn.

These practice sessions, like our last review, are centered round a central theme with which we start and end each lesson. It is this:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

The day begins and ends with this. And we repeat it every time the hour strikes, or we remember, in between, we have a function that transcends the world we see. Beyond this, and a repetition of the special thought we practice for the day, no form of exercise is urged, except a deep relinquishment of everything that clutters up the mind, and makes it deaf to reason, sanity and simple truth.

We will attempt to get beyond all words and special forms of practicing for this review. For we attempt, this time, to reach a quickened pace along a shorter path to the serenity and peace of God. We merely close our eyes, and then forget all that we thought we knew and understood. For thus is freedom given us from all we did not know and failed to understand.

There is but one exception to this lack of structuring. Permit no idle thought to go unchallenged. If we notice one, we are to deny its hold and hasten to assure our minds that this is not what it would have. Then gently let the thoughts which we denied be given up, in sure and quick exchange for the idea we practice for the day.

When we are tempted, hasten to proclaim our freedom from temptation, as we say:

This thought I do not want. I choose instead __________.

And then repeat the idea for the day, and let it take the place of what we thought. Beyond such special applications of each day's idea, we will add but a few formal expressions or specific thoughts to aid in practicing. Instead, we give these times of quiet to the Teacher Who instructs in quiet, speaks of peace, and gives our thoughts whatever meaning they may have.

To Him is offered this review for us. We are placed in His charge, and He will teach us what to do and say and think, each time we turn to Him. He will not fail to be available to us, each time we call to Him to help us. Let us offer Him the whole review we now begin, and let us also not forget to Whom it has been given, as we practice day by day, advancing toward the goal He set for us; allowing Him to teach us how to go, and trusting Him completely for the way each practice period can best become a loving gift of freedom to the world.

Today's Review:

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

(181) I trust my brothers, who are one with me.

No one but is my brother. I am blessed with oneness with the universe and God, my Father, one Creator of the whole that is my Self, forever One with me.

I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday as I was driving to an appointment, I happened to glance over at the man driving the really big pickup on my right. There was nothing special about this man or his truck or anything about him. In fact, he didn't even look at me as I glanced at him. But all of a sudden I felt a huge wave of love for him. It almost made me teary. And in that moment, I really got what could happen in the universe if we all practiced love instead of fear. It was an amazing feeling.

I also was reminded yesterday of the bigger talk that is going on around me. I have several very close friends who also are on a path of love instead of fear (the people in my Course study, but also other friends) and one of them called me last night to help her walk through something that had happened at her work that day. She wanted to know what she had done to attract this situation and just wanted some support in thinking it through for herself. I was reminded how very significant that request was because that might have seemed to some people like a chance to complain about how someone else had said some regrettable words and to get some sympathy for the way she was treated. That is not what my friend was looking for. She wanted help in cleaning her own slate which had somehow attracted that attack into her space. What a different conversation it was between us - and how much bigger and more loving will the conversation be between the two of them if my friend chooses to seek closure in love!

I'm so very blessed and grateful for all the wonderful people in my circle of friends, in my city, in my state, my region, my country, and my world. I learn so much every day, and am continually reminded how beautiful and perfect everything is. It is true that we find whatever it is we are seeking; as I seek for truth and beauty and love, there it is - right in front of my face. What a miracle!

Day 200

Today's Lesson:

There is no peace except the peace of God.

Seek we no further. We will not find peace except the peace of God. Accept this fact, and save ourselves the agony of yet more bitter disappointments, bleak despair, and sense of icy hopelessness and doubt. Seek we no further. There is nothing else for us to find except the peace of God, unless we seek for misery and pain.

This is the final point to which each one must come at last, to lay aside all hope of finding happiness where there is none; of being saved by what can only hurt; of making peace of chaos, joy of pain, and Heaven out of hell. Attempt no more to win through losing, nor to die to live. We cannot but be asking for defeat.

Yet we can ask as easily for love, for happiness, and for eternal life in peace that has no ending. Ask for this, and we can only win. To ask for what we have already must succeed. To ask that what is false be true can only fail. Forgive ourselves for vain imaginings, and seek no longer what we cannot find. For what could be more foolish than to seek and seek and seek again for hell, when we have but to look with open eyes to find that Heaven lies before us, through a door that opens easily to welcome us?

Come home. We have not found our happiness in foreign places and in alien forms that have no meaning to us, though we sought to make them meaningful. This world is not where we belong. We are a stranger here. But it is given us to find the means whereby the world no longer seems to be a prison house or jail for anyone.

Freedom is given us where we beheld but chains and iron doors. But we must change our minds about the purpose of the world, if we would find escape. We will be bound till all the world is seen by us as blessed, and everyone made free of our mistakes and honored as he is. We made him not; no more ourselves. And as we free the one, the other is accepted as he is.

What does forgiveness do? In truth it has no function, and does nothing. For it is unknown in Heaven. In it only hell where it is needed, and where it must serve a mighty function. Is not the escape of God's beloved Son from evil dreams that he imagines, yet believes are true, a worthy purpose? Who could hope for more, while there appears to be a choice to make between success and failure; love and fear?

There is no peace except the peace of God, because He has one Son who cannot make a world in opposition to God's Will and to his own, which is the same as His. What could he hope to find in such a world? It cannot have reality, because it never was created. Is it here that he would seek for peace? Or must he see that, as he looks on it, the world can but deceive? Yet can he learn to look on it another way, and find the peace of God.

Peace is the bridge that everyone will cross, to leave this world behind. But peace begins within the wold perceived as different, and leading from this fresh perception to the gate of Heaven and the way beyond. Peace is the answer to conflicting goals, to senseless journeys, frantic, vain pursuits, and meaningless endeavors. Now the way is easy, sloping gently toward the bridge where freedom lies within the peace of God.

Let us not lose our way again today. We go to Heaven, and the path is straight. Only if we attempt to wander can there be delay, and needless wasted time on thorny byways. God alone is sure, and He will guide our footsteps. He will not desert His Son in need, nor let him stray forever from his home. The Father calls; the Son will hear. And that is all there is to what appears to be a world apart from God, where bodies have reality.

Now is there silence. Seek no further. We have come to where the road is carpeted with leaves of false desires, fallen from the trees of hopelessness we sought before. Now are they underfoot. And we look up and on toward Heaven, with the body's eyes but serving for an instant longer now. Peace is already recognized at last, and we can feel its soft embrace surround our hearts and minds with comfort and with love.

Today we seek no idols and only this will we accept and want. Peace be to us today. For we have found a simple, happy way to leave the world of ambiguity, and to replace our shifting goals and solitary dreams with single purpose and companionship. For peace is union, if it be of God. We seek no further. We are close to home, and draw still nearer every time we say:

There is no peace except the peace of God,
And I am glad and thankful it is so.

Miracles I'm noticing:

What I have noticed recently is how when I'm confident and sure of a goal, people hear me differently. I've been telling people about the workshop I'm going to be conducting with two other colleagues August 9 (The Winner's Image) and I haven't even really had to say much about it - people are sensing my enthusiasm even through the email I sent about it. I've talked to a couple of people who have gotten the email and they are very interested in attending, even without me having to "sell" them by talking to them. I think it's my confidence that shows through.

Our second master mind group meeting was last night, and we talked about decisiveness of purpose and its importance in achieving goals. As I read today's text, I am reminded of the simplicity of that statement. Today's text says:

"Accept with gladness what you do not understand, and let it be explained to you as you perceive its purpose work in it to make it holy. You will find many opportunities to blame your brother for the 'failure' of your relationship, for it will seem at times to have no purpose. A sense of aimlessness will come to haunt you, and to remind you of all the ways you once sought for satisfaction and thought you found it. Forget not now the misery you really found, and do not breathe life into your failing ego. For your relationship has not been disrupted. It has been saved."

We simply need to trust and keep our eyes on the goals we set, and especially in the greater good the goals will support. The text also goes on to remind us that if we don't make a commitment to our goals over time, it will be easy to go back to the old way of being.

"The experience of an instant, however compelling it may be, is easily forgotten if you allow time to close over it. It must be kept shining and gracious in your awareness of time, but not concealed within it. The instant remains."

Later in the text it assures us: "The goal is fixed, firm and unalterable, and the means will surely fall in place because the goal is sure."

So let us all fix in our minds the goals we want to achieve, as they relate to the greater good. By that I mean that if our goal is to make a lot of money, but it is merely for money's sake, that is an ego goal, not a Spirit goal. When we can keep in mind the Spirit goal, and be very, very confident in the outcome, but not necessarily the details or the "how," the Universe - God - will handle those.

I'm seeing it happen in my career and my personal relationships.

What is your personal mission? What is your higher goal? Mine, as you may have guessed by reading this blog, is to see love in every situation instead of fear. As I keep that goal in mind, the Universe - God - answers every time. It's a law - and it works!

Day 199

Today's Lesson:

I am not a body. I am free.

Freedom must be impossible as long as we perceive a body as ourselves. The body is a limit. Who would seek for freedom in a body looks for it where it can not be found. The mind can be made free when it no longer sees itself as in a body, firmly tied to it and sheltered by its presence. If this were the truth, the mind were vulnerable indeed!

The mind that serves the Holy Spirit is unlimited forever, in all ways, beyond the laws of time and space, unbound by any preconceptions, and with strength and power to do whatever it is asked. Attack thoughts cannot enter such a mind, because it has been given to the Source of love, and fear can never enter in a mind that has attached itself to love. It rests in God. And who can be afraid who lives in Innocence, and only loves?

It is essential for our progress in this course that we accept today's idea, and hold it very dear. Be not concerned that to the ego it is quite insane. The ego holds the body dear because it dwells in it, and lives united with the home that it has made. It is a part of the illusion that has sheltered it from being found illusory itself.

Here does it hide, and here it can be seen as what it is. Declare our innocence and we are free. The body disappears, because we have no need of it except the need the Holy Spirit sees. For this, the body will appear as useful form for what the mind must do. It thus becomes a vehicle which helps forgiveness be extended to the all-inclusive goal that it must reach, according to God's plan.

Cherish today's idea, and practice it today and every day. Make it a part of every practice period we take. There is no thought that will not gain thereby in power to help the world, and none which will not gain in added gifts to us as well. We sound the call of freedom round the world with this idea. And would we be exempt from the acceptance of the gifts we give?

The Holy Spirit is the home of minds that seek for freedom. In Him they have found what they have sought. The body's purpose now is unambiguous. And it becomes perfect in the ability to serve an undivided goal. In conflict-free and unequivocal response to mind with but the thought of freedom as its goal, the body serves, and serves its purpose well. Without the power to enslave, it is a worthy servant of the freedom which the mind within the Holy Spirit seeks.

Be free today. And carry freedom as our gift to those who still believe they are enslaved within a body. Be we free, so that the Holy Spirit can make use of our escape from bondage, to set free the many who perceive themselves as bound and helpless and afraid. Let love replace their fears through us. Accept salvation now, and give our minds to Him Who calls to us to make this gift to Him. For He would give us perfect freedom, perfect joy, and hope that finds its full accomplishment in God.

We are God's Son. In immortality we live forever. Would we not return our minds to this? Then practice well the thought the Holy Spirit gives us for today. Our brothers stand released with us in it; the world is blessed along with us, God's Son will weep no more, and Heaven offers thanks for the increase of joy our practice brings even to it. And God Himself extends His Love and happiness each time we say:

I am not a body. I am free. I hear the Voice that God has given me, and it is only this my mind obeys.

Miracles I'm noticing:

We had our Course gathering again last night and it was so good to get together with some people I haven't seen in a while. Summer is always a busy time to get together, and it was great to catch up and study together. I'm always reminded that wherever two or more are gathered, there is God, and it's always so wonderful to experience that with these wonderful friends.

As I watch my career unfold before my eyes, I am witness to the power of this Course in my life. Each time I notice something I wouldn't have noticed even six months ago, I'm given a gift of awareness to the power of my Sight. As I realize that love trumps fear and Spirit trumps ego, I am given a gift.

I really am free, the Universe is abundant, and love is all around, even in the midst of what might be called sorrow or tragedy.

As I read the text for today, certain words jump out, given the Bob Proctor material I'm immersed in right now. Today's text says "the holy instant is a practical device, witnessed to by its results." We're learning here as well as from the Proctor material, that to see how our lives are working, we need only look at the results. The holy instant here is that moment in which we can choose a different path. We can alter everything in our experience instantly by making a new choice.

Where are you seeing the results of the choices you've made in your life? Where might you like to see a new result? It's as simply as changing your mind about your current results. If you believe there must be a better way, you will see instantly what that better way might be, as long as you're looking inside instead of outside yourself. That's surely a miracle!

Day 198

Today's Lesson:

Only my condemnation injures me.

Injury is impossible. And yet illusion makes illusion. If we can condemn, we can be injured. For we have believed that we can injure, and the right we have established for ourselves can be now used against us, till we lay it down as valueless, unwanted and unreal. Then does illusion cease to have effects, and those it seemed to have will be undone. Then are we free, for freedom is our git, and we can now receive the gift we gave.

Condemn and we are made a prisoner. Forgive and we are freed. Such is the law that rules perception. It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge. To condemn is thus impossible in truth. What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all. Yet must we deal with them a while as if they had. Illusion makes illusion. Except one. Forgiveness is illusion that is answer to the rest.

Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, and though it is itself a dream, it breeds no others. All illusions save this one must multiply a thousandfold. But this is where illusions end. Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of waking. It is not itself the truth. Yet does it point to where the truth must be, and gives direction with the certainty of God Himself. It is a dream in which the Son of God awakens to his Self and to his Father, knowing They are one.

Forgiveness is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and finally away from death. How could there be another way, when this one is the plan of God Himself? And why would we oppose it, quarrel with it, seek to find a thousand ways in which it must be wrong; a thousand other possibilities?

Is it not wiser to be glad we hold the answer to our problems in our hand? Is it not more intelligent to thank the One Who gives salvation, and accept His gift with gratitude? And is it not a kindness to ourselves to hear His Voice and learn the simple lessons He would teach, instead of trying to dismiss His words, and substitute our own in place of His?

His words will work. his words will save. His words contain all hope, all blessing and all joy that ever can be found upon this earth. His words are born in God, and come to us with Heaven's love upon them. Those who hear His words have heard the song of Heaven. For these are the words in which all merge as one at last. And as this one will fade away, the Word of God will come to take its place, for it will be remembered then and loved.

This world has many seeming separate haunts where mercy has no meaning, and attack appears as justified. Yet all are one; a place where death is offered to God's Son and to his Father. We may think They have accepted. But if we will look again upon the place where we beheld Their blood, we will perceive a miracle instead. How foolish to believe that They could die! How foolish to believe we can attack! How mad to think that we could be condemned, and that the holy Son of God can die!

The stillness of our Self remains unmoved, untouched by thoughts like these, and unaware of any condemnation which could need forgiveness. Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth. And what but truth could have a Thought which builds a bridge to it that brings illusions to the other side?

Today we practice letting freedom come to make its home with us. The truth bestows these words upon our minds, that we may find the key to light and let the darkness end:

Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.

Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought. Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal.

Accept the one illusion which proclaims there is no condemnation in God's Son, and Heaven is remembered instantly; the world forgotten, all its weird beliefs forgotten with it, as the face of Christ appears unveiled at last in this one dream. This is the gift the Holy Spirit holds for us from God our Father. Let today be celebrated both on earth and in our holy home as well. Be kind to Both, as we forgive the trespasses we thought Them guilty of, and see our innocence shining upon us from the face of Christ.

Now is there silence all around the world. Now is there stillness where before here was a frantic rush of thoughts that made no sense. Now is there tranquil light across the face of earth, made quiet in a dreamless sleep. And now the Word of God alone remains upon it. Only that can be perceived an instant longer. Then are symbols done, and everything we ever thought we made completely vanished from the mind that God forever knows to be His only Son.

There is no condemnation in him. He is perfect in his holiness. He needs no thoughts of mercy. Who could give him gifts when everything is his? And who could dream of offering forgiveness to the Son of Sinlessness Itself, so like to Him Whose Son he is, that to behold the Son is to perceive no more, and only know the Father? In this vision of the Son, so brief that not an instant stands between this single sight and timelessness itself, we see the vision of ourselves, and then we disappear forever into God.

Today we come still nearer to the end of everything that yet would stand between this vision and our sight. And we are glad that we have come this far, and recognize that He Who brought us here will not forsake us now. For He would give to us the gift that God has given us through Him today. Now is the time for our deliverance. The time has come. The time has come today.

Miracles I'm noticing:

As I read today's lesson, I can't help but think about a murder that happened here in Fargo over the weekend. This is big news in Fargo, because murders are very rare. I had heard about this 16-year-old girl who died in her home (it was in the paper on Sunday). Often when teens die in their homes, it is suicide. I got an email on Monday morning (it was sent to a large group of people) from a very good friend of mine who said that the story in the paper was that of his niece. He said the matter was still under investigation and they didn't have the details yet. This morning I heard on the radio that there was a 15-year-old boy in custody for the murder.

So I'm thinking about today's lesson. "Only my condemnation injures me." Since there is only me and I am 100% responsible for everything that comes into my space, I'm wondering how I can clean this. My rational mind wants to figure out why this happened and what the higher purpose might be in this situation. We've all heard the Billy Joel song "Only the Good Die Young," so I'm thinking that this girl had already served her purpose on this earth and was on to bigger and better things. But then I think about the 15-year-old boy and I wonder how this happened to be his lot in this life. If we are always evolving, and if only the good die young, what is his story?

And then I'm reminded of today's lesson again, and I read "condemn and I am made a prisoner. Forgive and I am freed. Such is the law that rules perception. It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge." And I know I need to stop trying to understand and just accept. I need to do my own cleaning by repeating the mantra I learned from Joe Vitale's book Zero Limits: "I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you."

Today's lesson continues: "Forgiveness is the only road that leads out of disaster, past all suffering, and finally away from death. How could there be another way, when this one is the plan of God Himself? And why would I oppose it, quarrel with it, seek to find a thousand ways in which it must be wrong; a thousand other possibilities?"

Only my forgiveness sets me free. That is truly a miracle in the midst of a seeming tragedy. "I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you."

Day 197

Today's Lesson:

It can be but my gratitude I earn.

Here is the second step we take to free our minds from the belief in outside force pitted against our own. We make attempts at kindness and forgiveness. Yet we turn them to attack again, unless we find external gratitude and lavish thanks. Our gifts must be received with honor, lest they be withdrawn. And so we think God's gifts are loans at best; at worst, deceptions which would cheat us of defenses, to ensure that when He strikes He will not fail to kill.

How easily are God and guilt confused by those who know not what their thoughts can do. Deny our strength, and weakness must become salvation to us. See ourselves as bound, and bars become our home. Nor will we leave the prison house, or claim our strength, until guilt and salvation are not seen as one, and freedom and salvation are perceived as joined, with strength beside them, to be sought and claimed, and found and fully recognized.

The world must thank us when we offer it release from our illusions. Yet our thanks belong to us as well, for its release can only mirror ours. Our gratitude is all our gifts require, that they be a lasting offering of a thankful heart, released from hell forever. Is it this we would undo by taking back our gifts, because they were not honored? It is we who honor them and give them fitting thanks, for it is we who have received the gifts.

It does not matter if another thinks our gifts unworthy. In his mind there is a part that joins with ours in thanking us. It does not matter if our gifts seem lost and ineffectual. They are received where they are given. In our gratitude are they accepted universally, and thankfully acknowledged by the Heart of God Himself. And would w take them back, when He has gratefully accepted them?

God blesses every gift we give to Him, and every gift is given Him, because it can be given only to ourselves. And what belongs to God must be His Own. yet we will never realize His gifts are sure, eternal, changeless, limitless, forever giving out, extending love and adding to our never-ending joy while we forgive but to attack again.

Withdraw the gifts we give, and we will think that what is given us has been withdrawn. But learn to let forgiveness take away the sins we think we see outside ourselves, and we can never think the gifts of God are lent fut for a little while, before He snatches them away again in death. For death will have no meaning for us then.

And with the end of this belief is fear forever over. Thank our Self for this, for He is grateful only unto God, and He gives thanks for us unto Himself. To everyone who lives will Christ yet come, for everyone must live and move in Him. His Being in His Father is secure, because Their Will is One. Their gratitude to all They have created has no end, for gratitude remains a part of love.

Thanks be to us, the holy Sons of God. For as we were created, we contain all things within our Self. And we are still as God created us. Nor can we dim the light of our perfection. In our hearts the Heart of God is laid. He holds us dear, because we are Himself. All gratitude belongs to us, because of what we are.

Give thanks as we receive it. Be we free of all ingratitude to anyone who makes our Self complete. And from this Self is no one left outside Give thanks for all the countless channels which extend this Self. All that we do is given unto Him. All that we think can only be His Thoughts, sharing with Him the holy Thoughts of God. Earn now the gratitude we have denied ourselves when we forgot the function God has given us. But never think that He has ever ceased to offer thanks to us.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson is getting out much later than usual because I've had an opportunity (a couple of them, in fact) to meet with some colleagues and friends to develop some new learning for our community. Today's lesson is especially amazing to me because it reminds me that there is gratitude in every situation. As we deny ourselves the gratitude He gives to us by forgetting our function, we are doing a disservice to everyone who would benefit from us living our capacity - including ourselves.

Insight with action makes all the difference - and this insight - this reminder to stay in an attitude of gratitude - will allow me the biggest opportunity to make the biggest difference in the world. And that is truly a miracle for me!

Day 196

Today's Lesson:

It can be but myself I crucify.

When this is firmly understood and kept in full awareness, we will not attempt to harm ourselves, nor make our bodies slave to vengeance. We will not attack ourselves, and we will realize that to attack another is but to attack ourselves. We will be free of the insane belief that to attack a brother saves ourselves. And we will understand his safety is our own, and in his healing we are healed.

Perhaps at first we will not understand how mercy, limitless and with all things held in its sure protection, can be found in the idea we practice for today. It may, in fact, appear to be a sign that punishment can never be escaped because the ego, under what it sees as threat, is quick to cite the truth to save its lies. Yet must it fail to understand the truth it uses thus. But we can learn to see these foolish applications, and deny the meaning they appear to have.

Thus do we also teach our minds that we are not an ego. For the ways in which the ego would distort the truth will not deceive us longer. We will not believe we are a body to be crucified. And we will see within today's idea the light of resurrection, looking past all thoughts of crucifixion and of death, to thoughts of liberation and of life.

Today's idea is one step we take in leading us from bondage to the sate of perfect freedom. Let us take this step today, that we may quickly go the way salvation shows us, taking every step in its appointed sequence, as the mind relinquishes it burdens one by one. It is not time we need for this. It is but willingness. For what would seem to need a thousand years can easily be done in just one instant by the grace of God.

The dreary, hopeless thought that we can make attacks on others and escape ourselves has nailed us to the cross. Perhaps it seemed to be salvation. Yet it merely stood for the belief the fear of God is real. And what is that but hell? Who could believe his Father is his deadly enemy, separate from him, and waiting to destroy his life and blot him from the universe, without the fear of hell upon his heart?

Such is the form of madness we believe, if we accept the fearful thought we can attack another and be free ourselves. Until this form is changed, there is no hope. Until we see that this, at least, must be entirely impossible, how could there be escape? The fear of God is real to anyone who thinks this thought is true. And he will not perceive its foolishness, or even see that it is there, so that it would be possible to question it.

To question it at all, its form must first be changed at least as much as will permit fear of retaliation to abate, and the responsibility returned to some extent to us. From there we can at least consider if we want to go along this painful path. Until this shift has been accomplished, we can not perceive that it is but our thoughts that bring us fear, and our deliverance depends on us.

Our next steps will be easy, if we take this one today. From there we go ahead quite rapidly. For once we understand it is impossible that we be hurt except by our own thoughts, the fear of God must disappear. We cannot then believe that fear is caused without. And God, Whom we had thought to banish, can be welcomed back within the holy mind He never left.

Salvation's song can certainly be heard in the idea we practice for today. If it can but be us we crucify, we did not hurt the world, and need not fear its vengeance and pursuit. Nor need we hide in terror from the deadly fear of God projection hides behind. The thing we dread the most is our salvation. We are strong, and it is strength we want. And we are free, and glad of freedom. We have sought to be both weak and bound, because we feared our strength and freedom. Yet salvation lies in them.

There is an instant in which terror seems to grip our minds so wholly that escape appears quite hopeless. When we realize, once and for all, that it is us we fear, the mind perceives itself as split. And this had been concealed while we believed attack could be directed outward, and returned from outside to within. It seemed to be an enemy outside we had to fear. And thus a god outside ourselves became our mortal enemy; the source of fear.

Now, for an instant, is a murdered perceived within us, eager for our death, intent on plotting punishment for us until the time when it can kill at last. Yet in this instant is the time as well in which salvation comes. For fear of God has disappeared. And we can call on Him to save us from illusions by His Love, calling Him Father and ourselves His Sons. Pray that the instant may be soon, - today. Step back from fear, and make advance to love.

There is no Thought of God that does not go with us to help us reach that instant, and to go beyond it quickly, surely and forever. When the fear of God is gone, there are no obstacles that still remain between us and the holy peace of God. How kind and merciful is the idea we practice! Give it welcome, as we should, for it is our release. It is indeed but us our minds can try to crucify. Yet our redemption, too, will come from us.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I got an email from a friend yesterday telling me that she was upset and hurt that I hadn't returned her previous emails and phone calls. She was wondering what she had done to upset me. This came as a real surprise to me, because I had not realized that I owed her return calls/emails. She had requested something of me in the email and I did what she requested, but I guess I didn't respond. There is absolutely nothing wrong in my mind. But I know that nothing comes into my space unless I attract it there, so this got me thinking about how many times I might take people and situations for granted. As I become aware of new information, I can forgive myself for what I didn't know, but make new choices with the new information.

One thing I've been wondering recently is when/if others attract me into their spaces for their own learning as well. I have to believe that there are others in this game with me; however, according to Zero Limits, I am 100% responsible for everything that comes into my space. So, in the above example, my responsibility would be to say "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." That cleaning is all that's necessary. I'm sure there's more to it - how do we interact with others in that space? - but that's my part in this for now.

When I see that I am involved and included in any of my fearful or attack thoughts, it should become easier to alter my thinking from fear to love. God is not fear - God is Love. In the same instant fear comes into my mind, love and salvation can also come in. God will always be there to save us from illusions. We need only believe that this instant can come right now. And it can. That's the miracle!

Day 195

Today's Lesson:

Love is the way I walk in gratitude.

Gratitude is a lesson hard to learn for those who look upon the world amiss. The most that they can do is see themselves as better off than others. And they try to be content because another seems to suffer more than they. How pitiful and deprecating are such thoughts! For who has cause for thanks while others have less cause? And who could suffer less because he sees another suffer more? Your gratitude is due to Him alone Who made all cause of sorrow disappear throughout the world.

It is insane to offer thanks because of suffering. But it equally insane to fail in gratitude to One Who offers us the certain means whereby all pain is healed, and suffering replaced with laughter and with happiness. Nor could the even partly sane refuse to take the steps which He directs, and follow in the way He sets before them, to escape a prison that they thought contained no door to the deliverance they now perceive.

Our brother is our "enemy" because we see in him the rival for our peace; a plunderer who takes his joy from us, and leaves us nothing but a black despair so bitter and relentless that there is no hope remaining. Now is vengeance all there is to wish for. Now can we but try to bring him down to lie in death with us, as useless as ourselves; as little left within his grasping fingers as in ours.

We do not offer God our gratitude because our brother is more slave than us, nor could we sanely be enraged if he seems freer. Love makes no comparisons. And gratitude can only be sincere if it be joined to love. We offer thanks to God our Father that in us all things will find their freedom. It will never be that some are loosed while others still are bound. For who can bargain in the name of love?

Therefore give thanks, but in sincerity. And let our gratitude make room for all who will escape with us; the sick, the weak, the needy and afraid, and those who mourn a seeming loss of feel apparent pain, who suffer cold or hunger, or who walk the way of hatred and the path of death. All these go with you. Let us not compare ourselves with them, for thus we split them off from our awareness of the unity we share with them, as they must share with us.

We thank our Father for one thing alone; that we are separate from no living thing, and therefore one with Him. And we rejoice that no exceptions ever can be made which would reduce our wholeness, nor impair or change our function to complete the One Who is Himself completion. We give thanks for every living thing, for otherwise we offer thanks for nothing, and we fail to recognize the gifts of God to us.

Then let our brothers lean their tired heads against our shoulders as they rest a while. We offer thanks for them. For if we can direct them to the peace that we would find, the way is opening at last to us. An ancient door is swinging free again; a long forgotten Word re-echoes in our memory, and gathers clarity as we are willing once again to hear.

Walk, then, in gratitude the way of love. For hatred is forgotten when we lay comparisons aside. What more remains as obstacles to peace? The fear of God is now undone at last, and we forgive without comparing. Thus we cannot choose to overlook some things, and yet retain some other things still locked away as "sins." When our forgiveness is complete we will have total gratitude, for we will see that everything has earned the right to love by being loving, even as our Self.

Today we learn to think of gratitude in place of anger, malice and revenge. We have been given everything. If we refuse to recognize it, we are not entitled therefore to our bitterness, and to a self-perception which regards us in a place of merciless pursuit, where we are badgered ceaselessly, and pushed about without a thought or care for us or for our future. Gratitude becomes the single thought we substitute for these insane perceptions. God has cared for us, and calls us Son. Can there be more than this?

Our gratitude will pave the way to Him, and shorten our learning time by more than we could ever dream of. Gratitude goes hand in hand with love, and where one is the other must be found. For gratitude is but an aspect of the Love which is the Source of all creation. God gives thanks to us, His Sons, for being what we are; His Own completion and the Source of love, along with Him. Our gratitude to Him is one with His to us. For love can walk no road except the way of gratitude, and thus we go who walk the way to God.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson really hits home, especially since I spent Thursday with my Grateful Goddess friends. I've had some incredible conversations with people this week, in my presentations (I did 3 this week) and also with people I've come into contact with. My small talk really has gotten a lot bigger and I'm so grateful that I am where and who I am in this universe.

I love the reminders in today's lesson about getting rid of comparisons, about unity and oneness, and replacing anger and revenge with gratitude. There are so many examples of this I can recall from my past; but I'm also giving up past thinking to be awake and open to the present.

Have you been having any "a-ha" moments where things just make a lot of sense? Maybe those are just flashes or flickers, but they are cracks in your old way of being where the light is starting to shine in. I'm having more and more of those and notice that my focus and attention is much more often on gratitude than on comparison. I do notice almost instantly now when judgments come up for me and I'm very much aware of the reactions in my head before they come out of my mouth.

I realize that shifting paradigms is a process and I'm cutting myself just even slack to forgive without myself without being disappointed or judgmental. As I notice this more and more, I realize that the shift has taken me to an entirely new outlook - one that makes me feel much better, both physically and emotionally. Sometimes this means just taking a time-out and looking back on where I've come which allows for a ton of gratitude to come pouring in.

I'm reminded of my friend Chris Linnares (who has written a really great new novel, by the way). Chris is originally from Brazil, and is teaching us that we need to consciously celebrate much more than we currently do. Everything should be cause for celebration because it moves us from judgment and guilt to gratitude.

I like that shift ... celebration, parties, and gratitude!! That's certainly a miracle!

Day 194

Today's Lesson:

I place the future in the Hands of God.

Today's idea takes another step toward quick salvation, and a giant stride it is indeed! So great the distance is that it encompasses, it sets us down just short of Heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. Our feet have reached the lawns that welcome us to Heaven's gate; the quiet place of peace, where we await with certainty the final step of God. How far we we progressing now from earth! How close are we approaching to our goal! How short the journey still to be pursued!

Accept today's idea, and we have passed all anxiety, all pits of hell, all blackness of depression, thoughts of sin, and devastation brought about by guilt. Accept today's idea, and we have released the world from all imprisonment by loosening the heavy chains that locked the door to freedom on it. We are saved, and our salvation thus becomes the gift we give the world, because we have received.

In no one instant is depression felt, or pain experienced or loss perceived. In no one instant sorrow can be set upon a throne, and worshipped faithfully. In no one instant can one even die. And so each instant given unto God in passing, with the next one given Him already, is a time of our release from sadness, pain and even death itself.

God holds our future as He holds our past and present. They are one to Him, and so they should be one to us. Yet in this world, the temporal progression still seems real. And so we are not asked to understand the lack of sequence really found in time. We are but asked to let the future go, and place it in God's Hands. And we will see by our experience that we have laid the past and present in His Hands as well, because the past will punish us no more, and future dread will now be meaningless.

Release the future. For the past is gone, and what is present, freed from its bequest of grief and misery, of pain and loss, becomes the instant in which time escapes the bondage of illusions where it runs its pitiless, inevitable course. Then is each instant which was slave to time transformed into a holy instant, when the light that was kept hidden in God's Son is freed to bless the world. Now is he free, and all his glory shines upon a world made free with him, to share his holiness.

If we can see the lesson for today as the deliverance it really is, we will not hesitate to give as much consistent effort as we can, to make it be a part of us. As it becomes a thought that rules our mind, a habit in our problem-solving repertoire, a way of quick reaction to temptation, we extend our learning to the world. And as we learn to see salvation in all things, so will the world perceive that it is saved.

What worry can beset the one who gives his future to the loving Hands of God? What can he suffer? What can cause him pain, or bring experience of loss to him? What can he fear? And what can he regard except with love? For he who has escaped all fear of future pain has found his way to present peace, and certainty of care the world can never threaten. He is sure that his perception may be faulty, but will never lack correction. He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind when he has made mistakes.

Place, then, our future in the Hands of God. For thus we call the memory of Him to come again, replacing all our thoughts of sin and evil with the truth of love. Think we the world could fail to gain thereby, and every living creature not respond with healed perception? Who entrusts himself to God has also placed the world within the Hands to which he has himself appealed for comfort and security. He lays aside the sick illusions of the world along with his, and offers peace to both.

Now are we saved indeed. For in God's Hands we rest untroubled, sure that only good can come to us. If we forget, we will be gently reassured. If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will be soon replaced by love's reflection. And if we are tempted to attack, we will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that leaves temptation far behind. No longer is the world our enemy, for we have chosen that we be its friend.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Last night I attended the very first Grateful Goddess Gathering here in Fargo. Two of my very dear friends (and fellow Course in Miracles students), Darcy & Sheila, have started a wonderful company called The Grateful Goddess, which was inspired by Darcy's whimsical pastel art. Darcy & Sheila believe that, according to their website, "in order to realize one’s dreams, we must first be grateful for what has been and what is."

Not only do they sell greeting cards, posters, jewelry, clothing and other wonderful "stuff," Darcy and Sheila also know that women love to gather, eat, drink, laugh, and learn, so last night was the first of many Goddess Gatherings. Last night's theme was "Friendship Gardening," where the goddesses reminded us to build and tend our friendships like our gardens, celebrating each of the various shapes, sizes, and colors and yes, even the occasional weed. They encouraged us to share parts of our gardens with each other so that each year as the plants come up, we will think of the friend from whom we received the plant.

What a great idea - and a great reminder to celebrate the differences in all our lives.

Today's lesson also reminds us that the future is in the Hands of God, and that consistent effort in remembering this will make this be a part of us. It will become a "habit in our problem-solving repertoire, a way of quick reaction to temptation." As we learn today's lesson, and begin to see salvation in everything - even in those occasional weeds in the garden of life - so will the world perceive that it, too, is saved. As we give up our worry about the future, we experience peace in the present.

I was honored to be included in the tangible effects of two people'thes dream - and to witness and experience the effects of hearts filled with gratitude and love. Thank you Darcy & Sheila for showing me that the dreams do come true, and reminding me again that the future is in the Hands of God!

Day 193

Today's Lesson:

All things are lessons God would have me learn.

God does not know of learning. Yet His Will extends to what He does not understand, in that He wills the happiness His Son inherited of Him be undisturbed; eternal and forever gaining scope, eternally expanding in the joy of full creation, and eternally open and wholly limitless in Him. That is His Will. And thus His Will provides the means to guarantee that it is done.

God sees no contradictions. Yet His Son believes he sees them. Thus he has a need for One Who can correct his erring sight, and give him vision that will lead him back to where perception ceases. God does not perceive at all. Yet it is He Who gives the means by which perception is made true and beautiful enough to let the light of Heaven shine upon it. It is He Who answers what His Son would contradict, and keeps his sinlessness forever safe.

These are the lessons God would have us learn. His Will reflects them all, and they reflect His loving kindness to the Son He loves. Each lesson has a central thought, the same in all of them. The form alone is changed, with different circumstances and events; with different characters and different themes, apparent but not real. They are the same in fundamental content. It is this:

Forgive, and you will see this differently.

Certain it is that all distress does not appear to be but unforgiveness. Yet that is the content underneath the form. It is this sameness which makes learning sure, because the lesson is so simple that it cannot be rejected in the end. No one can hide forever from a truth so very obvious that it appears in countless forms, and yet is recognized as easily in all of them, if one but wants to see the simple lesson there.

Forgive, and you will see this differently.

These are the words the Holy Spirit speaks in all our tribulations, all our pain, all suffering regardless of its form. These are the words with which temptation ends, and guilt, abandoned, is revered no more. These are the words which end the dream of sin, and rid the mind of fear. These are the words by which salvation comes to all the world.

Shall we not learn to say these words when we are tempted to believe that pain is real, and death becomes our choice instead of life? Shall we not learn to say these words when we have understood their power to release all minds from bondage? These are words which give us power over all events that seem to have been given power over us. We see them rightly when we hold these words in full awareness, and do not forget these words apply to everything we see or any brother looks upon amiss.

How can we tell when we are seeing wrong, or someone else is failing to perceive the lesson he should learn? Does pain seem real in the perception? If it does, be sure the lesson is not learned. And there remains an unforgiveness hiding in the mind that sees the pain through eyes the mind directs.

God would not have us suffer thus. He would help us forgive ourselves. His Son does not remember who he is. And God would have him not forget His Love, and all the gifts His Love brings with it. Would we now renounce our own salvation? Would we fail to learn the simple lessons Heaven's Teacher sets before us, that all pain may disappear and God may be remembered by His Son?

All things are lessons God would have us learn. He would not leave an unforgiving thought without correction, nor one thorn or nail to hurt His holy Son in any way. He would ensure his holy rest remain untroubled and serene, without a care, in an eternal home which cares for him. And He would have all tears be wiped away, with none remaining yet unshed, and none but waiting their appointed time to fall. For God has willed that laughter should replace each one, and that His Son be free again.

We will attempt today to overcome a thousand seeming obstacles to peace in just one day. Let mercy come to us more quickly. Do not try to hold it off another day, another minute or another instant. Time was made for this. Use it today for what its purpose is. Morning and night, devote what time we can to serve its proper aim, and do not let the time be less than meets our deepest need.

Give all we can, and give a little more. For now we would arise in haste and go unto our Father's house. We have been gone too long, and we would linger here no more. And as we practice, let us think about all things we saved to settle by ourselves, and kept apart from healing. Let us give them all to Him Who knows the way to look upon them so that they will disappear. Truth is His message; truth His teaching is. His are the lessons God would have us learn.

Each hour, spend a little time today, and in the days to come, in practicing the lesson in forgiveness in the form established for the day. And try to give it application to the happenings the hour brought, so that the next one is free of the one before. The chains of time are easily unloosened in this way. Let no one hour cast its shadow on the one that follows, and when that one goes, let everything that happened in its course go with it. Thus will we remain unbound, in peace eternal in the world of time.

This is the lesson God would have us learn: There is a way to look on everything that lets it be to us another step to Him, and to salvation of the world. To all that speaks of terror, answer thus:

I will forgive, and this will disappear.

To every apprehension, every care and every form of suffering, repeat these selfsame words. And then we hold the key that opens Heaven's gate, and brings the Love of God the Father down to earth at last, to raise it up to Heaven. God will take this final step Himself. Do not deny the little steps He asks us take to Him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This is such a little request God has of us! All we need to do is to let go of the past - let go of whatever we're worrying about or fretting over and let Him do the part he has guaranteed us He will do. Why is it that we insist on worrying and stressing and obsessing about things that have already happened or haven't yet happened (and most likely won't happen, at least in the way or to the degree our minds make up that they will)?

I spent the entire month of June without taking in any income (and I spent plenty on training and certification and Bock's Office-sponsored events). It would be really easy for me to worry about that lack of income and stress and obsess (and, I must admit, I have had my moments). But all that does is 1) prevent me from being in the moment and being the most effective I can be in the moment and 2) tie me to my ego at the expense of my Spirit.

All we're asked to do in today's lesson is forgive - "give before" - or say "thank you FOR GIVING this to me so that I might learn something." I am here on this earth at this time and place simply to learn. I teach what I most need to learn. Everything is about learning and preparing and evolving and moving beyond and letting go and being awake and expanding capacity. That's very exciting to me. If I were stressed about the past or worried about the future, I could never be my most effective self in the present. Forgive and I will see this differently. That's it!

The deep breath I just took and the cleansing I just felt are truly the only miracle I need today. (I'll remember this as I'm sitting in the dentist's chair today for 3 hours getting two new crowns!)

Day 192

Today's Lesson:

I have a function God would have me fill.

It is our Father's holy Will that we complete Himself, and that our Self shall be His sacred Son, forever pure as He, of love created and in love preserved, extending love, creating in its name, forever one with God and with our Self. yet what can such a function mean within a world of envy, hatred and attack?

Therefore, we have a function in the world beyond in its own terms. For who can understand a language far beyond his simple grasp? Forgiveness represents our function here. It is not God's creation, for it is the means by which untruth can be undone. And who would pardon Heaven? Yet on earth, we need the means to let illusions go. Creation merely waits for our return to be acknowledged, not to be complete.

Creation cannot even be conceived of in the world. It has no meaning here. Forgiveness is the closest it can come to earth. For being Heaven-born, it has no form at all. Yet God created One Who has the power to translate in form the wholly formless. What He makes are dreams, but of a kind so close to waking that the light of day already shines in them, and eyes already opening behold the joyful sights their offerings contain.

Forgiveness gently looks upon all things unknown in Heaven, sees them disappear, and leaves the world a clean and unmarked slate on which the Word of God can now replace the senseless symbols written there before. Forgiveness is the means by which the fear of death is overcome, because it holds no fierce attraction now and guilt is gone. Forgiveness lets the body be perceived as what it is; a simple teaching aid, to be laid by when learning is complete, but hardly changing him who learns at all.

The mind without the body cannot make mistakes. It cannot think that it will die, nor be the prey of merciless attack. Anger becomes impossible, and where is terror then? What fears could still assail those who have lost the source of all attack, the core of anguish and the seat of fear? Only forgiveness can relieve the mind of thinking that the body is its home. Only forgiveness can restore the peace that God intended to His holy Son. Only forgiveness can persuade the Son to look again upon his holiness.

With anger gone, we will indeed perceive that, for Christ's vision and the gift of sight, no sacrifice was asked, and only pain was lifted from a sick and tortured mind. Is this unwelcome? Is it to be feared? Or is it to be hoped for, met with thanks and joyously accepted? We are one, and therefore give up nothing. But we have indeed been given everything by God.

Yet do we need forgiveness to perceive that this is so. Without its kindly light we grope in darkness, using reason but to justify our rage and our attack. Our understanding is so limited that what we think we understand is but confusion born of error. We are lost in mists of shifting dreams and fearful thoughts, our eyes shut tight against the light; our minds engaged in worshipping what is not there.

Who can be born again in Christ but him who has forgiven everyone he sees or thinks of or imagines? Who could be set free while he imprisons anyone? A jailer is not free, for he is bound together with his prisoner. He must be sure that he does not escape, and so he spends his time in keeping watch on him. The bars that limit him become the world in which his jailer lives, along with him. And it is on his freedom that the way to liberty depends for both of them.

Therefore, hold no one prisoner. Release instead of bind, for thus are you made free. The way is simple. Every time we feel a stab of anger, realize we hold a sword above our heads. And it will fall or be averted as we choose to be condemned or free. Thus does each one who seems to tempt us to be angry represent our savior from the prison house of death. And so we owe him thanks instead of pain.

Be merciful today. The Son of God deserves our mercy. It is he who asks that we accept the way to freedom now. Deny him not. His Father's Love for him belongs to us. Our function here on earth is only to forgive him, that we may accept him back as our Identity. He is as God created him. And we are what he is. Forgive him now his sins, and we will see that we are one with him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

We got together last night for our Course study, and had a very powerful time together. It was very evident to me that "wherever two or more are gathered in My Name, there am I." We talked about guilt and how it keeps us stuck, especially in special relationships, because it allows us to be justified in our own less-than-stellar behavior. The guilt we feel is almost like permission to keep acting in a way that is opposed to the way we would treat that relationship if we saw no specialness, but the Love of God, which is available to everyone, not just special relationships.

Although we are not there yet, we talked about how if we really were living as the Course teaches us, we would have no need of special relationships because we would love everyone the same.

Following our study, three of us went to an impromptu party given by one of our other study group members in celebration of her brother, sister and niece visiting from her native Brazil. It was a wonderful gathering of people from all over the world who are currently living in Fargo. We all got into a circle and each person tried to explain to our friend's family why she is living in Fargo (besides the fact that her husband is from here). It was amazing to hear everyone's stories, including the people from Ethiopia, Cuba, Turkey, and Brazil. I met people last night I hadn't known before, and reconnected with others I only knew of before then. We had a wonderful time.

This friend, Chris, is the author of a brand new book called Cinderella on the Couch. It's a really great book, and one of the four I read this past weekend. This book is a great example of how things are shifting in my life. Miracles are everywhere, including in this book. I don't think I would have been attracted to this book by the title or by the first few pages; in fact, it is only because Chris has become a friend of mine that I even bought it. But there is a lot of wisdom in the book, disguised as a novel. I'd really recommend it to anyone who is looking for spiritual connection.

The more awake I become, the more miracles I see all around me. It's a great place to be!