Day 334

Today's Lesson:

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

I will not wait another day to find the treasures that my Father offers me. Illusions are all vain, and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions. Let me not accept such meager gifts again today. God's Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear and choose to follow Him. This is my choice today. And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

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

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

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

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

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

Day 333

Today's Lesson:

Forgiveness ends the dream of conflict here.

Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been give int, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Day 332

Today's Lesson:

Fear binds the world. Forgiveness sets it free.

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

We would not bind the world again today. Fear holds it prisoner. And yet Your Love has given us the means to set it free. Father, we would release it now. For as we offer freedom, it is given us. And we would not remain as prisoners, while You are holding freedom out to us.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I spoke yesterday for a new client, telling them about my book The 100% Factor and giving ideas for living at full capacity instead of existing day to day waiting to achieve their potential. It was fun for me to deliver information to a brand new audience, and to see some of them get it, stay after and visit about the information, and to know that for some, this is simply awareness of a whole new way of thinking about the world. I've always said to myself that if I can touch even one person with my speaking then I've accomplished my dream. I know that happened yesterday. Life is so good!

In considering today's lesson, I go back to when I was waiting for everyone to get into the room yesterday. It was one company, not a public event, and I had never been there before. I didn't have anyone introducing me, so it was just a bit awkward because I didn't have my own introduction prepared. So for the slightest second I had a flutter of what I might call fear show up in my stomach. And I must admit, it took me a couple of minutes to find my groove yesterday. The audience was not responding the way audiences usually do. They weren't laughing at the places most people laugh. They were attentive (for the most part they were with me except for a couple of people who nodded off for a moment - that's a whole other story I can share sometime ...) but they weren't really responding. But something inside of me kicked in and when I relaxed and got rid of the fear, they came with me. It was really an automatic thing - and I just kind of watched. When I feel in the groove as a speaker, that's when I kind of hang back and watch. It's strange to explain, but it's a very cool place to be.

I realize, when I analyze it, that it's letting go of my ego and just being a conduit for the Holy Spirit. One thing I remember telling the audience yesterday was that everything is data. There is no judgment if we can look at everything that seems to happen to us that way. Today's lesson says "Truth never makes attack. It merely is." Freedom is there for us if we just accept it. Forgiveness is what does that for us - the Course's forgiveness, not the traditional view.

As a reminder, I'll go back to my Glossary of Terms from A Course in Miracles by Robert Perry:

Forgiveness
Conventional: Giving up your resentment towards another and your right to punish him, even though you keep the perception that he sinned against you and that you are justified in resenting and punishing him. According to the Course, this forgiveness cannot forgive, for it affirms that the other sinned and thus is worthy of condemnation (yours and his own). It also affirms that you are holier than he, because he sinned and you forgave.

ACIM: Giving up your false perception that another sinned against you and that you are justified in resenting and punishing him. Releasing this perception automatically releases your resentment and desire to punish. Releasing another not from what he did, but from "what he did not do," from your misinterpretation of what he did. This can forgive, for it frees your mind of resentment and release the other from the accusation of sin and guilt.

This is the forgiveness that gives freedom to both people: the forgiver and the forgiven.

And here's another miracle that happened this morning. I had decided that this year I was going to forgo the two Christmas concerts that I always attend (Lorie Line and The Blenders) just to take a break - mostly a financial one - to allow this holiday to be a low stress and low budget one. Earlier this fall a friend's mother asked if I had purchased Lorie Line tickets yet (I always go). When I told her I hadn't, she said she had an extra one and would love me to join her family at the concert. I hadn't even put it out there as an intention, and it just showed up.

So this morning as my clock radio went off, they were announcing that caller #5 would win premium tickets to tomorrow night's Blenders concert. And who do you suppose caller #5 was? Yep ... that's the way this works!

So I'm going to both concerts anyway, and it was low stress and low budget! Be careful what you wish for, so they say. I say, WISH AWAY! The Universe - God - Spirit everything is conspiring on your behalf to give you everything!

What a miracle!

Day 331

12. What is the Ego?

The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death. It is the "will" that sees the Will of God as enemy, and takes a form in which it is denied. The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true.

The ego is insane. In fear it stands beyond the Everywhere, apart from All, in separation from the Infinite. In its insanity it thinks it has become a victor over God Himself. And in its terrible autonomy it "sees" the Will of God has been destroyed. It dreams of punishment, and trembles at the figures in its dreams; its enemies, who seek to murder it before it can ensure its safety by attacking them.

The Son of God is egoless. What can he know of madness and the death of God, when he abides in Him? What can he know of sorrow and of suffering, when he lives in eternal joy? What can he know of fear and punishment, of sin and guilt, of hatred and attack, when all there is surrounding him is everlasting peace, forever conflict-free and undisturbed, in deepest silence and tranquility?

To know reality is not to see the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and cost belief in it entails. In suffering, the price for faith in it is so immense that crucifixion of the Son of God is offered daily at its darkened shrine, and blood must flow before the altar where its sickly followers prepare to die.

Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the alter to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself. And peace will be restored forever to the holy minds which God created as His Son, His dwelling place, His joy, His love, completely His, completely one with Him.

Today's Lesson:

There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.

How foolish, Father, to believe Your Son could cause himself to suffer! Could he make a plan for his damnation, and be left without a certain way to his release? You love me, Father. You could never leave me desolate, to die within a world of pain and cruelty. How could I think that Love has left Itself? There is no will except the Will of Love. Fear is a dream, and has no will that can conflict with Yours. Conflict is sleep, and peace awakening. Death is illusion; life, eternal truth. There is no opposition to Your Will. There is no conflict, for my will is Yours.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson reminds me yet again that this entire illusion that we think is so important is just that: an illusion. It's all a game with rules we made up about how it "should" be - how we "should" look, what we "should" do ... and it's all based on something the ego believes is real.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with my manufacturing leadership team in our third of three sessions about achieving goals. This session was called "Transformation," and we talked about how they could maintain the learning we've started here so it becomes the way of managing for this company. We spent about an hour creating vision boards and doing a guided visualization of what this company would look and feel like in five years and what their role would be. It was proof positive for me that everyone wants to connect with others, no matter what their title or role in an organization. When I let go of my ego, which tried to tell me that this would never work - that these people would think this was stupid and a waste of time, I was allowing God's Truth to shine through.

We talked yesterday about the shift that has been happening when this team trusts the members enough to create a purpose for the company and allow the vision and the goals to support that vision instead of the other way around where they would traditionally set the goals based on past performance instead. One of the members who has been more pragmatic and methodical about the "hows" said he has found it to be much easier to concentrate on the "why" and not worry about the details. He said he sees that when the team is allowed to operate in the individuals' strength areas, everything flows much more smoothly. He can call it strength areas - I call it allowing the Spirit. Either way, the results are, so far, speaking for themselves.

I notice that when I can be a conduit for the Holy Spirit, I can allow others the same opportunity. As a facilitator and guide, I see my role as a lightbearer, allowing the participants to see their own paths because I've helped light the way, not because I've showed them how or told them what to do. I simply turn on the light and the choices become clearer.

What a miracle as I shift my own thoughts from fear to love!

Day 330

Today's Lesson:

I will not hurt myself again today.

Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? Why should we teach them they are powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take what is already theirs? The mind that is made willing to accept God's gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own. The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. Let us choose today that He be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.

Father, Your Son can not be hurt. And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I spent Thanksgiving Day with my mom - it was just she and I as my sister and her family were on a vacation. We had a very pleasant day putting up her Christmas lights and just spending time together. On Saturday I got a card in the mail from her, thanking me for the time together. She included a $20 bill to pay for the clips I had brought home with me to put up the lights (which she didn't need to do). She also included an article from our local newspaper about identity theft. As I reflect on the card, my initial reaction - and it is that: a reaction from the subconscious, not a response based on conscious thinking - I see myself judging her gesture because it comes from a place of fear. But even as I write this I notice that judgment. I am only writing it here to show how our minds do have a "grace period," if you will where we can alter our thoughts before choosing to think them. I find myself getting better as I catch myself before I dwell on negative and judgmental thoughts. I'm not yet to the point where those thoughts don't come into my head, but I'm not acting on them nearly as much as I used to.

Today's text is from Chapter 29 in A Course in Miracles and is called "The Awakening." The section for today is called "The Closing of the Gap," which is perfect, of course. It starts by saying "There is no time, no place, o state where God is absent. There is nothing to be feared. There is no way in which a gap could be conceived of in the Wholeness that is His." Right there is my miracle. That awareness - that perfection - is exactly how everything should be. Recognition of that statement is the way I choose to live my life and I'm excited for what today has in store!

Day 329

Today's Lesson:

I have already chosen what You will.

Father, I thought I wandered from Your Will, defied it, broke its laws, and interposed a second will more powerful than Yours. Yet what I am in truth is but Your Will, extended and extending. This am I, and this will never change. As You are One, so am I one with You. And this I chose in my creation, where my will become forever one with Yours. That choice was made for all eternity. It cannot change, and be in opposition to itself. Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

There's not much more that needs to be said about today's lesson. There is no way we can fail, if we just remember our Source. We are safe, untroubled and serene, because that is God's Will.

What a miracle!

Day 328

Today's Lesson:

I choose the second place to gain the first.

What seems to be the second place is first, for all things we perceive are upside down until we listen to the Voice for God. It seems that we will gain autonomy but by our striving to be separate, and that our independence from the rest of God's creation is the way in which salvation is obtained. Yet all we find is sickness, suffering and loss and death. This is not what our Father wills for us, nor is there any second to His Will. To join with His is but to find our own. And since our will is His, it is to Him that we must go to recognize our will.

There is no will but Yours. And I am glad that nothing I imagine contradicts what You would have me be. It is Your Will that I be wholly safe, eternally at peace. And happily I share that Will which You, my Father, gave as part of me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I struggled a bit at first when determining what is the second place in today's text. After thinking about it for a while, I see that the second place is my interpretation of the world - my perception of the way things are. When I was in high school, I remember a longing to be in college - I kept thinking that things would be so much better when I had the autonomy I wanted to just be who I thought I was at the time. Then, when I got to college, I remember feeling like I should be someplace else - this freedom felt so foreign to me. I had some days where I didn't have class until 10 a.m. and other days when I was done with class by 2:00 - I didn't HAVE to be anywhere; heck, I didn't even HAVE to go to class if I didn't want to.

Then there was the time when I was ready to be done with college, looking forward to my first "real" job. And from there, it was on to another job, and lots of times I'd think "if only," and "when I" which prevented me from enjoying the moment I was in. In fact, I still find myself in those positions if I'm not present. My ego wants to keep me from being in the present moment, either by instilling fear or mulling over the past. This is the second place.

I will not find the peace and comfort and love and salvation that I seek by looking at how I can separate myself from everyone and everything. I have the ability to choose differently and by putting my own "will" second, I can accept that God's Will is really mine. It's really all about re-membering (remembering) or coming together again with my Self, which never left God's Will. That is why I must choose the second place to gain the first, or unity with the Will of God.

I came across a great website this morning called Pathways of Light where I found this explanation of today's lesson:

"This world is a distraction from knowing God's Will. This world is the effect of choosing independence from God's Will. The distraction of the body could take up all my time if I let it. This distraction will continue until I change my mind about the purpose of the world. My experience of this false world will continue until I am willing to follow the Holy Spirit's lead."

That understanding and acceptance of the Truth of the Holy Spirit is my miracle for today. As I choose Spirit, I will notice ego slipping away and will experience more glimpses of the first place. I realize that this is a process - enjoying the journey instead of fighting against it will make the process more enjoyable. But not enjoying the journey won't mean I won't reach the destination because the destination is ensured. Since that's the case, I choose the path of enlightenment and joy!

Day 327

Today's Lesson:

I need but call and You will answer me.

I am not asked to take salvation on the basis of an unsupported faith. For God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. This is the faith that will endure, and take me farther and still farther on the road that leads to Him. For thus I will be sure that He has not abandoned me and loves me still, awaiting but my call to give me all the help I need to come to Him.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

I spent the day yesterday with my mother, and it was a very pleasant experience. We put Christmas lights on her house, and we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day here in North Dakota. That was a huge blessing I noticed yesterday!

Today I'm reminded of the Holy Spirit's entering at the slightest invitation. As a transformational business consultant, that is the only "permission" I need to be my authentic self when I work with my business clients. I know the Holy Spirit will be with me and guide me in all my interactions, speeches, presentations, workshops and anything else I do. He is available at my slightest call - and will come into the slightest opening with clients who may not even realize what is happening. That is the beauty of this work - and having the awareness and insight I've gained from this course.

Today's lesson also demonstrates that I have the ability to test these ideas out without judgment to see the results that are produced (and allowed) in my life. I love that! It gives me freedom to choose, but also proves to me that the choice becomes rather obvious as I test out the Holy Spirit and break down my own ego.

What a miracle!

Day 326

Today's Lesson:

I am forever an Effect of God.

Father, I was created in Your Mind, a holy Thought that never left its home. I am forever Your Effect, and You forever and forever are my Cause. As You created me I have remained. Where You established me I still abide. And all Your attributes abide in me, because it is Your Will to have a Son so like his Cause that Cause and Its Effect are indistinguishable. Let me know that I am an Effect of God, and so I have the power to create like You. And as it is in Heaven, so on earth. Your plan I follow here, and at the end I know that You will gather Your effects into the tranquil Heaven of Your Love, where earth will vanish, and all separate thoughts unite in glory as the Son of God.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today is Thanksgiving, and a perfect time to remember everything we're grateful for. Top on my list is my own awareness, which allows me to study this course and to learn something every single day. I think about things so differently than I used to, and, given today's lesson, I realize that it is because I am aware that I am forever an Effect of God. Forever. I have the power to create like God - as above, so below.

I am reminded of a Carl Jung quote I heard about on a Wayne Dyer CD. Carl said something like the surest way to be unhappy is to believe in a God outside yourself. It hadn't occurred to me until I heard that quote that my upbringing was a bit of a contradiction when I think about what I remember learning. I remember someone saying that God is everywhere, including in my heart. But I also remember an image of God being in heaven, which to me was in the sky, sitting on a throne, with Jesus at his right hand. He, of course, was the white-bearded guy in a robe (where did we all come up with that image?).

If I believe that God is outside of myself, I will always be subject to Him, and hoping to connect with Him, instead of being an Effect of Him and being part of Him.

That awareness is my thanksgiving thought for the day. How will that change my perception of who I say I am, and, consequently, who I am being?

Day 325

Today's Lesson:

All things I think I see reflect ideas.

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

Our Father, Your ideas reflect the truth, and mine apart from Yours but make up dreams. Let me behold what only Yours reflect, for Yours and Yours alone establish truth.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson really reflects everything I've been studying over the past 18 months regarding the Law of Attraction and other universal laws. What I see outside myself is simply a reflection of the thoughts and ideas that have created that vision. From insane wishes comes an insane world. But when I can shift my thoughts to those that are loving, forgiving and gentle that is exactly what I will see outside myself. It is really a very simply process. And as we remember that at the end of the day we are always going to be right, there is really nothing to decide. When I just accept the Truth - that every single person was created in the image and likeness of God and we are all mere images of our Father in various disguises, everything makes so much sense.

The challenge I always seem to have is that I have to think it over and decide something instead of just accepting what is and loving it, no matter what. God's ideas are the Truth, and my ideas apart from God's are illusion and dreams. All I have to do is keep my thoughts open to those of God and everything will be beautiful. That seems pretty simple - and that's the miracle. There is no order of difficulty in miracles so let's just accept what's already there!

Truly blessed and duly grateful!

Day 324

Today's Lesson:

I merely follow, for I would not lead.

Father, You are the One Who gave the plan for my salvation to me. You have set the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in my appointed path. I cannot lose the way. I can but choose to wander off a while, and then return. Your loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright. My brothers all can follow in the way I lead them. Yet I merely follow in the way to You, as You direct me and would have me go.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson is very comforting. I don't need to know what to do or where to go - I simply need to know Who to follow. We walk together, for we are all one. We cannot lose!

As I remember (re-member) this lesson, everything life seems to throw at me becomes manageable and seems less threatening and more a part of a more divine plan. Giving up my own control and trusting that there is no way to mess up is very reassuring.

That awareness is my miracle for today!

Day 323

Today's Lesson:

I gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear.

Here is the only "sacrifice" You ask of Your beloved Son; You ask him to give up all suffering, all sense of loss and sadness, all anxiety and doubt, and freely let Your Love come streaming in to his awareness; healing him of pain, and giving him Your Own eternal joy. Such is the "sacrifice" You ask of me, and one I gladly make; the only "cost" of restoration of Your memory to me, for the salvation of the world.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

There's really not much more that needs to be said - today's lesson really says it all. As we "sacrifice" fear for love, we will be at peace and will be the salvation of the world. It is not possible for war to come to minds that are open to peace.

I was listening to Dr. Oz on Oprah and Friends XM radio on Saturday night and he was interviewing Dr. Bruce Lipton about his book The Biology of Belief. It was fascinating to learn that our genes do not control our biology; that instead, energy outside of our cells from our thoughts is what really controls our health. This work shows that we change our bodies as we retrain our thoughts. His research is in epigenetics - epi meaning above (as epidermis is above the dermis). Our thoughts control our genetics.

What is so amazing to me is how many different sources are saying this same thing. Here is a medical doctor telling us what I already know is true, based on what I'm studying in this course and on the things I'm learning from my work with Bob Proctor and others. Sometimes it's not enough for us to trust our inner knowing - we need outside sources to help us retrain our minds, too. Dr. Lipton was talking a lot about the subconscious conditioning and how 95% of our behavior comes from that source without us even giving it a thought. He said it's very possible to increase our conscious thoughts way beyond the 5% and to get radically different results in our lives when we do that.

What are you noticing when you're awake to a certain message? How many sources are telling you the same thing? Just notice today how you can gladly make the "sacrifice" of fear and get beyond the results you are currently experiencing in your life. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! What better day to start!

Day 322

Today's Lesson:

I can give up but what was never real.

I sacrifice illusions; nothing more. And as illusions go I find the gifts illusions tried to hid, awaiting me in shining welcome, and in readiness to give God's ancient messages to me. His memory abides in every gift that I receive of Him. And every dream serves only to conceal the Self which is God's only Son, the likeness of Himself, the Holy One Who still abides in Him forever, as He still abides in me.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson reminds me of what I'm learning in my studies of Bob Proctor's material. There I'm learning that when we choose to increase our awareness, we need to "sacrifice" things at a lower level of awareness. That means we give up things and ideas which no longer serve us. Today's lesson says that there really is no sacrifice except in dreams. The reality is that we don't have to give up anything at all because those dreams cover up the reality. There is nothing to conceal and nothing to sacrifice. What I notice is that at each level of awareness, there is more to gain than to lose. That awareness is truly a miracle!

Day 321

11. What is Creation?

Creation is the sum of all God's Thoughts, in number infinite, and everywhere without all limit. Only love creates, and only like itself. There was no time when all that it created was not there. Nor will there be a time when anything that it created suffers any loss. Forever and forever are God's Thoughts exactly as they were and as they are, unchanged through time and after time is done.

God's Thoughts are given all the power that their own Creator has. For He would add to love by its extension. Thus His Son shares in creation, and must therefore share in power to create. What God has willed to be forever One will still be One when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the course of time, remaining as it was before the thought of time began.

Creation is the opposite of all illusions, for creation is the truth. Creation is the holy Son of God, for in creation is His Will complete in every aspect, making every part container of the whole. Its oneness is forever guaranteed inviolate; forever held within His holy Will, beyond all possibility of harm, of separation, imperfection and of any spot upon its sinlessness.

We are creation; we the Sons of God. We seem to be discrete and unaware of our eternal unity with Him. Yet back of all our doubts, past all our fear, there still is certainty. For love remains with all its Thoughts, its sureness being theirs. God's memory is in our holy minds, which know their oneness and their unity with Their Creator. Let our function be only to let this memory return, only to let God's Will be done on earth, only to be restored to sanity, and to be but as God created us.

Our Father calls to us. We hear His Voice, and we forgive creation in the Name of its Creator, Holiness Itself, Whose Holiness His Own creation shares; Whose Holiness is still a part of us.

Today's Lesson:

Father, my freedom is in You alone.

I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I truest in you. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me, and the way to You is opening and clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in You alone. Father, is is my will that I return.

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

Miracles I'm noticing:

It's really very simple to be free and to be the salvation of the world if we just remember that we are as God created us. It's all this other stuff we put in the way that makes things so seemingly difficult.

Today I'm at a retreat for my chorus with a choreography coach from Canada. I'm going to concentrate on being the salvation of the world today while I'm working to learn new information. There should be no need to be distracted from being free since I've only got one thing to concentrate on all day.

Being single-minded and on purpose today will be my challenge and my opportunity.

Day 320

Today's Lesson:

My Father gives all power unto me.

The Son of God is limitless. There are no limits on his strength, his peace, his joy, nor any attributes his Father gave in his creation. What he wills with his Creator and Redeemer must be done. His holy will can never be denied, because his Father shines upon his mind, and lays before it all the strength and love in earth ad Heaven. I am he to whom all this is given. I am he in whom the power of my Father's Will abides.

Your Will can do all things in me, and then extend to all the world as well through me. There is no limit on Your Will. And so all power has been given to Your Son.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It seems as though everyone around me is experiencing miracles and it's so amazing to watch! I'm blessed that I get to be around a transformative group of people every nearly every day through my master mind groups. It's amazing to experience all the great and wonderful things they are noticing in their own lives.

Last night my friends Darcy and Sheila of The Grateful Goddess gave a little workshop on gratitude journaling as one of their Goddess Gatherings. It was so fun to see so many people doing things on purpose and to hear their stories as they notice what gratitude has done in their lives.

I don't think there is any accident that these people are all around me. If my Father gives all power unto me, it would stand to reason that this would be happening to and around me. There are no limits on any of our peace, joy or any other attribute.

I'm so grateful for this awareness and for everything that happened to get me here.

That's today's miracle!

Day 319

Today's Lesson:

I came for the salvation of the world.

Here is a thought form which all arrogance has been removed, and only truth remains. For arrogance opposes truth. But when there is no arrogance the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by lies. Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting. The ego thinks that what one gains, totality must lose. And yet it is the Will of God I learn that what one gains is given unto all.

Father, Your Will is total. And the goal which stems from it shares its totality. What aim but the salvation of the world could You have given me? And what but this could be the Will my Self has shared with You?

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson really strikes a chord with me today. It seems that we struggle with truth so much in our lives. Just one glance at my bookshelf and I see Brad Blanton's book called Radical Honesty, which helps us tell it like it really is; Byron Katie helps us learn what's really true in her "The Work"; Wayne Dyer is guiding us through The Tao in his latest book to help us find "The Way"; and all the time the Truth is inside us, behind the arrogance of our egos. Our egos separate us - they are the parts of us that are scared and broken and judgmental. Our Spirit is one and when we can tap into that, there is no need for that ego. The ego is scared because it is limited and it has to work extra hard to prove that it's not scared by fighting against things. The Spirit stands for things because it doesn't have to prove anything - it just is.

One of the members of one of my master mind groups yesterday was telling about an experience she had last week when she was profoundly moved by the autumn breeze and the color of the sky as she just opened her car window while waiting to pick one of her kids up from school. She said she doesn't really remember ever being in the moment like that when she was just present with what is. I know that feeling - I've been there. But those moments are fleeting if we don't recognize them for what they are. Those are the moments of Truth which are there all the time if we just stop DOING and BE. That's when the defenses come down, the arrogance goes away and Spirit shines through.

God's Will is stronger than ego's. When we tap into that collective consciousness, we hit upon the salvation of the world, if for just an instant. But what more does it take than just that holy instant to see things differently? That's my purpose, I know - to stretch those holy instants into holy seconds and then minutes and then hours and then days. It's really quite simple - in fact, too simple for complicated minds.

Just BE this week, even if only for an instant, and see what shows up for you. It's a great week to experiment, since Thanksgiving is just one week away.

I'm so blessed and grateful for this awareness to see the world as it really is, instead of how my ego thinks it is, even if only for an instant - for now!

Day 318

Today's Lesson:

In me salvation's means and ends are one.

In me, God's holy Son, are reconciled all parts of Heaven's plan to save the world. What could conflict, when all the parts have but one purpose and one aim? How could there be a single part that stands alone, or one of more or less importance than the rest? I am the means by which God's Son is saved, because salvation's purpose is to find the sinlessness that God has placed in me. I was created as the thing I seek. I am the goal the world is searching for. I am God's Son, His one eternal Love. I am salvation's means and end as well.

Let me today, my Father, take the role You offer me in Your request that I accept Atonement for myself. For thus does what is thereby reconciled in me become as surely reconciled to You.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I had the honor of spending last evening with my master Course in Miracles teacher in Minneapolis and it was a total joy. We talked last night about deciding to make changes in ourselves that will change everything about the way we see the world. We talked about having the courage to do that. Courage comes from the root cour, which means heart, so courage is actually following your heart. We also learned that to really truly be human is to be God in man, since hu- is a word for God. When we are truly honoring our humanity, we are representing God on earth. How might we change our minds about ourselves if we really understood who we are?

We also heard last night that what matters most is who we say we are. If we say we are losers, we live into that label. If we say we are created in the image and likeness of God, then so be it. Who do you say you are?

There was so much more last night but my biggest takeaway was my immense gratitude for the awareness I have to have been in that circle last night. I am so grateful for this teacher and for this Course and for my life! Noticing the miracles has brought me closer than ever to my own humanity, and has given me the courage to follow my heart. Evidence is everywhere that this is who I am - and who I say I am is the image and likeness of God.

Today's lesson reminds us that as we accept the Atonement (at-onement) for ourselves, we become one with God - we step into our humanity. When there is one purpose for my awareness, and that is to save the world, I recognize (re-cognize) that I am who I've been waiting for, I am freed up to be the me God created. There is nothing more or nothing less I can possibly be. As I accept that truth, the world is saved and I become the means as well as the end for the salvation of the world!

Wow - what a miracle!

Day 317

Today's Lesson:

I follow in the way appointed me.

I have a special place to fill; a role for me alone. Salvation waits until I take this part as what I choose to do. Until I make this choice, I am the slave of time and human destiny. But when I willingly and gladly go the way my Father's plan appointed me to go, then will I recognize salvation is already here, already given all my brothers and already mine as well.

Father, Your way is what I choose today. Where it would lead me do I choose to go; what it would have me do I choose to do. Your way is certain, and the end secure. The memory of You awaits me there. And all my sorrows end in Your embrace, which You have promised to Your Son, who thought mistakenly that he had wandered from the sure protection of Your loving Arms.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Authenticity is key to building relationships, whether that's in companies or with clients or anyplace anyone wants to make advances in their lives. That's not rocket science, I know, but when something really makes sense by real-life example, it finally sinks in. Yesterday I had a client presentation and another meeting with a potential client. In the first example it was a new class, and it was the first time I'd presented it. I really wasn't sure what direction to go, but I decided to just gauge my part by what the participants were interested in. It was so much easier than having to decide for the client what I thought was important! They basically created the class based on what they wanted to hear and it was so fun!

With the potential client, I didn't take anything with me - not even a notebook, because I was late in getting there. Usually I have at least a notebook to take notes. We are in the middle of a website redesign, and we will be getting marketing materials, but we don't have anything right now. So I just listened to what the client needed and talked from my heart, and it was perfect. They took lots of notes, so I'm guessing they will have a lot to tell their owner and we'll go from there.

I'm finding that as I get in touch with my Higher Self, I don't have to worry about what to say - that was a lesson here not too long ago. I'm noticing that more all the time. When I get out of the way, my Higher Self - the Holy Spirit (funny, they have the same abbreviation - H.S.) - has a chance to step in. And, after all, that's how we are all connected anyway. When I let the H.S. speak, that's what connects with that part of everyone else, and I seem to hit on a universal truth. It's magic to watch it happen. That's what I recognized as following in the way appointed me. I'm blessed and grateful for the awareness to notice it!

Day 316

Today's Lesson:

All gifts I give my brothers are my own.

As every gift my brothers give is mine, so every gift I give belongs to me. Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Father loves. His grace is given me in every gift a brother has received throughout all time, and past all time as well. My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added. Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that God has given me.

Father, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can behold them, see their worth, and cherish only them as what I want.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Some days it's more difficult than others to recognize all the miracles. There are just some days that I'm not as up as others. Yesterday was a day like that - for a while. I didn't sleep very well Saturday night, which meant I was very tired on Sunday. I met with my quartet to practice in a town 2 hours away, which meant I had to drive when I was tired. I realized I was not in the best mood, but instead of fighting it, I just let it be what it was. I was well aware of my less than cheery mood, but as the day went on and I was able to just be with my mood, the singing brought me out of it. It's tough to be sad when I'm singing.

What I'm learning is that fighting against anything - even a down mood - produces more of what I'm fighting against. Just allowing whatever is to be what it is seems to be much more beneficial overall. So that's what I noticed yesterday. There is no good or bad - there is just what is. That realization allows for much quicker recovery and realization that the gifts in the world are plentiful and God's grace is bountiful.

May we all recognize those gifts today and trust that God will provide the means by which we can cherish them!

Day 315

Today's Lesson:

All gifts my brothers give belong to me.

Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. I am blessed with gifts throughout the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can conceive. A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened. Someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own. And everyone who finds the way to God becomes my savior, pointing out the way to me, and giving me his certainty that what he learned is surely mine as well.

I thank You, Father, for the many gifts that come to me today and every day from every Son of God. My brothers are unlimited in all their gifts to me. Now may I offer them my thankfulness, that gratitude to them may lead me on to my Creator and His memory.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson really is a reminder we are all one. This has come up in conversation in the past two master mind groups I'm facilitating. On Friday we began a new group reading the book Working With the Law by Raymond Holliwell, which is about universal laws and how it doesn't work to fight against them, but to work with them. Yesterday in our Think and Grow Rich master mind we also talked about oneness and whether or not there is evil in the world to fight against. Both were fascinating conversations and the beauty of the master mind is that even if there are issues with which we disagree, we all still respect each other.

In our Friday group we also talked about mirroring and shadowing, which come up for us when others show us sides of ourselves we either don't like, or don't recognize for ourselves. But when we can see that anything that comes into our awareness really is a gift, that's where the awareness shifts.

In gratitude I recognize the gifts that are all around me - and all for me. What a miracle!

Day 314

Today's Lesson:

I seek a future different from the past.

From new perception of the world there comes a future very different from the past. The future now is recognized as but extension of the present. Past mistakes can cast no shadows on it, so that fear has lost its idols and its images, and being formless, it has no effects. Death will not claim the future now, for life is now its goal, and all the needed means are happily provided. Who can grieve or suffer when the present has been freed, extending its security and peace into a quiet future filled with joy?

Father, we were mistaken in the past, and choose to use the present to be free. Now do we leave the future in Your Hands, leaving behind our past mistakes, and sure that You will keep Your present promises, and guide the future in their holy light.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I remember a day when I used to obsess over having said the "wrong" thing or made a stupid mistake or lived through an embarrassing moment. I had a hard time letting those things go, and I remember defining myself through my past. The only thing that did was keep me in that moment into the future, so that my future really did begin to look a lot like that past where I "screwed up." That was the future I ended up living into and I began to see myself as someone who was never good enough.

Today's lesson reminds us that we can make a new choice right now - in the present - independent of what has happened in the past. That will change everything right now, which means that the future will look completely different from the past.

Make up your mind to change your mind right now about whatever the past has been in your existence. Know that you were merely mistaken in the past ... you just didn't know. But now that you have new awareness, you have new choices to make - and a new future to live into.

That's certainly a miracle!

Day 313

Today's Lesson:

Now let a new perception come to me.

Father, there is a vision which beholds all things as sinless, so that fear has gone, and where it was is love invited in. And love will come wherever it is asked. This vision is Your gift. The eyes of Christ look on a world forgiven. In His sight are all its sins forgiven, for He sees no sin in anything He looks upon. Now let His true perception come to me, that I may waken from the dream of sin and look within upon my sinlessness, which You have kept completely undefiled upon the altar to Your holy Son, the Self with which I would identify.

Let us today behold each other in the sight of Christ. How beautiful we are! How holy and how loving! Brother, come and join with me today. We save the world when we have joined. For in our vision it becomes as holy as the light in us.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend 90 minutes with our local Chamber of Commerce's Leadership class presenting on the topic of visioning. This leadership program brings together businesspeople in a year-long curriculum highlighting various aspects of community leadership where they spend one day a month on specific topics. Yesterday's was community action and participation. It was so amazing to offer some ideas to this group about possibility thinking and visualizing what our community could look like with each of them living their dream and capitalizing on their unique strengths and talents. It was really an example of how "we save the world when we have joined."

I'm finding more and more often that I'm able to incorporate what I'm learning in this course with my corporate work and it's more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. Feeling that I needed to keep my spiritual self separate from my corporate self was beginning to seem less and less necessary and now it all kind of melds together. Where is there need for fear in the corporate world? How might we all benefit from tapping into the loving part of ourselves instead of the ego part as we build our management teams? How might our corporations be different if people felt free to bring themselves to work - all of themselves, not just the parts that are expected to toe the line?

Guiding the group through an exercise called Future Self, in which they are instructed to see themselves 20 years from now, in their homes and offices, right down to the colors of the walls, I began to see how everything I'm learning can and does affect my audiences in profound ways, just because I am living what I believe. This was evidenced when, during the debrief after the visualization, two separate individuals - one a banker and one an engineer - each mentioned that in their experiences, the color of the walls - and even the infrastructure of the community - 20 years from now was insignificant. What was important was the quality of the relationships they had built with their families and co-workers. What that told each of them was that today they can make decisions that will impact their relationships 2o years from now, which will create - and allow - for more meaningful results both at work and at home.

That was profoundly moving for me because it proved to me that this is not just my theory - this can and does actually work in Corporate America. Following our 90-minute session, the Chamber representative told me that they had been trying this visualization session for the past 5 years and had gotten pretty negative feedback from the participants. She said that this year she was certain the marks would be much higher - that this was exactly what they had hoped to find, but weren't able to articulate it.

I'm beginning to understand that as a conduit for the Holy Spirit, I really have no need to worry about what to say or how to present my material. When I get out of the way, magic happens around me. As my vision is altered to behold all things as sinless, I allow others to do the same. And I'm clear that that's not I - Jodee ... that's the Universal I in which we are all connected.

Awareness is amazing - and I'm blessed and grateful for the miracles that are everywhere!

Day 312

Today's Lesson:

I see all things as I would have them be.

Perception follows judgment. Having judged, we therefore see what we would look upon. For sight can merely serve to offer us what we would have. It is impossible to overlook what we would see, and fail to see what we have chosen to behold. How surely, therefore, must the real world come to greet the holy sight of anyone who take the Holy Spirit's purpose as his goal for seeing. And he cannot fail to look upon what Christ would have him see, and share Christ's Love for what he looks upon.

I have no purpose for today except to look upon a liberated world, set free from all the judgments I have made. Father, this is Your Will for me today, and therefore it must be my goal as well.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It occurred to me today that I used to write about all the things I was noticing in the world that were "coincidental" and I really haven't written about those things lately. I think the reason is because I'm starting to accept those "coincidences" as the way it is instead of something unusual. I might not notice those as miracles like I used to because they happen so frequently now. That's not to say that I don't notice or that they're not happening - it's just that I really do know that miracles are more the norm than the exception.

Yesterday in my master mind group I took a second and looked around the room at the people who were there and really got that the world is changing right before my eyes as each of these people is understanding what we're studying in a new way. Each of the people in each of my 5 master mind groups is changing the world in her/his own way and that's incredibly amazing and rewarding and cool - but it really is just the way it is. My job in this lifetime is to raise awareness and that's what I'm doing ... but it's not of me, it's through me.

The goal I've set for myself in my mastermind group is to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit so that I can live the holy instant every instant and can allow myself to be who I was created to be. In exchange I am surrounded by and working with like-minded people who I am supporting in raising the level of awareness wherever they live and work. It's so great to see that happen all around me.

Today's lesson says that perception follows judgment, so I'm growing in awareness of what is my perception and what just is. If I've judged a person or a situation, then I will see things the way I think they are instead of what really is, which is perfect. Today I'm giving a presentation about visioning for a group of leaders in our community. I'm going to tell them about perception as it relates to their vision for the future of our community. That will allow me to watch their awareness grow, and in turn, allow them to change the future of our community by the way they perceive it.

I'm truly blessed and grateful for the awareness I currently have, and for the learning and growing I will do for the rest of my life.

Day 311

10. What is the Last Judgment?

Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God this gift: to hear the Voice for God proclaim that what is false is false, and what is true has never changed. And this the judgment is in which perception ends. At first you see a world that has accepted this as true, projected from a now corrected mind. And with this holy sight, perception gives a silent blessing and then disappears, its goal accomplished and its mission done.

The final judgment on the world contains no condemnation. For it sees the world as totally forgiven, without sin and wholly purposeless. Without a cause, and now without a function in Christ's sight, it merely slips away to nothingness. There it was born, and there it ends as well. And all the figures in the dream in which the world began go with it. Bodies now are useless, and will therefore fade away, because the Son of God is limitless.

You who believed that God's Last Judgment would condemn the world to hell along with you, accept this holy truth: God's Judgment is the gift of the Correction He bestowed on all your errors, freeing you from them, and all effects they ever seemed to have. To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your own Identity.

God's Final Judgment is as merciful as every step in His appointed plan to bless His Son, and call him to return to the eternal peace He shares with him. Be not afraid of love. For it alone can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears, and gently waken from his dream of pain the Son whom God acknowledges as His. Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks you give it welcome. And the world awaits your glad acceptance, which will set it free.

This is God's Final Judgment: "You are still My holy Son, forever innocent, forever loving and forever loved, as limitless as your Creator, and completely changeless and forever pure. Therefore awaken and return to Me. I am your Father and you are My Son."

Today's Lesson:

I judge all things as I would have them be.

Judgment was made to be a weapon used against the truth. It separates what it is being used against, and sets it off as if it were a thing apart. And then it makes of it what you would have it be. It judges what it cannot understand, because it cannot see totality and therefore judges falsely. Let us not use it today, but make a gift of it to Him Who has a different use for it. He will relieve us of the agony of all the judgments we have made against ourselves, and re-establish peace of mind by giving us God's Judgment of His Son.

Father, we wait with open mind today, to hear Your Judgment of the Son You love. We do not know him, and we cannot judge. And so we let Your Love decide what he whom You created as Your Son must be.

Miracles I'm noticing:

When I have thought of the word "judge" in the past, it has always had a negative connotation for me. But after reading today's lesson, I see that that is what we have always done with that word - and that's what it was made to be. I notice the distinction between the word "made" and the word "created" as well in this lesson. God creates, man makes. So we have "made" judgment be something negative. Today's lesson is telling us to give up judgment to Him Who has a different use for it. We can let God take care of all the judgments that we have made against ourselves in exchange for peace of mind.

When God decides, He always decides for His Son, so there should be no fear in God's judgment. That creates a new connotation for that word and that entire concept, since we already know what He is going to choose.

So today I will give up my own judgment of other people and situations and accept God's peace in its place. After all, my judgments only show me what I am thinking about myself. That awareness is my miracle for today!

Day 310

Today's Lesson:

In fearlessness and love I spend today.

This day, my Father, would I spend with You, as You have chosen all my days should be. And what I will experience is not of time at all. The joy that comes to me is not of days nor hours, for it comes from Heaven to Your Son. This day will be Your sweet reminder to remember You, Your gracious calling to Your holy Son, the sign Your grace has come to me, and that it is Your Will I be set free today.

We spend this day together, you and I. And all the world joins with us in our song of thankfulness and joy to Him Who gave salvation to us, and Who set us free. We are restored to peace and holiness. There is no room in us for fear today, for we have welcomed love into our hearts.

Miracles I'm noticing:

What if we all really lived as if there is no room for fear in us? What if we really and truly believed that we are all restored to peace and holiness? Wouldn't that be the reality we would be living in? Would all the references to fighting and upset and sadness escape our vision if we could just exist in that belief for one day? I'm game. Let's all live that way today. It is God's Will we be set free. And I, for one, am all about love and light and happiness and salvation!

Let me know what you notice living today in fearlessness and love. That's a miracle for sure!

Day 309

Today's Lesson:

I will not fear to look within today.

Within me is eternal innocence, because it is God's Will that it be there forever and forever. I, His Son, whose will is limitless as is His Own, can will no change in this. For to deny my Father's Will is to deny my own. To look within is but to find my will as God created it, and as it is. I fear to look within because I think I made another will that is not true, and made it real. Yet it has no effects. Within me is the Holiness of God. Within me is the memory of Him.

The step I take today, my Father, is my sure release from idle dreams of sin. your altar stands serene and undefiled. It is the holy altar to my Self, and there I find my true identity.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I'm reading the text for today and it goes very well with the lesson. When we go within, we may find that our mind is split, believing one thing which contradicts what is really true. Today's text says that "correction, to a mind so split, must be a way to punish sins you think are yours in someone else. And thus does he become your victim, not your brother, different from you in that he is more guilty, thus in need of your correction, as the one more innocent than he.... Correction you would do must separate, because that is the function given it by you. When you perceive correction is the same as pardon, then you also know the Holy Spirit's Mind and yours are One. And so your own Identity is found."

What that says to me is that when I fail to look within, my focus is on everything I think is wrong with my brother, because I certainly wouldn't want to believe that I need any correction. The focus then is outside myself, and that really manifests separation, not oneness. If I believe that my brother "sins" while I merely am "mistaken" (and that warrants the traditional definition of forgiveness), then I am in denial of what is really true.

The text goes on to say that "correction is the function given both (my "errors" and my brother's "sins"), but neither one alone. And when it is fulfilled as shared, it must correct mistakes in you and him. It cannot leave mistakes in one unhealed and set the other free."

So whenever I see something in someone else I think needs correction, the lesson for me is to look inside myself and see where that is in me. If we are all one, there will be no division, and correction will be provided by the One Who knows correction and forgiveness are the same.

Now that's a miracle!

Day 308

Today's Lesson:

This instant is the only time there is.

I have conceived of time in such a way that I defeat my aim. If I elect to reach past time to timelessness, I must change my perception of what time is for. Time's purpose cannot be to keep the past and future one. The only interval in which I can be saved from time is now. For in this instant has forgiveness come to set me free. The birth of Christ is now, without a past or future. He has come to give His present blessing to the world, restoring it to timelessness and love. And love is ever-present, here and now.

Thanks for this instant, Father. It is now I am redeemed. This instant is the time You have appointed for Your Son's release, and for salvation of the world in him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It's interesting that today's lesson comes on the day Daylight Saving Time ends in most of Europe and North America. So theoretically, we get another hour of time and lose that hour in the spring, when we try to add an hour of daylight to our spring.

What a funny concept, when you really think about it. And it used to be that two states, Indiana and Arizona, didn't elect to play by those rules, which proves that this theory of time is just made up.

Today's lesson reminds us that this instant is really the only time we have anyway. We can choose forgiveness in an instant, and theoretically change the future for ourselves. The decisions we make in any given instant, will alter our future, but they will do it NOW, when we make the decision. There is no need to wait for someday - because that someday can begin at any instant.

So today's miracle is the knowledge that I can alter my world in this instant - and this instant constitutes the only time that matters.

Day 307

Today's Lesson:

Conflicting wishes cannot be my will.

Father, Your Will is mine, and only that. There is no other will for me to have. Let me not try to make another will, for it is senseless and will cause me pain. Your Will alone can bring me happiness, and only Yours exists. If I would have what only You can give, I must accept Your Will for me, and enter into peace where conflict is impossible. your Son is one with You in being and in will, and nothing contradicts the holy truth that I remain as You created me.

And with this prayer we enter silently into a state where conflict cannot come, because we join our holy will with God's, in recognition that they are the same.

Miracles I'm noticing:

People around me continue to delight me with their own discoveries. I went out to dinner last night with some very dear friends, and it was such a pleasure to be in the company of people who just cannot exist in the world of small talk anymore. We talked about some really substantial topics - including religion and politics - which are topics that each can feel safe to add his/her opinions and kick around ideas without any fear of judgment. I know I used to be someone who would be so deathly afraid to share an opinion because I wanted to make sure no one would be upset with me. Now that I'm beginning to realize there is no way conflict can come to a mind that is one with God's, I notice that I find myself in far fewer circumstances that could end up in conflict.

I'm grateful for my growing awareness, and am finding this playing out in my 2008 business plans. As I realize that I'm never in anything alone when I remember that God's Will is mine and that there are no other options, I am truly blessed. I am - and always have been - as God created me. And that is good enough and worthy enough. That's a miracle!

Day 306

Today's Lesson:

The gift of Christ is all I seek today.

What but Christ's vision would I use today, when it can offer me a day in which I see a world so like to Heaven that an ancient memory returns to me? Today I can forget the world I made. Today I can go past all fear, and be restored to love and holiness and peace. Today I am redeemed, and born anew into a world of mercy and of care; of loving kindness and the peace of God.

And so, our Father, we return to You, remembering we never went away; remembering Your holy gifts to us. In gratitude and thankfulness we come, with empty hands and open hearts and minds, asking but what You give. We cannot make an offering sufficient for Your Son. But in Your Love the gift of Christ is his.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I shouldn't be amazed anymore at the seemingly random coincidences that pop up around me these days. Although there are many that appear in front of me, there are also "coincidences" that come from inside my head as well. For example: back at my former job, before I started my own business, I encountered a boss who, at the time, was really a thorn in my side. I was hired to do leadership development, a "soft-skill," in a manufacturing environment - one that typically measured results in "hard" data - things that are easily measured.

That boss and I really butted heads, because I was having a difficult time convincing him that what I could bring to the table really mattered. That was before I had begun studying this course, and before I had awakened to the unlimited possibilities for myself and my life. I ended up leaving that environment after just a year because I just couldn't take it anymore, the constant struggle to prove myself in an environment which I thought just wanted to trip me up.

But one thing that was huge in my career development there was a certification I earned to teach a course in job relations - helping these manufacturing supervisors relate better to their employees. It was developed in the '40s, so it's not new; but I've added pieces to it and have updated it so it's more current. I'm fortunate to have gotten in with the same manufacturing organization at which I was employed, but in a neighboring state, which is why I've been able to sustain my own business. I'm a subcontractor for this other organization and have learned so much about the manufacturing environment - something I never would have been exposed to if it hadn't been for that boss.

One book he suggested I read while I was employed there was a manufacturing book called The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt. I never finished the book when my boss requested I read it 5 years ago, but I picked it up again earlier this week and haven't been able to put it down. I'm not completely finished with it even as I write this (I'm on page 272 of 351 pages), but I'm blown away by what I'm reading.

Everything I'm learning in this book, which is basically a novel about a manufacturing plant manager who is up against some deadlines and has to ask new questions and challenge the traditional way of doing things in order to save his job, fits perfectly with some other training and certifications I received this summer - and there are even parts of this course that can fit with what I'm reading.

There are certainly no accidents - and I'm more grateful every day for every single step along the way in my career and my life. If it hadn't been for that "problem" boss, I wouldn't have had the connection to the neighboring state's manufacturing organization. I may not have figured out as quickly as I did that the problems I was having with the boss weren't his problem at all - he was simply being a mirror for my own issues. What a great lesson and what a great story!

So today's lesson reminds me that I am able to see - right here and now - a world so like Heaven that an ancient memory returns to me. It's almost like deja vu - I already know this stuff!

Here's a line from The Goal that especially hit home:

"We refer to something as common sense only if it is in line with our own intuition ... it only means that when we recognize something as common sense, it must be that, at least intuitively, we knew it all along" (p. 268).

When I can forget the world I made and just accept the gift of Christ, I see things completely differently. Everything around me - even my manufacturing experience - shows me a piece of Heaven and helps me go past fear and be restored to love and peace.

That awareness today is my miracle!

Day 305

Today's Lesson:

There is a peace that Christ bestows on us.

Who uses but Christ's vision finds a peace so deep and quiet, undisturbable and wholly changeless, that the world contains no counterpart. Comparisons are still before this peace. And all the world departs in silence as this peace envelops it, and gently carries it to truth, no more to be the home of fear. For love has come, and healed the world by giving it Christ's peace.

Father, the peace of Christ is given us, because it is Your Will that we be saved. Help us today but to accept Your gift, and judge it not. For it has come to us to save us from our judgment on ourselves.

Miracles I'm noticing:

What a wonderful lesson today! There is no need for comparison or competition when we accept the gift of Christ's peace. What could we possibly want to argue about with this as the truth?

I've found myself being much more aware of my own judgment recently and each time I feel a judgment, I am immediately grateful for the awareness. It's funny, because thinking back, I probably would have said things that I would never say now - I'm not quite to the point where I'm not thinking things yet, but it's getting so much better.

I remember what my spiritual teacher said once when I told her I thought I was getting better and that, as a coach, I always tried to help my clients notice their own progress as well. She said that was all well and good if I wanted to play on that level, but that all I needed to do was decide now to stop the incremental improvements and change my mind about ever being judgmental or fearful again. It can happen that quickly that I give up that story completely, she said.

So, if we know that we can give up the story, why don't we do that? What is the comfort we must think we find by holding on to our stories about why we can't make that shift? Is there fear in being completely loving? That seems a little counter-intuitive, but maybe it's true.

Today we are given a definitive statement: There is a peace that Christ bestows on us. That is a declaration, not a question. So what is fearful about accepting that as Truth? I'm reminded of the title of Bill Cosby's new book: Come on People! But would that be judgmental of me to believe that others need to come on board with these beliefs? It's just so much easier to take care of my own thoughts and my own "stuff," which I know will change the world much more thoroughly than if I delay my own awakening by worrying about everyone else.

So my miracle today is the recognition that when I make up my mind to change my mind, I will be doing my part to bring peace to the rest of the world. In fact, I will be doing all that I can do as I make a commitment to that level of being.

So there's my declaration!