Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.
The idea for today is an extension of the previous one. You do not think of light in terms of strength, and darkness in terms of weakness. That is because your idea of what seeing means is tied up with the body and its eyes and brain. Thus you believe that you can change what you see by putting little bits of glass before your eyes. This is among the many magical beliefs that come from the conviction you are a body, and the body's eyes can see.
You also believe the body's brain can think. If you but understood the nature of thought, you could but laugh at this insane idea. It is as if you thought you held the match that lights the sun and gives it all its warmth; or that you held the world within your hand, securely bound until you let it go. Yet this is no more foolish than to believe the body's eyes can see; the brain can think.
It is God's strength in you that is the light in which you see, as it is His Mind with which you think. His strength denies your weakness. It is your weakness that sees through the body's eyes, peering about in darkness to behold the likeness of itself; the small, the weak, the sickly and the dying, those in need, the helpless and afraid, the sad, the poor, the starving and the joyless. These are seen through eyes that cannot see and cannot bless.
Strength overlooks these things by seeing past appearances. It keeps its steady gaze upon the light that lies beyond them. It unites with light, of which it is a part. It sees itself. It brings the light in which your Self appears. In darkness you perceive a self that is not there. Strength is the truth about you; weakness is an idol falsely worshipped and adored that strength may be dispelled, and darkness rule where God appointed that there should be light.
Strength comes from truth, and shines with light its Source has given it; weakness reflects the darkness of its maker. It is sick and looks on sickness, which is like itself. Truth is a savior and can only will for happiness and peace for everyone. It gives its strength to everyone who asks, in limitless supply. It sees that lack in anyone would be a lack in all. And so it gives its light that all may see and benefit as one. Its strength is shared, that it may bring to all the miracle in which they will unite in purpose and forgiveness and in love.
Weakness, which looks in darkness, cannot see a purpose in forgiveness and in love. It sees all others different from itself, and nothing in the world that it would share. It judges and condemns, but does not love. In darkness it remains to hide itself, and dreams that it is strong and conquering, a victor over limitations that but grow in darkness to enormous size.
It fears and it attacks and hates itself, and darkness covers everything it sees, leaving its dreams as fearful as itself. No miracles are here, but only hate. It separates itself from what it sees, while light and strength perceive themselves as one. The light of strength is not the light you see. It does not change and flicker and go out. It does not shift from night to day, and back to darkness till the morning comes again.
The light of strength is constant, sure as love, forever glad to give itself away, because it cannot give but to itself. No one can ask in vain to share its sight, and none who enters its abode can leave without a miracle before his eyes, and strength and light abiding in his heart.
The strength in you will offer you the light, and guide your seeing so you do not dwell on idle shadows that the body's eyes provide for self-deception. Strength and light unite in you, and where they meet, your Self stands ready to embrace you as Its Own. Such is the meeting place we try today to find and rest in, for the peace of God is where your Self, His Son, is waiting now to meet Itself again, and be as One.
Let us give twenty minutes twice today to join this meeting. Let yourself be brought unto your Self. Its strength will be the light in which the gift of sight is given you. Leave, then, the dark a little while today, and we will practice seeing in the light, closing the body's eyes and asking truth to show us how to find the meeting place of self and Self, where light and strength are one.
Morning and evening we will practice thus. After the morning meeting, we will use the day in preparation for the time at night when we will meet again in trust. Let us repeat as often as we can the idea for today, and recognize that we are being introduced to sight, and led away from darkness to the light where only miracles can be perceived.
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THE FOLLOWING IS FORWARDED FROM PATHWAYSOFLIGHT.ORG
Lesson 92
“Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.”
It seems right now that the darkness of the ego thought system is being acted out on a grand scale. We are seeing that attack begets attack begets attack. Graphic images of death and destruction make it seem very real. It seems to confirm that the ego thought system is firmly established, never to be undone. This of course is the goal of the ego. Like a puffer fish that swells up to look larger and more menacing, the ego makes fearsome images to make itself look real. Yet this ‘show of strength’ is just an attempt to hide the underlying sense of weakness.
Remembering that light and strength are one and another lesson which says, God is the light in which I see, we remember that our strength comes from our complete dependence on God, our Source. The ego is the idea of independence -- being different, unique, special. Yet to establish this independence, the ego must cut itself off from the Source of strength. Now perceiving itself as weak, it must find ways to hide its weakness.
Attack is its chief mechanism for hiding its sense of weakness. Attack always comes out of weakness. Strength sees no need for attack, for It knows Itself as invulnerable. Judgment can only come out of a sense of weakness. The ego, perceiving itself as weak, projects that weakness onto an outside world and judges that weakness in an attempt to make itself look strong. Thus any time I judge, I am doing the same thing as sending an army into battle or making weapons of mass destruction. It is all the same error.
I cannot personally go to Iraq or any other place of military conflict and stop the battle. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, I can rise above the battleground in my mind, let go of my insistence on specialness and let the Holy Spirit shine His light that I might see the strength I share with God. Here I find peace. Here I find safety. Here I see innocence and there is no need to judge. Here, in this place of Light, I remember my Source and my strength. From this place I offer the peace of God to all. I see innocence everywhere and I remember only Love is real.
This is how I bring peace to conflict and shine the conflict away. What happens between bodies has no effect on the Son of God. As I remember my unity with my Source and my strength, I help all God’s Sons remember too. This is how I can help. I call upon the strength of God in me today to help me bring this Light and strength with me in every moment, that I may always bless with my thoughts and deeds.
Today my job is to let myself be brought unto my Self. I do this by being willing to open my mind to the Light, to the strength of my true Self. This Light and strength is always there, waiting to give all of Itself to Itself. In the Light, all the little self personalities disappear. All the false masks of differences and individuality disappear. All the false stories disappear. All sense of conflict disappears. All sense of weakness and vulnerability disappears. What remains is the peace of God, the Love of God and the joy of God.
God’s strength is constant because it is changeless. It is always there eternally. If I want to think that I am separate from it, I can experience that illusion. But the truth is I am still one with the Light and strength of God. This can never change. I can believe in stories or I can believe in the Truth. It is always my choice.
I let the stories go as I let myself be brought unto my Self. This is my answer to every sense of weakness, every problem I may perceive. This is the only answer that works. This is where my strength lies. Opening up my mind to the quiet, eternal Love of God is where my happiness lies. It is all I want. It is all I need.
I am slowly but surely finding true strength in myself by committing to these lessons and the Course. I can't begin to understand what the lesson means when it says my body's brain cannot think, but the mere fact that I am willing to believe there is something other than this gives me much hope.
I have perceived much darkness in my life, but the tiny specks of light I have experienced give me enough strength and willingness to carry me. I would guess that is the strength of God in me this lesson refers to because it is the only logical explanation I have.
Although I probably can't begin to even fathom what my Heavenly Father's strength can do for me, these lessons help me stay focused on thoughts that steer me toward my goal.
Holy Spirit, please place my gratitude for these lessons at my Father's altar for me and thank you for your constant guidance. Amen
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