Now are we one with Him Who is our Source.
What time but now can truth be recognized? The present is the only time there is. And so today, this instant, now, we come to look upon what is forever there; not in our sight, but in the eyes of Christ. He looks past time, and sees eternity as represented there. He hears the sounds the senseless, busy world engenders, yet He hears them faintly. For beyond them all He hears the song of Heaven, and the Voice for God more clear, more meaningful, more near.
The world fades easily away before His sight. Its sounds grow dim. A melody from far beyond the world increasingly is more and more distinct; an ancient call to which He gives an ancient answer. You will recognize them both, for they are but your answer to your Father's Call to you. Christ answers for you, echoing your Self, using your voice to give His glad consent; accepting your deliverance for you.
How holy is your practicing today, as Christ gives you His sight and hears for you, and answers in your name the Call He hears! How quiet is the time you give to spend with Him, beyond the world. How easily are all your seeming sins forgot, and all your sorrows unremembered. On this day is grief laid by, for sights and sounds that come from nearer than the world are clear to you who will today accept the gifts He gives.
There is a silence into which the world can not intrude. There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost. There is a sense of holiness in you the thought of sin has never touched. All this today you will remember. Faithfulness in practicing today will bring rewards so great and so completely different from all things you sought before, that you will know that here your treasure is, and here your rest.
This is the day when vain imaginings part like a curtain, to reveal what lies beyond them. Now is what is really there made visible, while all the shadows which appeared to hide it merely sink away. Now is the balance righted, and the scale of judgment left to Him Who judges true. And in His judgment will a world unfold in perfect innocence before your eyes. Now will you see it with the eyes of Christ. Now is its transformation clear to you.
Brother, this day is sacred to the world. Your vision, given you from far beyond all things within the world, looks back on them in a new light. And what you see becomes the healing and salvation of the world. The valuable and valueless are both perceived and recognized for what they are. And what is worthy of your love receives your love, while nothing to be feared remains.
We will not judge today. We will receive but what is given us from judgment made beyond the world. Our practicing today becomes our gift of thankfulness for our release from blindness and from misery. All that we see will but increase our joy, because its holiness reflects our own. We stand forgiven in the sight of Christ, with all the world forgiven in our own. We bless the world, as we behold it in the light in which our Savior looks on us, and offer it the freedom given us through His forgiving vision, not our own.
Open the curtain in your practicing by merely letting go all things you think you want. Your trifling treasures put away, and leave a clean and open space within your mind where Christ can come, and offer you the treasure of salvation. He has need of your most holy mind to save the world. Is not this purpose worthy to be yours? Is not Christ's vision worthy to be sought above the world's unsatisfying goals?
Let not today slip by without the gifts it holds for you receiving your consent and your acceptance. We can change the world, if you acknowledge them. You may not see the value your acceptance gives the world. But this you surely want; you can exchange all suffering for joy this very day. Practice in earnest, and the gift is yours. Would God deceive you? Can His promise fail? Can you withhold so little, when His Hand holds out complete salvation to His Son?
The Following is Forwarded from Pathwaysoflight.org
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Lesson 164
"Now are we one with Him Who is our Source."
After being shown in yesterday's lesson how the thought of death shows up in this world, today's lesson reminds us of what Christ's vision will show us. Do we want to experience the place of peace within us that is untouched by the turmoil of the world? Christ's vision shows it to us. Do we want to remember the holiness in us that is untouched by any thought of sin? Christ's vision shows it to us. Do we want to feel God's joy in all its fullness? This too Christ's vision offers us.
How do we receive Christ's vision? By letting go of all the things we think we want in this world. The Course shows us again and again that the forms of this world offer us nothing. But if we value these forms, we will not be able to see what Christ's vision offers us. We see death and destruction instead of eternal life. We see sin and guilt instead of holiness and innocence, which is our reality. We are not asked to sacrifice anything of value. We are simply being asked to recognize the valueless for what it is. When we recognize that it is valueless, we automatically let it go.
We are being asked today to lay down all the valueless and leave our minds open to the loving, joyous vision of Christ and bring that vision to the world. If we expect people to behave in certain ways, say certain things, in order for us to feel happy or safe or accepted or appreciated, we cannot receive the vision of Christ. But as we set aside our likes and dislikes and the many demands we make upon the world in order for us to be happy, we make room for Christ's holy vision to show us the Light where we thought there was only shadows, to show us the Love where we thought was fear, to show us the joy in place of sorrow, the peace in place of conflict.
As we learn to see with His vision, we offer His vision to the world. We become a Light amongst the dark shadows of the world. We become God's messengers of Love with a message that offers healing and peace.
Today I will practice setting aside my petty preferences and clear my mind to receive Christ's vision.
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