THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

We are still in the action of cleaning up our life. We forgive our past and transform our "special relationships" into Holy Ones, through the action of the Holy Spirit. When we "turn them over" to this Divine Care, they can become part of the Real World of Happy Dreams. Happy Dreams are loving. They are free of judgments and grievances, attack thoughts and condemnations, motives and expectations. The in Happy Dream we love our brothers as ourself. We want for others what we want for ourselves. Peace and Joy are increased in us by sharing them. The perfect happiness that is God's Will for us belongs to everyone. We wish that for all. And the prayers we make to invoke this perfect happiness include and raise up our brothers and sisters with us in this ascension. It is a good way to enter Heaven—not alone, but holding hands with those who assure our common Divine Source.

The Little Willingness is only our desire to have the Holy Instant above all else, and our acceptance of the fact that we are asked to give only this "little willingness" for it to be what it is without our interference. We need not "prepare ourselves" for the Holy Instant to be given to us. The Holy Spirit's strength is given, and we are only required to receive it. Our "shadows" may still surround the situation, but it is the Holy Spirit's job, not ours, to shine away these "shadows." We are already worthy to receive the Holy Instant. The power of God's Will works through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Instant. The Holy Instant IS THE CORRECTION. We need not prepare for it or make ourselves pure enough to receive it. This is God's job, not ours. We combine our "little willingness" with the unlimited Power of God's Will. This worthiness to receive is all we need to accept, and add nothing more on our part. We are ready now to receive this great gift.

The Light that we have denied is still in us. The goal is the advance from Fear to Truth, the goal of true Knowledge. The goal is Light. Even though we had forgotten that the Light was always in us, this is not enough to blot out the Light, which is not distinguishable. You cannot put out the Light that God created in you. The downside of the ego is very well described so we can see it and let it go. Jesus often points out the depth of our illusion, which is the very Light we need to shine away our errors. We need not feel trapped, or feel "guilty" for the subtlety of the ego's modus operandi. We can then choose to walk away from the "self-deception" that has us fooled. We can hold our brother's hand and let go of all judgments and grievances. In this joining with our brother we invite the Christ into our Holy Relationships. The desire for Holiness is all we need acknowledge. The joining with our brother (to whom we have grievances) acknowledges his right to enter heaven with me. In this "joining" invokes the Christ to walk with us. This Christ brings the Holiness with Him at your invitation.

Why do we dream? Because we feel threatened and fearful, we make up a substitute "reality" in which we are "in control" of all aspects of a story we make up, but one that is not really there. The "basis" of the dream becomes our "protection" from these attacks. We feel attacked, and this is the cause for "dreams." We want a "reality" in which we are "protected" from this attack. We substitute illusions for truth, and believe that illusions form our "safety" from a world that is dangerously unsafe, and directed against us. We arrange a fantasy world in dreams, and we arrange a fantasy world of special relationships in our "waking dreams." Perceptual temper tantrums want a different reality that we "make up." Fear does not leave us, though, and terror is still underlying the dreams we make up. We think reality is fearful. We are attacked and we have to defend ourselves. The dream is our projection that we think protects us. But it is waking up in the Holy Spirit's "happy dream" that is the trading of our "special relationships" for Holy ones. The Holy Spirit is our means for waking up from our dreams.

There is a "substitute" reality we replace with special relationships. These are not ones which are based on Love, but rather on fear and motives of getting something. The inner journey begins to see that only Love is real, and the fear of the external world divides and fragments. The truth inside is Whole and unified. Turning all Relationships over to the care of the Holy Spirit, their purpose is restored. Nothing can intrude upon the Holiness of Relationships formed with this sacred Unity in mind.

What are the conditions for Peace? The Holy Instant is the main condition in which Peace would be the result. It is what every situation should hold as its true meaning. The Holy Instant provides the meaning of every relationship, seen as a Whole. A situation of Perfect Peace is the result because we allow it to be exactly as it is. The Holy Instant is free of all fear, judgment, problems, and guilt or anger. Let TRUTH be what it is. This would have to usher forth peace and joy. Happiness is a condition for Peace. One cannot lack Happiness and be at Peace. What is in us that would attract anything less than Pure Joy? The correction of error is our responsibility. What is in us that needs to change? We can make this change happen swiftly, and clean up ourselves within, when we take responsibility 100% for our results. This is the place where the "conditions of peace" are met. FAITH, not "faithlessness" is what we use to allow the Holy Spirit's Purpose to be made manifest in us.

The Call for Faith requires that in any situation that has a "problem" that we have faith that the "problem" can be "solved" with Faith. Is there a change we need to make within ourselves that will bring a solution? To remove the problem to "elsewhere," outside of the situation where the disagreement lies, does not really solve the "problem." There is no problem in any situation that faith will not solve. The meaning of the problem is in the situation in which the problem was made. The relationship in which this problem arose is the very place where Faith can be applied and the solution given. This requires our Faith that the Holy Spirit has the solution. Truth of Peace and Joy is the underlying Goal that the Holy Spirit serves. The answer is within the situation (relationship). Do we have faith in this spiritual force that brings its own Correction? We can come up with a higher thought (solution) but this requires we "drop or position" and are willing to go for a "higher thought." Faith is necessary for this higher reality to be revealed. Peace and Faith go together. Do we want the goal of Truth? Peace and Joy as the final result of anything?

When we "set a goal" we can move toward a particular result. When this goal is clear, the result we want is well defined. This is established in the beginning. The goal clarifies the situation. The situation flows in the way of the goal. Without the goal, there is no direction for the situation, and the outcome can vary. Usually we judge the situation according to preferences that are "after the fact." A situation without a goal is more apt to dissatisfy us, and then we attack ourselves or others with a vengeful emotions. What the goal establishes is a clear direction in which the means for achieving it can be assessed. Are we getting closer to our goal, or not? We easily release what is not supporting our goal, with minimum judgment, because we are clear. Without the goal we drift. In this nebulous drifting without a goal, anything can happen. With a goal, only things supporting the goal are given our sustained attention, therefore, mere consistency helps us immensely to attain the outcomes that fit our goal. Simple and unequivocal, the goal of Truth gets us in alignment with the Holy Spirit.

When we turn over a special relationship to the Holy Spirit's purpose for healing, the Holy Relationship is the result of the transformation that comes about. In the first stage of this transformation we go through an unsettling period when our old "motives” are coming to an end. The growing pain of this discomfort requires faith to persevere. The goal is set with sanity as its purpose, but the ego wants to cut off the relationship for a new one with the same ego motives. We are asked to have patience and trust that the Holy Spirit is in charge, even in the midst of challenges that are for our own learning of the Holy Relationship. This is the time to maintain faith that the relationship is ascending to a higher level. The Special Relationship is coming to an end, and the Holy Relationship is being born in a new Purpose.

The Holy Relationship is in great contrast to the Special Relationship. Set in an elaborate and bedazzled frame, the Special Relationship is a collection of dismal fears, guilts, and anger that ends in the despair of death. Only the elaborate frame gives it any illusion of desirability. Yet the death that the picture represents is meaningless, and not even there in reality. Were it not for the illusions of the frame that seems so glitteringly "real," we would dismiss this picture as worthless. It is the Holy Relationship that offers us a true picture of Life and Loveliness. God is at its heart, and our relationship to the Life of our Creator is the Force that sustains us eternally. Realized in our Holy Relationships with our Brothers, we can restore our awareness to God in the very Relationships we once tried to make special. "To make happy" is the purpose of all Holy Relationships. For God is realized there. And God is Life, and Happiness, and Love all applied to the very people we hold dear in our time here on earth.