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

Now would we be who God created us to be. Who else would we be? The "self we made up" is capricious and full of problems and conflicts. The Self God created is clear, changeless, and forever immersed  in the Peace of God. Why would we want to be anything but that? This Lesson helps us to claimn our Self Identity. Let's be grateful for the clarity. 

We have dominion over how we feel. Feelings are spearheaded by thoughts, and we rule our mind which contains these thoughts. How we feel is in our mind, based on the thoughts we choose to think. We rule over this mind. We are the sovereigns of our mind. Therefore, we are the determiners of how we feel—JOY or SORROW. Which emotion do we serve? LOVE or FEAR. This dialogue between Markus and Sondra Ray goes into this perennial question of inner sovereignty. We have the freedom to decide. 

What is Salvation? A state of perfect happiness is promised in A Course in Miracles. Nothing short of this is worthy of God's Son [or Daughter]. We are as God created is in a perfect state of Joy. The Lesson #235 states:

I need but look upon all things that seem to hurt me, and with perfect certainty assure myself, "God wills that I be saved from this," and merely watch them disappear. I need but keep in mind my Father's Will for me is only happiness, to find that only happiness has come to me.

Whatever the challenge we may be facing in our life right now, can we apply this to it? We have to remember that God's will for us is only happiness—and immediately drop the thoughts that have attracted "unhappiness" to us. It sounds too simple, but it is simple. Only our ego's thought system would make it "complicated." 

The MERCY OF GOD saves us from the quagmire of thoughts that compose the hell we have made up. Can we drop all of them and allow the Peace of God to take their place? With GOD'S MERCY we can. 

We remember a state of mind we never really left. The Peace of God is shining in us now, and we are forever in the Mind of our Father who Created us. We are in the Mother of our physical form as well.  All levels of our being are in the flow of the Divine, and always have been. Just a "little dream" of separation distracted our minds for a little while, and this is coming to a close. "Father, today I am Your Son again." 

Who guides our steps? Will we step back and let God guide our steps? Jesus can help us do this, but we have to "step back" and let him lead the way? Are we doing this? This Lesson will help us do this. In this Podcast Markus tells us about the great sage Vivekananda, whose inner transformation allowed him to bring Vedanta to the Western world. He simply "gave his life to God to guide him," which provided everything he needed. 

To what do we give our attention? The mind is a powerful place of command. What is in our mind determines the actions and results of our life. Using our mind to connect with our Divine Source is the subject of this Lesson #232. 

Be in my mind, my Father, when I wake, and shine on me throughout the day today. Let every minute be a time in which I dwell with You. And let me not forget my hourly thanksgiving that You have remained with me, and always will be there to hear my call to You and answer me. As evening comes, let all my thoughts be still of You and of Your Love. And let me sleep sure of my safety, certain of Your care, and happily aware I am Your Son.

Can we give our "hourly thanksgiving" for this Divine Connection? It is the easiest thing when we have the willingness to do it. Sondra and I will set the timer on our iPhone to go off every 55 minutes. We find that keeps us on track. Get in the habit of periodically "disengaging" from activity. Then when you return to what you are doing, you are in a more Peaceful state. 

What do we want to remember? All of out struggles and traumas in life? What does it mean to remember our Father? Is God lurking in the wings, waiting to judge us and mete out punishments for our mistakes? Do we think that about God the Father? Anger and Vengeance? We need a different Reality of what we think Salvation is. Why would we want to remember our Father? What is in this remembrance that would lift us out of our sorrow, fear, guilt, anger, and general dismay? This lesson gives us a piece of Heaven to remember. It gives us a piece of our real Father to remember. 

Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perspective. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.

Let us "come together in the light" and remember God in each other now. 

Today we ask for Peace. Today we ask to be ourselves. Today the Peace of God is shining in us now. We are determined to be who we are as God created us to be. Nothing can intrude upon the Peace that God Himself created to be His Son. We can put away all of our conflicts, concerns, fears, upsets and past regrets. We are in the present now with this Peace. This is all that matters to us now. We FIND this Peace, because it is within us—it is actually who we are. 

This is the truth about our Self Identity: "Love, which created me, is what I am." This Lesson has the potential to dissolve all of our beliefs in sin, suffering, anger, fear, guilt, and even death itself. Why would be not want to receive this Gift of God fully? We have to see the face of Christ in all our brothers, and drop all of our grievances in order to fully realize the power of this Lesson. 

How do we condemn ourselves? Thoughts of limitation and lack? Anger and judgments? Fears and guilt? We don't have to look too far inside of ourselves to see we have become our own worst enemy. This Lesson is the end of all that self-condemnation in its many forms. This Lesson is the acceptance of ourselves in our true state of holiness. We are absolved of our errors, not condemned for them. This is the ultimate "correction" of our wrong thinking. Don't we think it is time to make this inner commitment never to "condemn" ourselves or others?