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

What is the truth? What is the error that truth is meant to correct? Are we in a deep sense of peace and joy? To the degree we are not is an "error." We are told truth will give us a deep sense of peace, the likes of which we have never known. It will increase 100 times, then 100 more. We are asked to invite the Christ Consciousness into our mind. Can we do it? Are we willing to do it? Try it. This is the day we make contact with the Christ in us, and this will not be an idle fantasy. This is the truth that will correct all errors in our mind. 

We have a responsibility to receive and give the truth, which in the case of these past few lessons, are the Peace and Joy of God. Can we receive what belongs to us? Can we maintain Peace and Joy in the midst of an often raucous and conflicting world? This is our challenge and our gift. The happiness of God is not dependent on external conditions being met. It is not a party we have, to put on for ourselves to prove we are having fun. God's Peace and Joy are ours to first receive, and then to share. Receive them and give them away. This is the true dynamic of holiness. 

God's peace and joy are ours. Will we claim them? We claim them most by giving them away. The more peace and joy we extend to others (especially to those who activate us the most) the more we will receive peace and joy. This is a common thread that runs through A Course in Miracles - what we extend is what we receive. Extend peace and joy, and we will receive more of it. Project anger and upset, and we will get more of those. The truth that we seek is God's peace and joy. They are ours to extend. And the more we "give them away" the more of them we will have. This is the simple truth. 

Peace and Joy are already within us. This lesson makes it clear. We need not "seek" outside of our Self for a condition that is already "in us." Peace and Joy are our inheritance from God to claim. Can we end all the external "seeking," and discover the stillness and silence within that are our greatest gifts and assets from our Creator? 

We might not think we associate "love" with struggle, strife, and problems. But we do. We might not associate love with "only happiness." This Lesson makes it perfectly clear that where there is Love, there is also God and Happiness. Where there is not happiness, there is so form of separation from Love and God going on. This is a clear statement, very simple, that washes away centuries of false religious theology that said Love must endure pain and suffering. Love is not a matter of "putting up with pain," but undoing the thoughts that produced the pain in the first place. Love undoes. This is the lesson that sets us back on the track to perfect happiness. 

What would God's Will be for us if not perfect happiness? Suffering buys us nothing, and we are not asked to make "retribution" for our "sins" through some form of pain and suffering. The age of "sacrifice" is over. Can we stop "beating ourselves up" with guilt, shame, fear, anger, and attack thoughts? We have to share in God's Will for us, which is perfect happiness and eternal JOY. We may think it is not possible. But God's Will is not only "possible," but has the power of the universe behind it to deliver to the "doorstep" of our awareness. Will we let it in, is the question?

The concept and belief in "sin" is totally undone in this lesson. It states, "There is no sin; it has no consequences." In the space left empty by removing the belief in "sin," there is no fear, anger, guilt, pain or suffering, which all rise from the belief in "sin." In this space there is perfect happiness, which is not dependent upon the external conditions we often associate with pleasure. In the space free of "sin," there is a clear view of the Self God created, which is our true Self, one of “perfect happiness."

We have a part in God’s plan for salvation, which is simply to be happy.  This Lesson #100 makes happiness and salvation synonymous. Our part in the greater plan to end sorrow in us and in the world, is to make the decision for perfect happiness. Heaven and happiness go together, just as surely as sorrow and hell are states of being from which we are attempting to escape. Will we decide for happiness? It’s our challenge to play our essential role.

Salvation and forgiveness are the same. And this is our function on earth. The depths of this function unfold on every page of A Course in Miracles. We can accept our part in this action of forgiveness or not. But it is the only way we can transmute negative vibrations of pain and suffering into a world restored to sanity. And this happens individually, inside of us. We take responsibility for what we see and how we see it. In this cleaning up pf our perception, there is God’s Love.

Will we accept our part in God’s plan for salvation? This comes with some clear directions. Are we committed to total forgiveness? Are we willing to give up all grievances? Can we see that Happiness is our function in this process of letting go of judgments? And are we willing to stick with the practice and disengage from the world in order to make direct contact with the Holy Spirit within? This is the call of this Lesson—"I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.”