ACIM Daily Lesson 306 The gift of Christ is all I seek today. 1. What but Christ’s vision would I use today, when it can offer me a day in which I see a world so like to Heaven that an ancient memory returns to me?

Lesson 306

The gift of Christ is all I seek today.

1. What but Christ’s vision would I use today, when it can offer me a day in which I see a world so like to Heaven that an ancient memory returns to me? ²Today I can forget the world I made. ³Today I can go past all fear, and be restored to love and holiness and peace. ⁴Today I am redeemed, and born anew into a world of mercy and of care; of loving kindness and the peace of God.

2. And so, our Father, we return to You, remembering we never went away; remembering Your holy gifts to us. ²In gratitude and thankfulness we come, with empty hands and open hearts and minds, asking but what You give. ³We cannot make an offering sufficient for Your Son. ⁴But in Your Love the gift of Christ is his.

This lesson expresses the certainty that we will awaken.

 We can do so today if we so choose. In order to do this, we must let go of all we have ever believed about everything. We are wrong about who we are and what the world is. There is nothing that we believe that is true. This is why we must come with empty hands. We must let go of our beliefs, all of them. But before we can let go of our beliefs, we must look at them and see their effects. We then let them go because their effects show us they are not valuable even though we thought they were.

Heaven is chosen consciously. ²The choice cannot be made until alternatives are accurately seen and understood. ³All that is veiled in shadows must be raised to understanding, to be judged again, this time with Heaven’s help. (ACIM, W-138.9:1-3)

This morning while making my coffee, I was looking at my kitchen window. I recently had new windows installed in my house, and two of the windows were not framed as they should be. The kitchen window is the worst and is an eyesore. It is going to have to be fixed. I began to resent the company that did a poor job and is not going to repair it.

Of course, the moment this happened, I lost my peace, and I was in hell. But I remembered this passage from lesson 138 because I had discussed it with someone yesterday. I sat with the Holy Spirit and let thoughts rise up in my mind. Together we looked at each one until my mind was healed. The last thought was the correction.

It was then that I realized I didn’t care if the company was wrong or right.

All that mattered to me is that I choose Heaven. I remembered that each person in that company was my dear brother in Christ. My purpose is to see them with Christ’s Vision, that is, as God created them. All the stress of judgment melted away, and I was at peace again. I will get the window fixed at some point. In the meantime, instead of being a trigger for judgment, it is now a reminder to always choose Heaven.

As a result of consistently choosing to let the Holy Spirit heal my mind, I will begin to see with Christ’s vision always. As I let go more and more of these beliefs, I have made room for reality. This has motivated me to continue until my mind is completely clear. I desire only God’s gifts of love and peace, and happiness. My desire, being singular, the real world will dawn upon my mind. From there, God will envelop me in His Love.

We can think about this process as gentle steps we take.

The first step is to simply become aware that our thoughts matter. Most of us didn’t even understand that our thoughts are actually determining our experience. That we do know now is a giant step forward. The next step follows the first quite naturally. We become aware that, for the most part, we are unaware of them. Then we can learn to become conscious of our thoughts.

Having learned to notice these thoughts and have come to realize their importance, it is time for the next step. We become aware that there is a direct cause and effect between what we think and what we experience. Of course, that would not be particularly helpful if we could not do anything about it. There can be a period of experimentation with this.

For instance, I began by trying to think positive thoughts in order to have a positive experience. But this is just a temporary part of this phase. It might be helpful to see the connection, but is not going to awaken us. We want to go much further than trying to consciously do what we have always done. That is, we don’t want to find another way to manifest our thoughts. We already do that every moment. ¹³There are no idle thoughts. ¹⁴All thinking produces form at some level. (ACIM, T-2.VI.9:13-14)

This brings us to the next step.

Now we have made a habit of being aware of our thoughts, and we know they matter. It is time to make a real change, and A Course in Miracles explains how to do that. We learn we have the Holy Spirit in our minds. It is His function to correct our thinking. Our part becomes clear, we are to notice our thoughts and desire correction. We then ask the Holy Spirit to look with us at those thoughts, and correction occurs. At least it occurs to the degree we are ready for it.

It can be such an astounding shift in thinking that it feels miraculous. And so it is. Sometimes we must look at a strong belief many times with Him before we are ready to accept the correction. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we continue to do our simple part. We are assured of our success because it is the Will of God that this is done.

As we continue to patiently go through these steps, our minds become healed, and our lives change at the same rate. Where we once experienced anger and fear, now there is happiness. Our lives might have been chaotic and are now peaceful. Perhaps we felt hate or hated, but now love pervades our experience.

This is how, step by step, we begin to live the happy dream in preparation for our return Home.

We begin to forget the past. I’ve noticed that I can remember being angry all the time, but I can’t actually remember what that felt like. That is, I cannot bring up a memory of the emotional reaction. And I have no interest in doing so. Anger no longer holds value for me. If it shows up at all, I look at the cause and forgive it, and the anger dissipates.

It is the same for many other feelings, such as guilt. I remember that I felt so guilty for so many things. But I don’t remember how that felt or why I thought it was necessary. I don’t remember how it felt to think I couldn’t stop feeling guilty, even though I had believed that for a long time. And though this may not yet be complete for me, it is close. And maybe, ²Today I can forget the world I made.

What does it mean to come to Him with empty hands and open hearts and minds?

Here is what it means to me so far. I am learning that God gave me all of Himself in my creation, so what could I ask Him for except the memory of this? Prayer is becoming so simple; it is just my love for my Father and my brothers and their love for me, an endless song of love.

It means that I am learning what surrender means. I surrender my self and my separate will. I surrender to His word and His guidance. And I hold nothing back. I give it all to Him. I give Him my material possessions, meaning I cling to nothing I own or have ever wished I owned. Would it help for me to give something up? Then I will.

I give my children to Him. I surrender their care to God. That means I give up the idea I know what is best, what they should have or do. I give up protecting and defending them. I give up wanting their life to be easier. And I give up worrying about them, and give up needing them or anything from them. In the place of all this of all I surrender, I keep only what is true of them, their perfection, their beauty, their glory, their wholeness.

I surrender the belief in guilt in all its forms. I surrender anger and fear and uncertainty and doubt. Some of these I must surrender over and over, and I do so until nothing but love is left in my mind. And with love comes Christ’s Vision, and I will see what is nearest to reality in this world.

This is from a past entry when I was feeling impatient with my progress.

Again, today I am told that I can have Heaven. I can have Heaven if I will only choose Christ’s vision over the ego’s vision. Yesterday I thought about the lesson all day. What I noticed is that when I read lessons like these, I feel impatient. This is not a comfortable feeling, so I took it to the Holy Spirit. He told me over and over to rest in Him, to be patient, to know that everything is unfolding perfectly, and to realize that each step I take is essential to the journey. Patience is easy for Him to preach; He never forgets Who He is.

He did help me to see that impatience is just another ego strategy to distract me. Of course! All I have to do is ask myself if God would be saying, “Hurry up, you need to be moving faster.” I know that is not a God thought, so it must be an ego thought, as those are my only two choices. I offer the thought of impatience to the Holy Spirit and ask for a different way to see it.

This is what the Holy Spirit shared with me.

Holy Spirit: The ego tells you that impatience is good as it proves how badly you want this; it proves how spiritual you are. But beneath that mask of spirituality, dear one, the ego is really saying that you are in danger. It is suggesting that time is very real. The ego uses impatience to prove that you are failing and that you are created flawed in some way, and that you cannot do this. So you push yourself to prove the ego wrong, and yet you only feel less capable as you feel the dogs of time nipping at your heels. All of this is a lie. I have said this before, and I will say it again; you are exactly as God created you, and nothing you do or do not do changes that one iota.

Continue to do as you have done. Notice your thoughts, and pay attention to your feelings. Do not deny or repress. Listen for My Voice. Bring Me your confused thoughts. Give me your willingness. I am in your mind, and I am closer than thought. I am very much a part of you. The road you walk now is very straight, and when you think of it, you know this is true. Do not look back, and do not look forward. Be with Me here and now. These are the steps that bring you home. Because you desire to walk this straight and narrow path, all helpful experiences will be placed before you. Do not mistake them for errors or obstructions, and do not try to step around them. Look at each one with Me, and let Me show you how to use them for your Awakening.

You want to awaken; you know the steps, and you are willing to allow and accept.

This is what you asked for, and you already have it. Relax into the journey and allow yourself to enjoy it. The Father wants only joy for His children. While what you do is essential, it is not serious. I know your resistance to this thought. You have mistakenly associated seriousness with a sincere desire, but taking the tiny mad idea seriously is how you got to this place. Laugh, sweet one, laugh for the joy of being one with your Father. Laugh often and play, for you have much to be glad of.

Me: Okay, I lay on the altar my fears and doubts and all of my impatience. I continue my journey today with empty hands and an open mind…and a heart filled with joy and laughter.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 306 click here.

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