ACIM Chapter 13. XI. The Peace of Heaven, 8, 9

ACIM Chapter 13. XI. The Peace of Heaven, 8, 9

XI. The Peace of Heaven, P 8

8 The communication link that God Himself placed within you, joining your mind with His, cannot be broken. You may believe you want it broken, and this belief does interfere with the deep peace in which the sweet and constant communication God would share with you is known. Yet His channels of reaching out cannot be wholly closed and separated from Him. Peace will be yours because His peace still flows to you from Him Whose Will is peace. You have it now. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to use it, and by extending it, to learn that it is in you. God willed you Heaven, and will always will you nothing else. The Holy Spirit knows only of His Will. There is no chance that Heaven will not be yours, for God is sure, and what He wills is as sure as He is.

Here, Jesus tells us that God is communicating with us and that communication never ends. He placed a communication link within us, joining our mind to His, and it cannot be broken. I am unaware of this constant communication, primarily because I choose not to listen. Not listening does not in any way affect communication, but it does cost me dearly.

Jesus says that it is God’s Will that His peace flow from Him to us.

This reminds me that communication is not about words. In fact, words limit communication. It is not about explaining things or convincing us of something. The communication we get from God is the flow of love, the flow of peace, and joy. I think that is the only form of communication with meaning.

At times, my life has been a real roller coaster ride. I have experienced situations that leave me feeling angry, depressed, and very discouraged. Then I experienced a flow of love and joy, and a peace beyond expression. Right now, I feel the flow of love in me and through me. I would love to tell you what I did to make that shift, but the only thing I had any part in was my persistent desire to see differently. Anything that happened after that had nothing to do with Myron.

The joy and peace that I feel these days sometimes feels like a trickle.

At other times, it feels more like a continuous flow. The flow doesn’t change, just my openness to it varies. God communicates to us all the time. It makes me cry to think of it, to think of the love that God has for me, and to think of my continued refusal to fully open to it. I was explaining someone’s bad behavior to a mutual friend the other day. I talked about how hard it is for that person to receive our love because he doesn’t feel worthy of it. Getting something he thinks he does not deserve scares him, and he fights against it.

Perhaps I am doing the same thing. Maybe accepting the unconditional, unfailing love that flows to me from God feels like theft, taking something I don’t deserve and shouldn’t have. I am certain, though, that one day I will disregard this ego assessment of me and trust that I belong to God. That He knows me and loves me, and that I must be worthy. Maybe I will stop resisting and blocking the peace of God and simply accept my inheritance as His Creation. The love and peace that I have accepted is extended to my brothers and sisters, and this reinforces the truth that I have received His love.

XI. The Peace of Heaven, P 9

9 You will learn salvation because you will learn how to save. It will not be possible to exempt yourself from what the Holy Spirit wants to teach you. Salvation is as sure as God. His certainty suffices. Learn that even the darkest nightmare that disturbs the mind of God’s sleeping Son holds no power over him. He will learn the lesson of awaking. God watches over him and light surrounds him.

Another wonderfully encouraging and comforting paragraph from Jesus. Our salvation is assured; it is inevitable. Nothing can prevent it. The question I ask myself is, how long do I want to hold out against salvation? What do I think I am holding onto that is worth this effort? Recently, I was given a visual that is helping me to see differently.

I have this picture in my mind. I really wish I could draw or paint so that I could put it on canvas or at least on a piece of paper. But no matter how clear the picture in my mind, the one my hand draws looks more like a stick figure. ~smile~ I see this vast light which represents for me the Christ Mind, or Awareness. It is what I am. And from this brilliant, indescribably beautiful light, there is a single point of awareness extending outward.

That point of awareness is I, experiencing myself as Myron.

It is extending out, but in no way unconnected to the Christ Mind. From that extension, that singular point of awareness, I experience Myron and her story, but at the same time, I know myself as Christ. But here is what happens. As I watch my projection of the Life of Myron, I get so engrossed in it that I forget that I am just watching. I become, in my experience of it, Myron.

Evidently, I am tired of the show and ready to wake up because… well, here I am studying A Course in Miracles and remembering that I am not Myron. So now I am aware that I am watching the show but still falling into the show and forgetting. My practice right now is that when I start to tumble into it and feel myself losing touch with reality again, I envision myself looking over my shoulder to see that I am still one with All That Is. I see that I cannot be Myron because I am simply extending from the Christ Mind, not disconnected from it.

Then I close my eyes a moment to shut out the show, and I open my heart to feel the love that flows from and through the Christ. It feels warm and safe, and I feel supported so that when I open my eyes, I can remain more the observer than the participant. This has been truly helpful. For instance, one night, my daughter called me with disturbing news. Her father was unable to take care of himself now and wants to come live with her and her husband.

Here is the process I went through as I wrote it in my journal at that time.

My daughter is very distressed by this and feels trapped with no options. Her dad is mentally disturbed. Their house is very small; her marriage is very new. I can feel her misery and hopelessness. I feel myself falling headlong into the story. When I fall into the story, I start to believe in it. I start looking for solutions in the story. If only I could find a way for her dad to be on his own, a cheap place for him to live nearby but not in my daughter’s home, then all would be better.

I don’t know if this could work. How could he pay for it? Could they take on that expense? I know I can’t. I start to feel panicky. What if she thinks I should take him in? After all, it’s my fault that he is her father. I cannot abide the thought. I feel guilty for my refusal. And even though no one has suggested this, I still feel guilty because I know I would refuse. I feel guilty that I cannot accept him. What if I need to do this to heal the relationship? What if my very salvation depends on this?

My mind is spinning with guilt and fear and confusion.

I feel resentment and hatred for her father as I project the responsibility for my feelings onto him. I feel resentment and rage over the situation. This is what happens when we forget that we are the writers of the script, the director, and the audience. So, what I did was stop the chatter. I realized that right now, in the only moment there is, nothing is happening. I remember that this is a story that I did not write alone. We are all in it together, and I am responsible for only my part of it. I further realize that the only thing that is happening at this moment is that I asked the ego what it all means, and I got an ego answer.

I ask for another way to see, and I am told to look over my shoulder. With great relief, I see that I am still what I have always been. I am still part of the Christ Mind, extending itself to this point of awareness. I look to my right and see the point of awareness I know in my story as my sweet daughter, and we smile at each other. I look to my left, and I see the point of awareness that in the story is her father, and we smile at each other. It is my self looking at my Self, and I feel the love of Christ enfolding me. And I know I am safe, and with me, my daughter and her father are safe as well.

There is still a situation to be dealt with in this story we are experiencing together.

But now I am clear that the solution does not come from Myron but from the Holy Spirit, Who speaks for God in my mind. I ask Him for His interpretation of the story and His guidance. I absolutely trust that the answer will come as needed and that it will be for the good of all. The peace of God is all I want, and right now, I have it. I trust I will continue to seek only that.

God watches over us, and light surrounds us.

The Holy Spirit’s Interpretation of the New Testament scribed by Regina Dawn Akers is a favorite of mine. If you would like to know more, CLICK HERE.