ACIM Chapter 7. XI. The State of Grace, P 3, 4. Consider the kingdom you have made and judge its worth fairly.
ACIM Chapter 7. XI. The State of Grace, P 3, 4
XI. The State of Grace, P 3
3 Consider the kingdom you have made and judge its worth fairly. Is it worthy to be a home for a child of God? Does it protect his peace and shine love upon him? Does it keep his heart untouched by fear, and allow him to give always, without any sense of loss? Does it teach him that this giving is his joy, and that God Himself thanks him for his giving? That is the only environment in which you can be happy. You cannot make it, any more than you can make yourself. It has been created for you, as you were created for it. God watches over His children and denies them nothing. Yet when they deny Him they do not know this, because they deny themselves everything. You who could give the Love of God to everything you see and touch and remember, are literally denying Heaven to yourself.
As we contemplate the world we made and are honest in our evaluation of it, we have to agree with Jesus. We have traded happiness for suffering. Is this what we really want? This is another reminder of what Jesus tells us in other places in the Course; we but do this to ourselves. We were created by God from God, and so have everything. Our natural environment was created for us and is in God. But we are choosing to experience something different, which is OK with God, but our choice to have an experience unlike God is painful.
We made the choice.
This world and everything happening in it is our own doing. As long as we continue to make this choice, which we do minute by minute, we deny our true Selves. I cannot experience myself as small and lacking, as pain filled and suffering, as lonely and deprived, and still know I am Divine, lack nothing and could never suffer.
The moment my full memory of the Kingdom returns, the story of time and space disappears. There are only two environments from which to choose; there is Heaven and there is here. They are diametrically opposed and cannot exist, even in our mind, in the same instant. How extremely odd it is that we must be coaxed back into Heaven. We are being offered the opportunity to come out of our present state of amnesia and remember who we are and what we are and where we are. This is not being done against our will. We want this.
XI. The State of Grace, P 4
4 I call upon you to remember that I have chosen you to teach the Kingdom to the Kingdom. There are no exceptions to this lesson, because the lack of exceptions is the lesson. Every Son who returns to the Kingdom with this lesson in his heart has healed the Sonship and given thanks to God. Everyone who learns this lesson has become the perfect teacher, because he has learned it of the Holy Spirit.
As I read this, I felt my heart swell, and tears come to my eyes. I (and you) have been chosen to teach the Kingdom to the Kingdom. We didn’t wind up here by accident. We didn’t just happen to study the Course. Life is not random. We are not purposeless. Somehow, this is very important to me, and I am deeply touched by it. The ego is lying when it says that I am both arrogant and wrong when I think I am a teacher of God.
What I think is key is the next sentence, “There are no exceptions to this lesson because the lack of exception is the lesson.” This is the truth for all of us. This is our sole purpose right now. We are to give over to the Holy Spirit all the darkness in our minds. As this is done, we will light the world with truth and bring everyone to the Kingdom. We may be given words to say and things to do. But the healing of our own minds is the true lesson we share with all our brothers, along with the recognition that they, too, are holy. All of us. No exceptions.
It is a glorious profession!
And beautiful to think of and to contemplate. At first, however, it seems like the actual process of allowing the light to shine is difficult and tedious and not a little daunting. But as more and more darkness is removed from the mind, even the day to day work of watching the mind and choosing to release the ego beliefs becomes a real delight. Not even the temporary lapses into ego can dim the joy of this work.
I know what it is that swells my heart as I read this paragraph. It is gratitude.
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