Lesson 78
Let miracles replace all grievances.
W-pI.78.1. Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a miracle. 2 Each grievance stands like a dark shield of hate before the miracle it would conceal. 3 And as you raise it up before your eyes, you will not see the miracle beyond. 4 Yet all the while it waits for you in light, but you behold your grievances instead.
Every decision is one between a grievance and a miracle. Did you think of it that way? I didn’t, but now that Jesus points it out, I see how true that is. Of course, the ego says sometimes this is true but it’s ridiculous to think it is true all the time. So, I am putting it to the test. Jesus says in Chapter 30, Rules for Decision, that we make decisions continually. Not often but continually. So, it must be that many decisions I make are not made at a level I allow myself to be aware of.
There is the decision I made about having a headache. On the level of the world, I noticed I was getting a headache and I thought about taking a Tylenol, but instead, I talked to Jesus about it. I thought about how pain is not real. I thought about my intention to give this body to Jesus so that he could take care of it. Then I began to worry that the headache was still there and would it be wrong to take that Tylenol. I decided that it was perfectly ok to take it but that I don’t need it now. So, I was making decisions about the headache and I was aware of each decision.
At the same time, though, I had made a decision for the headache. I had to choose the headache at some level or it would not have manifest itself as pain in my head. I was not allowing myself to be aware of this decision, but decision it was. Now that I was choosing to accept responsibility for making that decision and to accept the effects of that decision, I reminded myself that I am entitled to miracles. What was done to manifest pain in my body could easily be undone as I released the guilt that sourced the belief in pain and suffering.
I don’t know exactly what form that guilt was taking, but I do know that I cannot be guilty because I was not created guilty and I cannot change my creation. The headache is a physical manifestation of the grievance I hold against myself that comes from the belief in guilt. It is a dark shield of hate that blinds me to the miracle of healing that waits for me to lower that shield. I lower it as I refuse to believe in the pain and I refuse to believe in the cause of the pain, that is, the belief in guilt and hatred.
W-pI.78.2. Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. 2 We will reverse the way you see by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. 3 We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down and gently lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God.
If I am entitled to miracles as Jesus says I am, it must be that I am His Son. I am entitled to lay aside the shield of hate. It is my right to claim my inheritance as His Son. Healing is for me until I remember my own glorious Self. Choosing the miracle is the way I bring that memory forward.
W-pI.78.3. He waits for you behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will appear in shining light where each one stood before. 2 For every grievance is a block to sight, and as it lifts you see the Son of God where he has always been. 3 He stands in light, but you were in the dark. 4 Each grievance made the darkness deeper, and you could not see.
How could I ever choose to keep a grievance knowing that each one adds a layer of obscurity that prevents me from seeing the Son of God. In my grievances, I sit in the dark wondering why I cannot see Him. Holy Spirit, please show me any grievances left in my mind so that I can release them.
W-pI.78.4. Today we will attempt to see God’s Son. 2 We will not let ourselves be blind to him; we will not look upon our grievances. 3 So is the seeing of the world reversed, as we look out toward truth, away from fear. 4 We will select one person you have used as target for your grievances, and lay the grievances aside and look at him. 5 Someone, perhaps, you fear and even hate; someone you think you love who angered you; someone you call a friend, but whom you see as difficult at times or hard to please, demanding, irritating or untrue to the ideal he should accept as his, according to the role you set for him.
I began reading the paragraph wondering who I could choose. I couldn’t think of anyone I hold a grievance against, but as I read “untrue to the ideal he should accept as his,” I knew exactly who to use for this exercise.
W-pI.78.5. You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already. 2 He will be the one of whom we ask God’s Son be shown to you. 3 Through seeing him behind the grievances that you have held against him, you will learn that what lay hidden while you saw him not is there in everyone, and can be seen. 4 He who was enemy is more than friend when he is freed to take the holy role the Holy Spirit has assigned to him. 5 Let him be savior unto you today. 6 Such is his role in God your Father’s plan.
Jesus tells us that our lives are not at random. We are always exactly where we should be, and we are with exactly who we need to be with. Sometimes that one offers to be our savior for the day. It sounds good in theory, but often this savior is seen as an annoyance or even as an enemy so we may fail to appreciate him. But I have learned better.
I have seen so many people transform into saviors as I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see them differently. As I forgave them, I forgave myself, or sometimes, I would forgive myself and so forgive them. There is no magic in this. What I believe is true for me, so what I believe about another, is what I will believe about myself, and what I believe about myself, I will always find in another.
W-pI.78.6. Our longer practice periods today will see him in this role. 2 You will attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. 3 You will review his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his neglect, and all the little and the larger hurts he gave. 4 You will regard his body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his mistakes and even of his “sins.”
Sometimes this is the easy part. If it is someone I have regular contact with or someone who seems to have influence over me, I will be very aware of my thoughts about this one. I know I went through a period of time in which I was afraid to look at these thoughts because I was trying so hard not to have them. I was confused at that time as to how to use these lessons. Now I know that I don’t try to not have thoughts, rather, I use the thoughts I have as the way to undo the ego.
W-pI.78.7. Then let us ask of Him Who knows this Son of God in his reality and truth, that we may look on him a different way, and see our savior shining in the light of true forgiveness, given unto us. 2 We ask Him in the holy Name of God and of His Son, as holy as Himself:
3 Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him.
4 The body’s eyes are closed, and as you think of him who grieved you, let your mind be shown the light in him beyond your grievances.
This is the part that I have little control over. My part is to be willing to see him without my grievances dimming his light in my mind. Just willingness, that is all I add to the process. Then I trust that the Holy Spirit will do His part, and I must then finish my part by accepting the healing I am offered.
W-pI.78.8. What you have asked for cannot be denied. 2 Your savior has been waiting long for this. 3 He would be free, and make his freedom yours. 4 The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in God’s Son. 5 And what you see through Him will free you both. 6 Be very quiet now, and look upon your shining savior. 7 No dark grievances obscure the sight of him. 8 You have allowed the Holy Spirit to express through him the role God gave Him that you might be saved.
What a paragraph this is! How strange that we choose grievances over salvation when it is so easy to turn this around. As I free her, she frees me. This is a perfectly elegant solution to the whole problem. I look with the Holy Spirit and I see clearly for the first time because the Holy Spirit sees only the Son of God, only perfect innocence and what He sees in her, He sees in me. As I look with Him, I see only innocence. I have allowed the Holy Spirit to express through her the role God gave Him that I might be saved. What??? Yeah, that’s right. She seemed to be my enemy and all along, she was my savior. I was blind, but now I see.
W-pI.78.9. God thanks you for these quiet times today in which you laid your images aside, and looked upon the miracle of love the Holy Spirit showed you in their place. 2 The world and Heaven join in thanking you, for not one Thought of God but must rejoice as you are saved, and all the world with you.
You know, there are only two ways to feel about that last sentence. Either we read it and move on refusing to understand it, or we read it and are in awe. Every Thought of God rejoices as we do this lesson and they each rejoice as we are saved. And as we are saved, the world is saved with us. I get chills all over as I think of this.
W-pI.78.10. We will remember this throughout the day, and take the role assigned to us as part of God’s salvation plan, and not our own. 2 Temptation falls away when we allow each one we meet to save us, and refuse to hide his light behind our grievances. 3 To everyone you meet, and to the ones you think of or remember from the past, allow the role of savior to be given, that you may share it with him. 4 For you both, and all the sightless ones as well, we pray:
5 Let miracles replace all grievances.
It is not just me that prays that all grievances are replaced with miracles. It is Jesus and all the awakened master and angels. Everyone in the world doing this lesson with us on this day is praying that miracles will replace all grievances. Can you hear the glorious song of release?