L e s s o n  315

All gifts my brothers give belong to me. 
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IAMBIC PENTAMETER 
format from URTEXT by Lee Flynn

   Christ's Second Coming gives the Son of God

   the gift to hear the Voice for God proclaim

   that what is false is false, and what is true

   has never changed. And this the judgment is

   in which perception ends. At first you see

   a world which has accepted this as true,

   projected from a now corrected mind.

   And with this holy sight, perception gives

   a silent blessing and then disappears,

   its goal accomplished and its mission done.

   The final judgment on the world contains

   no condemnation. For it sees the world

   as totally forgiven, without sin,

   and wholly purposeless. Without a cause,

   and now without a function in Christ's sight,

   it merely slips away to nothingness.

   There it was born, and there it ends as well.

   And all the figures in the dream in which

   the world began go with it. Bodies now

   are useless, and will therefore fade away,

   because the Son of God is limitless.

   You who believed that Gods last judgment would

   condemn the world to hell along with you,

   accept this holy truth: God's judgment is

   the gift of the Correction He bestowed

   on all your errors, freeing you from them,

   and all effects they ever seemed to have.

   To fear HIs saving grace is but to fear

   complete release from suffering, return

   to peace, security and happiness,

   and union with your own Identity.

   God's final judgment is as merciful

   as every step in His appointed plan

   to save His Son, and call Him to return

   to the eternal peace He shares with him.

   Be not afraid of Love. For It alone

   can heal all sorrow, wipe away all tears,

   and gently waken from his dreams of pain

   the Son whom God acknowledges as His.

   Be not afraid of this. Salvation asks

   you give it welcome. And the world awaits

   your glad acceptance, which will set it free.|

   This is God's final judgment: "You are still

   My holy Son, forever innocent,

   forever loving and forever loved,

   as limitless as Your Creator, and

   completely changeless and forever pure.

   Therefore awaken and return to Me.

   I am Your Father, and you are My Son. 

   ~ Original Handscript of ACIM

So often I feel my heart overflowing with such gratitude, I can hardly contain it and tears of joy fill my eyes. I don't always know in each moment what has happened to bring such joy. Sometimes it is just noticing a touching moment shared by two apparent strangers who smile at each other. Sometimes it is a touching moment which is shared in our group of people who gather here each Monday. Sometimes it is witnessing a kindness that one person offers another read in a news story and seen on TV. Today's lesson really gives the answer as to why we experience such joy when we witness the beautiful joining between people. There is so much to be grateful for when we take the time to notice. So often we count our blessings in form. We are grateful for the material world-for abundance, for a job, for recognition etc. Yet in this lesson he gives us examples of blessings that gladden our hearts such as when:

"a brother smiles upon another" (1.3)

"someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy" (1.4)

"everyone who finds their way to God is my savior" (1.5)

"what he has learned is surely mine as well" (1.5)

 Don't the tender moments shared by others around you bring a smile? Don't we all share the joy of seeing someone experiencing a shift in perception-a miracle? Isn't it a joy to witness love? Love truly unites us all and in that unity of love, which makes no exceptions, we are all given equally. Every miracle that we witness opens the doors to the extension of love which is a gift to us all. But this is only when we are truly connected. There are also times when I feel a twinge of jealousy for someone's spiritual awakening. Why not me? Or what about when someone we have negative feelings about receives a gift? This is where we need to watch our minds and recognize that the ego does not see our brothers as one with us. In fact it sees that what one gets another loses. Yet according to this lesson we have so many gifts coming to us every day "far beyond all things of which I can conceive" (1.2)  that if we are not feeling the joy and gratitude, we must have decided to block these gifts because they are there all the time.

 When we are in the present moment we experience all of these blessings and are grateful for the multitude of gifts always being showered on us. It requires letting go of the past so that we truly can clear the channel for love's extension and know the joy available to us in every moment. We experience a blessing when "a brother smiles upon another" (1.3)  because we recognize the shared Christ Self in all of our brothers. We are just seeing our own mind projected outward. We recognize that our brothers are ourselves. And when this is not the case, then we are invited to make space in our minds through forgiveness. We  must then look at our envy, our jealousy, our belief that we are losing out and allow our minds to be brought back to truth because to give and to receive are the same. 

 Love is all inclusive. It extends to Itself in the eternal NOW. Therefore we are always in the presence of Love's gifts even when our awareness is not available to receive them. So today, we are invited to truly ask the Holy Spirit to help us recognize any barriers to love and be willing to have them released so that we can know the truth and receive it with gratitude. Make way for love for that is what you are!

 When we witness any healing in any one of us, then all of us are healed. Our mind is one. It is an awesome experience to witness the healings that are going on as we open up more and more to the truth of Who we Really Are! It is an encouraging thought that so many gifts are coming our way at every moment even when they are not explicitly directed toward us. The experience of joy that comes from seeing others extend their gifts really warms the heart. We have all experienced it at different times.  

Today is such a day to experience the blessings and allow our hearts to be gladdened by the many thousands of gifts being given brother to brother in this very moment-by the many awakenings happening throughout the planet so that those who have found their way can point the way to us and offer us the certainty that we too will awaken to the truth of who we are. Today we can make great gains by focusing on gratitude for the gifts that are constantly coming to us. And it is a day to release any feelings of competition with our brothers that somehow we have been left out when one brother smiles on another. We are that brother. There is only one. The Last Judgment is waiting to deliver to us God's saving grace and mercy. Complete release from suffering is being offered. Let us take this step today to bring us closer to the truth of who we are. This is what God offers-only our release from our own errors. Every lesson practiced faithfully takes us out of fear so we can remember the truth about ourselves.

So today whether we give the blessing or our brother gives is, recognize it does not matter because we are all one. And for that we can be grateful. Even those events and circumstances that seem difficult where we experience pain today can be a reason for gratitude if we recognize that it is just another opportunity to look at where we are blocking the joy and the peace that is behind the pain.

Love and blessings Sarah 

Sarah's Home Page

Quotes in this article are from Foundation for Inner Peace edition; To locate the same quotes in the 'Original Edition', use this link:  http://www.jcim.net/acim_us/Acim.php  
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^{A Course in Miracles
 TEXT
 Chapter Thirty
The New Beginning}

IV. Beyond All Idols