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Chapter 5: What Jesus Means For Us75Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbC1wiXTLUM
What does this mean for you? It means that in remembering Jesus, you are remembering God. The whole relationship of the Son to the Father lies in him. His part in the Son ship is also yours, and his completed learning guarantees your own success. Is he still available for help? What did he say about this? Remember his promises, and ask yourself honestly whether it is likely that he will fail to keep them. Can God fail His Son? And can one who is one with God be unlike Him? Who transcends the body has transcended limitation. Would the greatest teacher be unavailable to those who follow him?"
Just behind all the imagined obstructions we have made to limit and block our awareness of the Truth, Truth stands eternal and shines Its Light. This Light of Truth is forever pristine, ever-present, and unaffected by our ignorance of it and Its God-Given powers, which belong to us as Creations and Extensions of God. As such, we can truly say, "We are the Light of the World." In Truth, there are no blocks or obstructions that can dim our Eternal Light. They are only the “seems to be" of this life experience. "Seems to be's" are delusions and distortions of the mind and have no basis in Reality. They are like cloud vapors that try to block out the sun. Yet the light of the sun is never diminished by the clouds.
Our imaginary obstructions show up as thoughts, perceptions, physical sights and sensations, and our beliefs about them. We give them so much meaning, they can captivate us and divert our focus and attention away from the ever-present Light of our Being. They distort Reality until it becomes unrecognizable and even forgotten. Yet, be never deceived for an instant, my friends. The brilliant Light of our Self continues to shine out from us into all Creation. The eyes of God see through the eyes of His Creations and beholds Creation as He Created it. God expresses and experiences Himself through His Son. "God is in everything I see because God is in my mind." ACIM
Always remember that our imagined obstructions that seem to hide our Light have no power, other than the power we give them. We feed and nourish them when we focus our attention on them instead of on God, thereby affording them a false reality. They are illusions. They do not exist except within the ego thought system, and that is an illusion as well. How can "nothing" have any power? As Jesus reminds us, "By giving power to nothing, we throw away the joyous opportunity to learn that nothing has no power." ACIM
What is the remedy for the mess we made up? What is there to do about nothing appearing as something? We have been conditioned since birth to believe we must do something, to fix things and all kinds of "doingness.” The idea of doing nothing and accepting what is for the most part are alien concepts. They seem so counterintuitive and go against our human nature. Yet, where illusions are concerned, to do nothing is exactly what is called for. “Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of reality, nor seeks to twist it to appearances it likes. It merely looks, and waits, and judges not." ACIM
Over the years, I have discovered that there is but one solution to any and all perceived problems, and that is returning the mind to God. As we bring all of our focus and attention to this present moment, we are abandoning the imagined thought system of ego and choosing God instead. We bring whatever seems unlike Love to Love. There, all ego thoughts, feelings, and sensations naturally dissolve and disappear. And in this present moment, as we give them over to our Holy Spirit, they are starved by our lack of focus and attention on them. No longer are we giving power to nothing. Rather, we are reclaiming our power as the Son of God. There is but one power, "Emmanuel" which means "God with us."
In returning the mind to God, we literally swim within an ocean of Love. It is the atmosphere of our existence. How could anything exist outside the All of All? In Unity and Wholeness, we were created and in Unity and Wholeness, we eternally remain. We affirm God Is and anything, unlike Love, disappears into the nothingness from which it came. We say God Is and cease to speak. Nothing else needs to be said because within God Is, everything is accomplished.
As a Holy Child of God, I've realized two functions given to me by God as a messenger of Truth. Over the years, these two functions have been the manner in which I have accepted the Atonement for myself. They are the way I have come to recognize, realize and remember that I am as God created me. The first function is forgiveness. By looking beyond all of what seems to be, I demonstrate my willingness to allow God to restore my Vision and perceive what is actually there rather than my interpretation of what I see. Forgiveness opens my mind to accept the Truth about my brothers, sisters, myself, and my Creator. Forgiveness takes me to the awareness that, in Truth, there is nothing to forgive. My second function is sharing the Love of God through both my humanity and the Divine inspirations given to me. Sharing the Love of God has transformed over the years from a practice to a devotion. To share is to strengthen the Love within myself and in all my siblings in Christ who are a part of me. It gives me an actual experience that giving and receiving are one in Truth. Sharing the Love of God reveals the Holiness of all my brothers/sisters and myself. We are All the Holy Child of God. We were All created Holy and Wholly Perfect and in the likeness of our Creator.
Outside my two functions, I make the choice to abide in Love and be whatever Love calls me to be. I find there is really nothing else to do here. As St. Augustine once said, "Love, and do what you want." He knew that anything born of Love would facilitate inner peace and guide our behaviors in our seeming journey through the realm of time and space. The Love of God created me Holy. Recognizing our Holiness and the Holiness of all our brothers and sisters in Christ lights up our path and guides us to our awakening to the Truth of who we are. Our Holiness shines upon the world we see, reflecting back to us our own Divinity. As Jesus tells us,"There is nothing our Holiness cannot do." Like all the Gifts of God, Holiness is a given. It comes as part of the heavenly gift package, known as Gifts of the Kingdom. I recognize it and experience it through the being of it and in the sharing of it. In God's Kingdom, there is no distinction between being and having. For it is known that to be holy is to have holiness. And, to share holiness strengthens it and acknowledges that I not only have it to share, but I Am it. It is part of the heavenly package, just like the human package comes with a beating heart and lungs to breathe. Holiness is One with whom we truly are as a Divine Creation. Holiness is not something to achieve or aspire to become. It is something to recognize as already accomplished. Holiness is my birthright and Inheritance as a Son of God. Whenever I think about, Who am I? My holiness comes to mind, answering. Holiness is a here and now fact and experience. It is not something I need to wait for or master. Holiness is not only what I Am but also the spiritual atmosphere of my existence. It is within and without and it saturates every aspect of awareness. My holiness makes me One with every brother/sister and with God because we all exist and are consumed within its gentle and sacred embrace. My holiness blesses the world. Once holiness is recognized within, Vision is restored. What is seen within is seen without in everyone and everything. It shows up in my awareness as a reflection of the pure and perfect reality of Creation and the Creator.
Father, Let me remember my holiness was established at the instant of my creation. It is eternal and unaffected by any temptation of the ego or its effects. Help me to hold it gently, lovingly yet steady within my awareness. Help me to integrate and apply my holiness to everything I think and do. Help me to share it with all my brothers so it is strengthened within my brothers, myself, and the world we inhabit. Help me to remember the teachings of Jesus, "The Presence of Holiness creates the Holiness which surrounds it. The veil is lifted through its gentleness, and nothing hides the face of Christ from its beholders. All separation vanishes as holiness is shared. For holiness is power, and by sharing it, it gains strength. Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance, and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of the Creator. Through your holiness, the power of God is made manifest. Through your holiness, the power of God is made available. Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. It is equal in its power to help anyone because it is equal in its power to save anyone. If you are holy, so is everything God created. You are holy because all things He created are holy. And all things He created are holy because you are." ACIM
"My mind is part of God's. I am very holy."
"My holiness blesses the world."
"My holiness is my salvation."
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