Love Created Me Like Itself

I’ve done the review lesson #84 in ACIM several times in the past, but yesterday I practiced it with more devotion, determination and attention.  I did the reminders throughout the day and also sat quietly with the idea for 15 to 20 minutes, as per the instructions.  There were a few times I did skip the short practice periods, but I kept at it.

To repeat the idea throughout the day keeps my mind in awareness and connected.  Sitting quietly for 15 to 20 minutes with the idea, asking for clarity from Spirit and going deeply into its meaning shifts my mind to a lighter, truer state. The old begins to be released and the new welcomed.

During my longer practice period, I did my best to still my mind.  I sat quietly and attentively.  I then asked, WHAT IS LOVE?  I substituted Love for God, All that Is, the I Am, Creator.  

Words and meanings began to flow into my mind.  Love is:  kind, wholeness, perfect, unchanging, beautiful, gentle, strong, uniting, oneness, light, all-encompassing, inclusive.  

I thought:  if I am created in Its likeness, then what am I??  I remembered the Course states: “you are a miracle.” “God and His miracles are inseparable.”  “The Word is really a thought.”  I somehow understood and envisioned God extending Itself and creating me (not as form or a body which is perishable, but as spirit, eternal, with His attributes as stated above).   I had such a feeling of joy and love at that moment and all through the day.  I rose up from my quiet time with the sense that I am a thought in the Mind of God.  Inseparable from Him.  Wow!!

Perception Versus Knowledge

"Perception is temporary.  It is an attribute of the space-time belief, and is therefore subject to fear or love.  Misperception produces fear, and true perception induces love.  Neither produces certainty because all perception varies.  That is why it is not knowledge.....but knowing is the affirmation of truth." 

When I perceive anything, it is coming from my own mind and from my belief system.  So, as my beliefs change, what I perceive will vary....and that is why perceptions may produce fear or love and are temporary.

Truth, on the other hand, is steady, changeless, as God is. 

Knowing is certainty.  You can count on it.  No one can take it away from you.  Because you know.  It's experience.  

I remember a conversation I had once with a dear friend who asked me how could I be sure that God existed.  I could not say anything convincing to prove the existence of God to them because my knowing came from experience.  It started with faith, but ultimately it became a knowing.  This no one and nothing could take away from me.  That was exactly what I said to my friend.  I know.  I have experienced God but I can't explain it or prove it to you. It's personal and available to all of us as we desire it.  And we will eventually.  It is what we search for. 

Love Created Me like Itself

This workbook lesson, #67, from A Course in Miracles really hit home for me this morning.  

For as long as I can remember, I identified with a different self-image.  

People I loved and trusted from my past repeatedly told me I was selfish, uncaring and unloving.  I believed them at a deep level because they were important and close to me.  

I spent most of my life and relationships trying to prove them wrong (in my head) by being extra loving, by giving at times even more than was necessary or healthy, while never really feeling the truth about myself.  Their inner voices became my voice.  And it has been very unforgiving.

As I read today's lesson, and sit with it, I allow it's truth to sink in deeply.  I feel its message of changeless, eternal love, which is what God's love is; the old voices are replaced by this love. I've read this lesson many times before, yet today my inner being is ready to embrace this true image of me.  

I am forever grateful for God's love. And, since I place my faith and trust in what these lessons say about me (because they feel true to me), I accept this as a complete and accurate statement about what I am.  Love created me like Itself.  Then this Self must be in me.  

In the quiet stillness, I repeat this idea along with other attributes of Love, such as holiness, wholeness, wise, loving, kind, and so forth, as I reach deep within.  I spend my day repeating this truth about myself because I need to hear it as often as possible.

Love created me like Itself.

No Idle Thoughts

I am being very aware and observant of my thoughts as I learn from the Course that all thinking produces form at some level.  I was never too careful nor mindful of what I was allowing to live in my head.  But not anymore.  The truth is, I feel much more at peace by doing so.  When a fearful or disruptive thought comes up, I recognize it, release it and replace it with the truth.