Commentary on ACIM Lesson 159

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

I give the miracles I have received.

 

 

Contemplating the lesson, I realize one example of this in my life is these writings.  Or, my paintings.  Or my singing.  I do them all 'as received' or 'as inspired'.  I find that if I struggle or push or effort, that is when I am likely to not recognize the beauty that is being born.  

 

But even that experience is included.  I know this because some of my best work was created by struggling hours, and then (abruptly surrendering all the concern for the perfection) I let an impulse to uncalculated action use me, and suddenly what was trash becomes a genuine artwork, BUT, all the trash time now also makes essential contribution too.  

 

So I'm just saying NOTHING is ever truly 'not part of the plan'.  That is simply impossible inside the world of enlightenment.  All that is possible is to dream a dream that is not true, and to then believe it.  That is our only egoic power.  

 

And that changes nothing, in truth.  This is all we wake up to.  Because there is nothing in the end but LOVE to exist within.  And there is no existence that is real without (outside) it.    

 

Namaste, 

 

David

 

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My personal version, in first person.

 

 

Lesson 159

I give the miracles I have received.

I cannot give what I have not received. To give a thing requires first I have it in my own possession. Here the laws of Heaven and the world agree. But here they also separate. The world believes that to possess a thing, it must be kept. Salvation teaches otherwise. To give is how I recognize I have received. It is the proof that what I have is mine.

I understand that I am healed when I give healing. I accept forgiveness as accomplished in myself when I forgive. I recognize my brother as myself, and thus do I perceive that I am whole. There is no miracle I cannot give, for all are given me. I will receive them now by opening the storehouse of my mind where they are laid, and by giving them away.

Christ's vision is a miracle. It comes from far beyond itself, for it reflects eternal love and the rebirth of a love which never dies, but which has been kept obscure. Christ's vision pictures Heaven, for it sees in this world a world so like to Heaven that what God created perfect can be mirrored here. The darkened glass the world presents can show only twisted images in broken parts. The real world pictures Heaven's innocence.

Christ's vision is the miracle in which all miracles are born. It is their source, remaining with each miracle I give, and yet remaining mine. It is the bond by which the giver and receiver are united 'in extension' here on earth, just as they are one in Heaven. Christ beholds no sin in anyone. And in His sight the sinless are as one. Their holiness was given by His Father and Himself.

Christ's vision is the bridge between the worlds. And in its power I can safely trust to be carried from this world into one made holy by forgiveness. Things which seem quite solid here are merely shadows there; transparent, faintly seen, at times forgot, and never able to obscure the light that shines beyond them. Holiness has been restored to vision, and the blind can see.

This is the Holy Spirit's single gift; the treasure house to which I can appeal with perfect certainty for all the things that can contribute to my happiness. All are laid here already. All can be received but for the asking. Here the door is never locked, and no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need. There is no sickness not already healed, no lack unsatisfied, no need unmet within this golden treasury of Christ.

Here does the world remember what was lost when it was made. For here it is repaired, made new again, and put into a different light. What was to be the home of sin becomes the center of redemption and the hearth of mercy, where the suffering are healed and welcome. No one will be turned away from this new home, where his salvation waits. No one is a stranger to him. No one asks for anything of him except the gift of his acceptance of his welcoming.

Christ's vision is the holy ground in which the lilies of forgiveness set their roots. This is their home. They can be brought from here back to the world, but they can never grow in its unnourishing and shallow soil. They need the light and warmth and kindly care Christ's charity provides. They need the love with which He looks on them. And they become His messengers, who give as they received.

I take from His storehouse, that its treasures may increase. His lilies do not leave their home when they are carried back into the world. Their roots remain. They do not leave their source, but carry its beneficence with them, and turn the world into a garden like the one they came from, and to which they go again with added fragrance. Now are they twice blessed. The messages they brought from Christ have been delivered, and returned to them. And they return them gladly unto Him.

Behold the store of miracles set out for me to give. Am I not worth the gift, when God appointed it be given me? I will judge not God's Son, but follow in the way He has established. Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world. It is His gift, whereby a sweet transition can be made from death to life; from hopelessness to hope. Let me in this instant dream with Him. His dream awakens me to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to my unlost and everlasting sanctity in God.