Commentary on ACIM Lesson 168

© 2010 Rev. David Seacord

Your grace is given me. I claim it now.

In response to my last commentary, one of my very wisest friends took the time today to write me and share his point of view about Jesus driving the moneychangers out of the temple..... I've been enjoying my contemplations all day as a result....

In modern day parlance, perhaps the CNN reporter was politically biased and had an axe to grind or a strongly held conviction that this seemed the perfect opportunity to push, and so the report contained those.... or, perhaps Jesus' consciousness was so many heads above the crowds of his day that nobody on the ground at the time (including his disciples?) really understood the why and the wherefore of the action. So maybe they reported it as being something they understood in their world (anger) when it was really something else entirely. Perhaps it was a demonstration of appropriate use of spiritual power, but suppose that it didn't come anger... even though that was what got written up.

It all brings up an important point, revealing why rigorous spirituality is like a razors-edged sharp blade.... that beyond all the belief systems and dogmas, because it happens inside us, our experience of God is completely our own creation, and that is sometimes challenging to be fully responsible for. Ultimately we are left with our own knowing, and on it alone we stand. Ultimately, all beliefs are false. Only self-knowledge arising from our truest, most honest depths defines us.

For me, I say I am only Love. Yes, I am still walking the path of its purification, but I walk that path because of the inspiration I am given when I recognize the Love that I am is the truth of me. I accept the necessity of the purification, for it promises me my true Self.

My view is what works for me may work for you. Without sharing, I will never know if I might have a gift for my brothers. Hence, once the 'fear of others' is gone, what is there to do, but share?

Namaste,

David

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My personal version, in first person

Lesson 168

Your grace is given me. I claim it now.

God speaks to me. Shall I not speak to Him? He is not distant. He makes no attempt to hide from me. I may try to hide from Him, but I suffer from the deception, while He remains entirely accessible. He loves me for I am His Son. There is no certainty but this, yet this suffices. He will love me forever. When my mind remains asleep, He loves me still. And when my mind awakens, He loves me with a never-changing Love.

If I but knew the meaning of His Love, hope and despair would be impossible. For hope would be forever satisfied; and despair of any kind unthinkable. His grace is His answer to all despair, for in it lies the remembrance of His Love. Would He not gladly give me the means by which His Will is recognized? His grace is mine by my acknowledgment. And memory of Him awakens in any mind that asks the means of Him whereby its sleep is done.

Today I ask of God the gift He has most carefully preserved within my heart, waiting to be acknowledged. This the gift by which God leans to me and lifts me up, taking salvation's final step Himself. All steps but this I learn, instructed by His Voice. But finally He comes Himself, and takes me in His Arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of my sleep. His gift of grace is more than just an answer. It restores all memories my sleeping mind forgot; all my certainty of what Love's meaning is.

God loves me. I request that He give me now the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. For in His grace I see a light that covers all the world in love, and I watch fear disappear from every face (as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs). What now remains to be done that Heaven would be delayed an instant longer? What is still undone when on my forgiveness rests everything?

It is a new and holy day today, for I receive what has been given me. My faith lies in the Giver, not my own acceptance. I acknowledge my mistakes, but He to Whom all error is unknown is yet the One Who answers my mistakes by giving me the means to lay them down, and then quickly rise to Him in gratitude and love.

And He descends to meet me, as I come to Him. For what He has prepared for me He gives and I receive. Such is His Will, because He loves me. To Him I pray today, returning but the word He gave to me through His Own Voice, His Word, His Love:

Your grace is given me. I claim it now. Father, I come to You. And You will come to me who ask.
I am the Son You love. Amen.