Monday, June 29, 2015
Lesson 180: Review: “God is but Love and therefore so am I.” “By grace I live. By grace I am released.” “There is no cruelty in God and none in me.”
The Course teaches us to live in grace, that this grace is the highest form of energetic existence in this temporary and insane world. We can walk above the battleground each moment, each step we take. This living above the battleground is when we choose to live in moment to moment peace within our own hearts. This is when our inner conflict is non-existent. This is when we choose a life of staying out of the rift of worldly conflict as much as possible.
The Course says we don’t have to avoid conflict in the world. We may feel guided by the Holy Spirit to engage in some level of conflict in our conversations with others or in our daily activities. Sometimes conflict feels needed to help us clarify who we are and how we want to live in general. But when we engage in conflict this could ideally be sparingly. Make sure that the Holy Spirit is in fact teaching us how to do this conflict. Then do what we need to do in the world and then come back to the inner peace.
The other piece is that every time we are in conflict we want to always be certain to love and forgive the person and the situation that seems to be drawing us into the conflict. Make sure we are plugged into God energy all the time, especially in any forms of conflict. This is a logical place to lose this connection with our true nature and true extension of Gods love.
When someone else is pushing our buttons we can easily lose track of God. But the Course teaches us to carry this forgiveness in the form of gentleness and acceptance for ourselves the other person and the situation. This is when we are not in conflict with the situation because we are joining with it energetically, making it a non-problem for us. We connect with it and then feel easy about it because God teaches us to live in that moment to moment grace.
Our grace is evident when we carry it with us all the time. The Course teaches us how to live within it always. This is why we have extraordinary lives- when we are willing to join with God’s energy always. When we just relax and proceed delicately and lightly we carry a heart of sweetness. Everything then becomes nothing but a blessing.
We are endlessly fortunate that God never has a moment of being angry at us. God never, never opposes us, thus expressing to us any form of cruelty. This is why we are so fortunate to have God as our constant companion. To be around someone who is sending out little digs here and there can feel quite unpleasant. We have to be willing to remember that we are optimally worthy. Therefore we are gifted with the kindness and compassion of God because we are completely worthy of the best.
When we are expecting a love from our benefactor that is unkind then we get all confused about how to manage that. Then we are likely to feel angry or resentful within about a God Who is cruel to us. We have to remember to play our part in knowing all the time God is not of this ilk. Then we won’t feel guilty and angry as a result. Jesus is teaching us in the Course how to live in equanimity. Understand that if God were in fact cruel, the result of that would be more emotional intoxication for us as individuals. This is why Jesus goes to such lengths to teach us that God is always our biggest fan and always for appropriate reason.