May 23
"My
mind holds only what I think with God."
"In
quiet I receive God's Word today."
"All
that I give is given to myself."
PRACTICE
SUMMARY
Review IVPurpose: To prepare for part II of the Workbook, by concentrating on readiness for it and by reviewing the last 20 lessons in a way that will facilitate that readiness.
Longer: 2--beginning and ending of the day for 5 minutes or more.
* Open your mind, clear it of all distracting thoughts. For five minutes let this thought alone occupy it, displacing all others: "My mind holds only what I think with God."
* Read the day's two ideas. Close eyes and repeat ideas slowly, without hurry, for this is what time was made for. Let each word shine with the meaning God gave it. Receive from each idea the gift God placed in it.
Remarks: Phase 1 will be enough to set your day along the lines God planned, making it a special time of blessing for you and for the world. It will be enough to place Him in charge of all your thoughts. Your thoughts will come from more than you. They will also come from Him and tell you of His Love. Thus will you, His completion, join with Him. And He, your completion, will join with you. He thanks you for your practicing. And as your day ends, His gratitude will surround you.
Shorter: hourly, for a quiet moment
* Say: "My mind holds only what I think with God." Spend a quiet moment with it.
* Then repeat the day's two ideas, slowly enough to see their gifts and receive their gifts.
COMMENTARY
God's thought creates. We were created when God thought of us; His mind extended outward, and what was in His Mind extended into and became our mind. As the review Introduction says, speaking of the main theme thought, "My mind holds only what I think with God," "It is this thought by which the Father gave creation to the Son, establishing the Son as co-creator with Himself" (W-rIV.In.2:4).
Our minds must therefore be like His, creating like His by extending our thoughts outward. We are God's Thoughts, and His thoughts have His nature.
"As God's creative Thought proceeds from Him to you, so must your creative thought proceed from you to your creations. Only in this way can all creative power extend outward. God's accomplishments are not yours, but yours are like His. He created the Sonship and you increase it. You have the power to add to the Kingdom, though not to add to the Creator of the Kingdom. You claim this power when you become vigilant only for God and His Kingdom. By accepting this power as yours you have learned to remember what you are" (T-7.I.2:3-9).
As we receive God's Word today, so we must give it. If we receive it we will give it, because what we receive is a thought of sharing. We were created by this sharing of thought, this extending of God's Self; sharing, or giving ourselves, is our heritage, the essence of what we are. In the first thought we review for today are the words, "I receive;" in the second thought are the words, "I give."
Accepting or remembering what we are means realizing we are beings who extend, who give, who share. Created by Love, we are lovers. This is why the Course places such stress on accepting our function as saviors of the world; in accepting this, we are accepting our Self as God created It. We are merely taking our place in the creative process, choosing no longer to block the flow of love from God to us, and through us to the world. "To create is to love. Love extends outward simply because it cannot be contained" (T-7.I.3:3-4).
In quiet today I receive God's Word, which is the affirmation of His love for all His creations. I open myself to acknowledge that love, receiving it for myself. And then I step forth to give as I have received, knowing that in giving to my sisters and my brothers, I am indeed giving that love to myself. My giving of it is my receiving of it. By my words, my thoughts, my expressions and my attitudes I communicate to all around me the Word I have received: "You, too, are loved. You, too, are loving. You, too, are the expression and channel of the love of God."
Copyright © 1996, The Circle of Atonement, Sedona,
Arizona, USA.
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