ACIM Workbook lesson ONE

Happy, joyous New Year!

~Let’s make this year different from all the rest, by making it all the same. Through 2006, we made a decided commitment to a unified purpose, using the lessons to assimilate and gather together our undeniable common ground/zero-point: WE ARE AS GOD CREATED US… and nothing has intruded upon the holy Son of God of which we are all ONE…. In praise and gratitude I come to you this first A.M. of emblematic ally a new beginning: 2007. Thank You for being what I am that I may never fail to recognize mySelf. This immeasurable debt of gratitude I gladly spend forever paying ~by being present NOW! 2006 wrapped-up in linear time. How close have I come to dispelling the idea of linear time altogether? The Course says that where our hearts are, there are our treasures also. My heart is only known to me in the present moment where every belief and value in time is brought to the holy zero-point and questioned. For here, now, we are eternally one, and together the loneliness of separation is dispelled. The present is the greatest present….The present is before time was…. Ah, excellent section reference here… “Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them. Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. All healing lies within it because its continuity is real. It extends to all aspects of the Sonship at the same time, and thus enables them to reach each other. The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one. Their continuity is timeless and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere. The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you with them, and free you from the past. Would you, then, hold the past against them? For if you do, you are choosing to remain in the darkness that is not there, and refusing to accept the light that is offered you. For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely received, and can be accepted only without limit. In this one, still dimension of time that does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at Christ and call His witnesses to shine on you because you called them forth. And they will not deny the truth in you, because you looked for it in them and found it there. Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from time. Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. In timeless union with them is your continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. God’s guiltless Son is only light. There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole…” (T-13.VI.6-8) We trust our ways to Him and say “Amen”. In peace we will continue in His way, and trust all things to Him. In confidence we wait His answers, as we ask His Will in everything we do. He loves God’s Son as we would love him. And He teaches us how to behold him through His eyes, and love him as He does. You do not walk alone. God’s angels hover near and all about. His Love surrounds you, and of this be sure; that I will never leave you comfortless…

Ahhh, wonderful Spirit/ACIM family,

I am so pleased that we will be giving ourselves over to the Holy Spirit by accepting the gift of the ACIM workbook lessons this year.

I am joined with you in this unified purpose of re-member-ing the love that we are in truth through the means of the Atonement ~forgiveness.

LESSON 1

Nothing I see in this room [on this street,
from this window, in this place] means anything

This morning I was thinking about the section in the course which talks about the time of Christ and embarking on a new year, and the thought "Make this year different, by making it all the same," just kept circling around in my mind. This e-mail is what came out of it...

“Let no despair darken the joy of Christmas, for the time of Christ is meaningless apart from joy. Let us join in celebrating peace by demanding no sacrifice of anyone, for so you offer me the love I offer you. What can be more joyous than to perceive we are deprived of nothing? Such is the message of the time of Christ, which I give you that you may give it and return it to the Father, Who gave it to me. For in the time of Christ communication is restored, and He joins us in the celebration of His Son's creation.

God offers thanks to the holy host who would receive Him, and lets Him enter and abide where He would be. And by your welcome does He welcome you into Himself, for what is contained in you who welcome Him is returned to Him. And we but celebrate His Wholeness as we welcome Him into ourselves. Those who receive the Father are one with Him, being host to Him Who created them. And by allowing Him to enter, the remembrance of the Father enters with Him, and with Him they remember the only relationship they ever had, and ever want to have.

This is the time in which a new year will soon be born from the time of Christ. I have perfect faith in you to do all that you would accomplish. Nothing will be lacking, and you will make complete and not destroy. Say, then, to your brother:

I give you to the Holy Spirit as part of myself.

I know that you will be released, unless I want to use you to imprison myself. In the name of freedom I choose your release, because I recognize that we will be released together.

So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed. Accept the holy instant as this year is born, and take your place, so long left unfulfilled, in the Great Awakening. Make this year different by making it all the same. And let all your relationships be made holy for you. This is our will. Amen. (T-15.XI.8-10)