A course in miracles day 106

Lesson 106

Let me be still and listen to the truth.

1 If you will lay aside the ego's voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts which give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, which has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in its messages.

2 Listen, and hear your Father speak to you through His appointed Voice, Which silences the thunder of the meaningless and shows the way to peace to those who cannot see. Be still today and listen to the truth. Be not deceived by voices of the dead which tell you they have found the source of life and offer it to you for your belief. Attend them not, but listen to the truth.

3 Be not afraid today to circumvent the voices of the world; walk lightly past their meaningless persuasion. Hear them not. Be still today, and listen to the truth. Go past all things which do not speak of Him Who holds your happiness within His hand, held out to you in welcome and in love. Hear only Him today, and do not wait to reach Him longer. Hear one Voice today.

4 Today the promise of God's Word is kept. Hear and be silent. He would speak to you. He comes with miracles a thousand times as happy and as wonderful as those you ever dreamt or wished for in your dreams. His miracles are true. They will not fade when dreaming ends. They end the dream instead and last forever, for they come from God to His dear Son, whose other name is you.

5 Prepare yourself for miracles today. Today allow your Father's ancient pledge to you and all your brothers to be kept. Hear Him today, and listen to the Word which lifts the veil which lies upon the earth and wakes all those who sleep and cannot see. God calls to them through you. He needs your voice to speak to them, for who could reach God's Son except his Father calling through your Self?

6 Hear Him today, and offer Him your voice to speak to all the multitudes who wait to hear the Word that He will speak today. Be ready for salvation. It is here and will today be given unto you. And you will learn your function from the One Who chose it in your Father's Name for you.

7 Listen today, and you will hear a Voice Which will resound throughout the world through you. The Bringer of all miracles has need that you receive them first and thus become the joyous giver of what you received. Thus does salvation start and thus it ends; when everything is yours, and everything is given away, it will remain with you forever. And the L e s s o n has been learned.

8 Today we practice giving, not the way you understand it now, but as it is. The longer exercises should begin with this request for your enlightenment:

9 I will be still and listen to the truth.

What does it mean to give and to receive?

10 Ask and expect an answer. Your request is one whose answer has been waiting long to be received by you. It will begin the ministry for which you came and which will free the world from thinking giving is a way to lose. And so the world becomes ready to understand and to receive.

11 Be still and listen to the truth today. For each five minutes spent in listening, a thousand minds are opened to the truth. And they will hear the holy Word you hear. And when the hour is past, you will again release a thousand more who pause to ask that truth be given them along with you.

12 Today the holy Word of God is kept through your receiving it to give away, so you can teach the world what giving means by listening and learning it of Him. Do not forget today to reinforce your choice to hear and to receive the Word by this reminder, given to yourself as often as is possible today:

13 Let me be still and listen to the truth.

I am the messenger of God today.

My voice is His, to give what I receive.

A course in miracles day 105

Lesson 105
God's peace and joy are mine.

¹ God's peace and joy are yours. Today we will accept them, knowing they belong to us. And we will try to understand these gifts increase as we receive them. They are not like to the gifts the world can give, in which the giver loses as he gives the gift; the taker is the richer by his loss. These are not gifts, but bargains made with guilt.

² The truly given gift entails no loss. It is impossible that one can gain because another loses. This implies a limit and an insufficiency. No gift is given thus. Such "gifts" are but a bid for a more valuable return—a loan with interest to be paid in full; a temporary lending, meant to be a pledge of debt to be repaid with more than was received by him who took the gift.

³ This strange distortion of what giving means pervades all levels of the world you see. It strips all meaning from the gifts you give and leaves you nothing in the ones you take. A major learning goal this course has set is to reverse your view of giving, so you can receive. For giving has become a source of fear, and so you would avoid the only means by which you can receive.

⁴ Accept God's peace and joy, and you will learn a different way of looking at a gift. God's gifts will never lessen when they are given away. They but increase thereby. As Heaven's peace and joy intensify when you accept them as God's gift to you, so does the joy of your Creator grow when you accept His joy and peace as yours.

⁵ True giving is creation. It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to timelessness, and love unto itself. It adds to all that is complete already, not in simple terms of adding more, for that implies that it was less before. It adds by letting what cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever for itself.

⁶ Today accept God's peace and joy as yours. Let Him complete Himself as He defines completion. You will understand that what completes Him must complete His Son as well. He cannot give through loss. No more can you. Receive His gift of joy and peace today, and He will thank you for your gift to Him.

⁷ Today our practice periods will start a little differently. Begin today by thinking of those brothers who have been denied by you the peace and joy that are their right under the equal laws of God. Here you denied them to yourself. And here you must return to claim them as your own. Think of your "enemies" a little while, and tell each one as he occurs to you:

⁸ My brother, peace and joy I offer you,
That I may have God's peace and joy as mine.

⁹ Thus you prepare yourself to recognize God's gifts to you and let your mind be free of all that would prevent success today. Now are you ready to accept the gift of peace and joy which God has given you. Now are you ready to experience the joy and peace you have denied yourself. Now you can say, "God's peace and joy are mine," for you have given what you would receive.

¹⁰ You must succeed today if you prepare your mind as we suggest, for you have let all bars to peace and joy be lifted up, and what is yours can come to you at last. So tell yourself "God's peace and joy are mine," and close your eyes a while, and let His Voice assure you that the words you speak are true.

¹¹ Spend your five minutes thus with Him each time you can today, but do not think that less is worthless when you cannot give Him more. At least remember hourly to say the words which call on Him to give you what He wills to give and wills you to receive.

¹² Determine not to interfere today with what He wills. And if a brother seems to tempt you to deny God's gift to him, see it as but another chance to let yourself receive the gifts of God as yours. Then bless your brother thankfully, and say:

¹³ My brother, peace and joy I offer you,
That I may have God's peace and joy as mine.