[acimlessons_list] Lesson 77 - March 18

[Sue Roth]

Lesson 77 - March 18

"I am entitled to miracles."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

Purpose: To claim the miracles that belong to you, to claim the assurance
that they really are yours, and to refuse to be content with anything less.

Longer: 2 times, for 10-15 minutes

*  Repeat the idea as a confident request for the miracles that God has
promised you. Close your eyes and remind yourself (1) that you are
requesting what belongs to you, and (2) that by accepting miracles you
uphold everyone's right to miracles.

*  For the remainder, wait in silent expectancy for the Holy Spirit to
assure you that your request is granted, that you really are entitled to
miracles. This, in other words, is yet another exercise in waiting for
something from the Holy Spirit. In previous lessons (71, 72, 75, 76), you
waited for guidance, understanding, or an experience of vision. Here you are
waiting for the assurance that the storehouse of miracles really is open to
you, really is yours. The same things apply here as in the previous lessons:

1.  Wait in mental silence and expectancy.

2.  Wait in confidence. Since you are asking for the assurance of something
that is already true, you can ask without any doubt or uncertainty.

3.  Periodically renew your request and your confidence by repeating the
idea.

Frequent reminders: frequent

Repeat the idea. Throughout the day, be on the lookout for situations in
which miracles are called for. "You will recognize these situations" (7:5).
Then ask confidently for a miracle by repeating the idea.

Response to temptation: whenever you are tempted to hold a grievance

Say quickly, "I will not trade miracles for grievances. I want only what
belongs to me. God has established miracles as my right." Refuse to be
satisfied with anything less than miracles.

COMMENTARY

What we celebrate today is our true Identity as beings who are one with God
(1:3, 5, 6). The key to what the Course calls "salvation" is simply
remembering what we are. I like the three-fold summary that opens the
lesson. Just rearranging the words a little, the three items are:

-- What we are entitles us to miracles.

-- What God is guarantees we will receive miracles.

-- Our oneness with God means we will offer miracles to others.

Nothing we think about ourselves, no special powers we may believe we have,
and no rituals we observe bring miracles to us. They come to us because of
what we are, because of something inherent in our being. The qualifications
for miracles are built in at creation; we don't have to earn them.

The Holy Spirit "will never ask what you have done to make you worthy of the
gift of God. Ask it not therefore of yourself. Instead, accept His answer,
for He knows that you are worthy of everything God wills for you. do not try
to escape the gift of God He so freely and so gladly offers you. He offers
you but what God gave Him for you. You need not decide whether or not you
are deserving of it. God knows you are" (T-14.III.11:4-10)

The lesson affirms that we have been "promised full release from the world
[we] made," from all the darkness, pain, suffering and death resulting from
our attempts at separateness. Beyond that we have been "assured that the
Kingdom of God is within you, and can never be lost" (3:2, 3). Today we are
deciding not to question those premises, but to accept them as given facts.
The darkness <can> be escaped, and the light has never been lost. And so,
today, we set our minds in determination "that we will not content ourselves
with less" (3:5).

The longer practice periods begin with a brief time of affirmation,
reminding ourselves that we have a <right> to miracles, and that miracles
are never given to one at the expense of another; they benefit everyone
equally. In asking for myself, I am asking for everyone. After that brief
reminder, the time of practice is to be spent in quiet, waiting for an inner
sense of assurance that the miracles we have asked for <have been given>.
Since we are asking exactly what God's Will is, for the salvation of the
world, there is every reason to believe that He will respond favorably to
our requests.

Actually, asking for miracles isn't really asking for anything. It is a
statement of fact. It is an affirmation of what is always already true. The
Holy Spirit can't help assuring us our request is granted! (6:1-3) How can
He possibly respond differently? He cannot deny our prayer without denying
the Truth, and He speaks <only> for the Truth. "Nothing real can be
threatened. Nothing unreal exists" (Text, Introduction). That is what this
kind of prayer affirms.

In describing the short practice periods, we are told to ask "whenever a
situation arises in which they are called for" (7:4). And then it says, "You
will recognize these situations." There is no question here, not even a need
to give a reason or to explain how. "You <will> recognize these situations."
Something in us simply <knows> when it is appropriate to ask for a miracle.
Notice also that we are not trying to generate the miracle ourselves, out of
our own resources; we are asking the Holy Spirit. We are turning with our
need to the Source of miracles; we are not trying to take the place of the
Source. We do depend on what we are as our entitlement to miracles, but we
are not relying on ourselves to find them (7:6).

Let's remember that a "miracle" as the Course understands it does not
necessarily mean any kind of visible changes. Miracles are thoughts
(T-1.I.12:1). They are shifts <away> from the bodily level, a way in which
we recognize our own worth and our brother's at the same time (T-1.I.17:2;
18:4). A miracle is a correction of false thinking (T-1.I.37:1). Miracles
are always expressions of love, "but they may not always have observable
effects" (T-1.I.35:1).

Let's remember, also, that "may not always" does not mean "will never." If I
say, "I often eat Wheaties for breakfast but I may not always eat them," the
implication is that a lot of the time I <do> eat Wheaties. So when the
Course says that miracles may not always have observable effects, it clearly
implies that most of the time they <do> have observable effects. We should
not mistakenly think a miracle has not happened if there are no observable
effects, but neither should we mistakenly set aside <any> expectation of
observable effects. The essential ingredient, however, is not anything in
the material world, but the freeing of our minds from illusions.