Welcome to Active Meditation,
A Course in Miracles,
Lesson 180.
Review Lessons 169 and 170.
God is love,
Therefore so am I.
Review Lesson 169.
By grace I live,
By grace I am released.
We have repeated several times before that you make a journey that is already done.
There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand.
When revelation of your oneness comes,
It will be known and fully understood.
We have work to do,
For those in time can speak of things beyond,
And listen to words which explain what is to come is past,
Already,
Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who still count the hours,
And rise,
And work,
And go to sleep by the words.
You have work to do,
To play your part.
The ending must remain obscure to you until you your part is done.
Your part is still what all the rest depends on.
As you take the role assigned to you,
Salvation comes a little nearer,
Each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
By grace I live,
By grace I am released.
By grace I live,
By grace I am released.
Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation,
Holding all its parts in meaningful relationships,
Directing the course it runs,
And making its outcome sure.
Now we ask for grace,
The final gift salvation can bestow.
The experience that grace provides will end in time,
For grace foreshadows the end of time,
Foreshadows heaven,
Yet grace only replaces the thought of time for a little while.
The interval suffices,
It is here that miracles are laid,
To be returned by you from holy instance you receive,
Through grace in your experience.
To all who see the light that lingers in your face,
We ask for grace,
And for experience that comes from grace.
We welcome the release grace offers everyone.
We do not ask for the unaskable.
We do not look beyond what grace can give.
For we can give in the grace that has been given to us.
Our learning goal today does not exceed this prayer,
Yet what could be more than what we ask this day of the one who gives the grace we ask,
As it was given to him.
By grace I live,
By grace I am released,
By grace I give,
By grace I will release.
Ponder on this,
By grace I live,
By grace I am released,
By grace I give,
By grace I will release.
You make a journey that is already done.
There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand.
When revelation of your oneness comes,
It will be known and fully understood.
By grace I live,
By grace I am released,
By grace I give,
By grace I will release.
By grace I live,
By grace I am released,
By grace I give,
By grace I will release.
Steady our feet,
Father.
Let our doubts be quiet.
Let our holy minds be still and speak to us.
Lead our practicing.
Lead our practicing.
We will listen to your word and make it ours.
We accept the word you offer us to unify our practicing as we review the thoughts that you have given us in these lessons.
REVIEW LESSON 170 There is no cruelty in God,
And there is no cruelty in me.
No one attacks without intent to hurt.
There are no exceptions.
When you think that you attack in self-defense,
You mean that you believe to be cruel is protection.
You mean that you believe you are safe because of cruelty.
You mean that you believe to hurt another brings you freedom.
How thoroughly insane is the idea that to defend from fear is to attack.
Today we learn a lesson which can save you from more delay and needless misery.
The lesson is this.
You make what you defend against.
By your own defense against it,
You make it real and inescapable.
Love now has an enemy.
Love now has an opposite.
Fear now needs your defense against the threat of what you really are.
Lay down your arms,
And only then do you perceive it.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
I make what I defend against.
By my own defense against it,
I make it real and inescapable.
So I lay down my arms,
And then I perceive it false.
Ponder on this.
I make what I defend against.
By my own defense against it,
I make it real and inescapable.
So I lay down my arms,
And then I perceive it false.
The final obstacle is the fear of God himself.
You have reached this place before,
But you have chosen that this cruel God remain with you in still another form.
And so,
The fear of God returned with you.
Fear is love by those who worship it.
The worshipers of fear perceive cruelty now as a part of love.
And love appears to be invested now with cruelty.
Say in your mind,
Father,
We are like you.
Father,
No cruelty abides in us,
For there is none in you.
Your peace is ours.
We bust the world with what we have received from you alone.
We choose again.
We make our choice for all our sisters and brothers.
Father,
Knowing that they are one with us,
We bring to our brothers and sisters your salvation as we have received it,
And we bring it now.
Father,
We give thanks for those who render us complete.
In them,
We see your glory.
In them,
We find our peace.
Holy are we,
Because your holiness has set us free.
We give thanks.
Amen.
Now,
Fear has made way for love,
As God himself replaces cruelty.
There is no cruelty in God,
And there is no cruelty in me.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
