Lesson 101
God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.
In our Walk in Miracles today, we are once again brought back to “Spirituality 101” in Lesson 101. We have approached this topic in other manners but the jest has been the same, Who do you think God is? It sounds nice to say that we believe in a loving God Who Will’s only our happiness. This statement is very true and always gives us comfort. But do you really believe, deep in your heart of hearts, that this is true? Do you believe it when it is inconvenient to do so? Do you still believe it when the world around you appears to be crumbling down? Do you firmly believe this even if you or someone you love appears to be suffering?
We are called to take a closer look at the Real God versus the god(s) we have created. Where is there still a lingering belief that in order to reach God one must suffer because the one who suffers most wins? Or where do you still feel a bit spiritually superstitious and engage in a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” situation? No matter what we do, damning is not a real option or a possible outcome for a Child of God. If we slip into that mindset, we have gone back to a misguided away of thinking, for sin is not real. God does not want us to suffer.
We discussed in earlier lessons the origin of the Greek word sin. It comes from sin hamartia, created from the root word hamartano, and was first used when describing a sport such as archery, when one has “missed the mark.” It then was translated over to how one misses the mark when not living a “Godly life.” There has been much fear placed around this word leaving most to feel as though they are doomed to face the wrath of God if he or she does not obey Godly law.
“If sin is real, then punishment is just and cannot be escaped. Salvation thus cannot be purchased but through suffering. If sin is real, then happiness must be illusion, for they cannot both be true” (ACIM Lesson 101 2:1-3).
In such a vision of God, full of wrath and punishable sin, there is no room for happiness. There is only space for fear, attack, and vengeance. Does that sound like something God would want for you? Yes, we often do “miss the mark” in our search for God, as we have been trying to find happiness in all the wrong places. Yet we are never damned or punished for doing so. The only hell we live in is the one we have placed ourselves in. In this hell we have created, salvation does become a sort of “judgment day” versus the peaceful choice we are already given.
We have spent many lessons listening to the Voice within telling us about our Light, our Oneness, and our part in God’s plan for salvation. Have we not experienced that God dwells within us always? How could we continue to believe this sweet Voice would offer us any sort of punishment when we never truly left that Voice to begin with? When we never truly left Home?
Through our practice periods today, we nurture ourselves with the truth. We feed ourselves with our true happiness that God Will’s for us. We officially let ourselves off the hook. Salvation is not a get out of jail free card but is a means of living a happy life in union with God. If you are aligned with God, hell and damnation cannot exist, as they truly never did in the first place.
“God’s Will for you is perfect happiness because there is no sin, and suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself. Fear not the Will of God” (ACIM Lesson 101 6:1-3).
When we tell ourselves, “God’s Will for me is perfect happiness. This is the truth, because there is no sin” (ACIM Lesson 101 7:6-7), our Sacred Sight of the world will show us the eternal celebration that comes with claiming our choice for Truth. When these words fill our minds and hearts today, the Cosmos cheers in joyful celebration as the end of suffering is here.
As more have awakened to the illusion of suffering, we see various forms of reflections that mirror back to us the existence of the happiness that is God’s Will for us. Take for example the song Happy but Pharrell Williams, are the lyrics not another version of the Truth given to us by the Course today?
Here come bad news talking this and that
Yeah, give me all you got, don’t hold back
Yeah, well I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine
Yeah, no offense to you don’t waste your time
Here’s why
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
And in an earlier decade there is the song, Don’t Rain on My Parade, sung by the infamous Barbara Streisand in the movie Funny Girl. A catchy tune that once more celebrates our happiness, standing in God’s Will, to let any clouds rain on our parade.
Ooh, life is juicy
Juicy, and you see
I gotta have my bite, sir!
Get ready for me, love
Cause I’m a “comer”
I simply gotta march
My heart’s a drummer
Don’t bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade!
These lessons are so rich in goodness and remembrance. Once we open our minds to Truth, we then find that the Truth is all we see: in music, in conversation, in travel, in movies, etc. Happiness is everywhere! Won’t you “clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth?” Dance and sing in joyous celebration with the Cosmos for the assurance of today’s promise.
Namaste.