“You do not love yourself. But in his [Jesus’s] eyes your loveliness is so complete and flawless that he sees in it an image of his Father. You become the symbol of his Father here on earth. To you he looks for hope, because in you he sees no limit and no stain to mar your beautiful perfection. (M-23.5)”
Affirmation: “hope and perfection”
Reflections:
1 – We Are Lovable
This passage sounds almost too good to be true, but A Course in Miracles says many things that are contrary to what our ego would say about ourselves. Here Jesus is talking about our real Self, the Christ within (an interpretation, not stated in ACIM). Here Jesus is assuring us that we are lovable. We do not have to have gigantic inferiority complexes that defy our good sense. It is our ego that has led us astray, but the ego is not our real personal self, or the Self–neither of these.
2 – Created in Our Father’s Image
Jesus sees that we are created in our Father’s image. Biblical teaching says the same. Would we continue to doubt this?
3 – To Love Properly
We do not love ourselves properly, though the ego may entertain many egotistical thoughts about how wonderful we really are. We know in our heart of hearts that something is amiss. But Jesus says that it is not our Self that is amiss. We can be full of hope as we walk into a new day.
4 – Not Flawed
Jesus does not see us as flawed, however much we may believe that we are flawed. We have the strength of God in us, because He is in us–and we can come to see that this is true by inner communion. May we offer prayers of gratitude that this is so, that we really are strong and have no limit. Elsewhere Jesus says that we are not without limits in this world, but here he is saying that there is a way around those limits. Let us believe him.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May we sense, even ever so slightly, that we are not terrible people. Jesus sees the best in us, and that best is quite good. We do not believe this, because our ego has so twisted our minds that we think that to believe we are good is egotistical thinking. It is not.
But we are good only in our Self. The egoistic self, the personal self, does say and do things that are regretful indeed. But we, our Self, can ask for forgiveness of ourselves and others for these misdeeds, knowing that God has never condemned us. Jesus shares the laudable attitude that God holds toward us.
Thank You for these reassurances. We often feel little, poor, and miserable, but You would lift us up and assure us that we are holy in Your sight, for we are created in Your image.
Amen.
MIRACLES EACH DAY 