Ask Only

“Ask only:

“How can I extend my treasure this day?

“And lay up treasures where moth and dust cannot corrupt, that is, where time, materiality, the body and the world cannot ‘hook you.’ Rather lay up treasures that are in Heaven: forgiveness, peace, unlimitedness, recognition of your unlimited power, that which brings you joy and puts a smile upon your countenance. Lay up for yourself these treasures and all things shall be added unto you.” (“The Way of the Heart,” WOM, Lesson 10, Page 129)

When we lay up these treasures—forgiveness, peace, etc.—we are seeking the Kingdom of God, called in A Course of Love, the House of Truth. And, as the Bible says, “all things shall be added unto you.” The biblical tenet is to seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And “righteousness” means “right-mindedness.” We need a healed mind.

We know what positivity means, and these gifts from God are all positive. Our own deluded minds have been lost in negativism for long years. It is this negative slant of the ego that has done us in. We wanted treasures that moth and dust corrupt, and we got them—to our detriment.

Now all that is changing for us. We have sifted the good from the bad, and we know that corruptible gifts do not satisfy for long. We want the intangible blessings from God that give us much joy—the Love, harmony, peace, joy, sense of unlimitedness. And we can have them, for they are our birthright. We have previously just been asking for the wrong things.

Let the law of attraction work for the best in life, the intangibles. Then and only then will we know the peace that passeth understanding. Then and only then will we know happiness that lasts.

Our way is being pointed out to us. We are not so dense that we don’t see it. We need simply to abide in God’s embrace, and all good things will be added unto us.

Treasure

“The means are easier to clarify after the true worth of the goal itself is firmly established. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to tell him to do this, because he will do so automatically. The real question still remains, What do you treasure and how much do you treasure it? Once you learn to consider these two points and bring them into all your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on showing you that the means are available whenever you do ask. We can save a lot of time, however, if you do not need to extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.” (ACIM, COA ed., T-2.IV.13:1-9)

Our treasure ought to be in the heaven on earth that we can create here. This goal would easily create a new world for us all.

Jesus is really trying to help us. There is back scenes work that we can’t see, and then there are A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love, and Way of Mastery. Others have also channeled him. We need to lighten up from our crises, and ask what we really want in life. That would be our goal. That would also be our treasure. And we can get Jesus’ help in identifying goal and treasure.

Devote some contemplation to these basic questions: treasure (what is it?) and goal (what is that?). If we move lightly on our feet, the answers, informed by the Holy Spirit and the Christ-Self, will be obvious. And we will walk a better earth as a result. Our feelings will improve, because Love has shown the way.

Internal Treasures

“As this Treatise is not concerned with material treasure, we will not explore the dimensions of physical treasure except to say that the feelings that cause one to think that any physical thing is capable of being a treasure or being treasured are of the ego. We will instead assume that you have moved beyond these ego concerns and explore the realm of internal treasures.” (ACOL, T2:1.3)

This passage is a direct answer to the popular book, The Secret. Although Rhonda Byrne did not mean just material treasure, material treasure is used by way of introduction to her idea, an idea gleaned from extensive historical research. Perhaps Rhonda can “hook” us into the law of attraction by enticing our materialistic longings. She herself has written later books that indicate that she well knows that the material is not all that is important.

We need to go beyond the material, as we who have read this far in A Course of Love realize all too well. We may have been hooked time and again by a materialistic toy that we thought would satisfy our longing for treasure, only to find that it turned to dust in our hands. We were not, in a word, satisfied for long. So Jesus is leading us here to internal treasures, those that time does not destroy. Our internal treasures will satisfy us by turning into abilities, and then simply part of what we are, our very identity. This is the flow that treasures take.

We don’t want egoic nonsense in our lives any longer. That does not mean that we will eschew the material, for we live in a physical world. We have physical needs, of course, and we still can be caught by the glittering gold of a physical object. But if we realize that these external treasures are fleeting in their ability to satisfy, we will put our heart where the real treasure is—internal joys, internal pleasures. We will focus on intangibles rather than tangibles, the physical. We will know that the intangibles of joy, harmony, peace, goodwill, serenity will give us what we long to have above all else—and this is the peace of God. We may not fully realize this desire yet, but we are getting there. We will soon know that the only things worth having are things that cost nothing at all. These valuable things ask only that we put first things first, that we turn to God to satisfy our legitimate needs, and that we spend at least a part of each day in gratitude for all the blessings that we indeed do have.

This way of internal treasures is the ultimate in personal satisfaction, the ultimate way to happiness. Let’s march forward with that insight today.

Prayer

You know that we all need the material, in our material world. But You also know that we need the formless more than the material, and that it is the formless, the intangible, that will satisfy us for long and satisfy us fully. I would find the peace that emanates from harmony with all things today. I would enjoy those things that don’t cost anything, and yet their worth is incomparable. Your day, given to all, is beautiful whether it is raining or sunny. Birdsong costs nothing, and when we walk outside, we are privy to that beautiful trilling without doing anything special.

I know that my material needs will be taken care of, so long as I listen to Your guidance as to how to take care of the physical. You don’t deemphasize the physical; you just put it in proper perspective.

Thank You for another beautiful day in Your world. The world that we will create anew when we have assumed Christ-consciousness and are ready for a new day on earth.

Amen.