by Beverly McNeff

Do you remember coloring with crayons? Growing up, I loved to color. I delighted in getting a new box of crayons with all the pretty colors, perfectly sharpened and lined up in a row. So, when I first gave our son a brand-new box of crayons as a toddler, I was curious to see his reaction.

I recall how he opened the box carefully and said, “Ooh!” He looked at the crayons with appropriate respect before he dumped them all out and began to color. I was a little shocked, but those were his crayons, so I kept my mouth (and judgment) shut.

The next thing I knew, he held one between his hands and broke it in half. Then he said, “Uh-oh!” as if he had no idea how that had happened. But the truth was, he broke it and now was experiencing the effect of that choice. He could either break all his crayons or choose another way and still have some unbroken.

Over time, I watched him make the choice sometimes to break them and sometimes not, but he finally figured out he was making the choice and no one else.

We, too, have the choice of whether we will see life as broken and painful or as an opportunity to remember God’s love. I know there is a lot of pain in the world right now, and perhaps you are personally experiencing some difficult situations. These experiences can either leave us in pain, depression, and fear, or they can help us turn to God’s Answer and color a new world of love and hope.

We now realize we have the choice; therefore, we are no longer powerless in the face of the world and its events. We can no longer look at the world and say, “Oh, no!” as if we have no idea how all this has happened. We may not grasp how all the particulars occurred, but we know that we have felt out of control because we have forgotten Who is in control. We can make a choice now to experience the power of God by remembering that we are His children. This awareness can bring clarity, understanding, and insight into how we can be helpful to ourselves and others.

It is now time to give as much faith to the power of God’s love as we have given to the pain and destruction of the world. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by remembering God and our true identity as His children.

In A Course in Miracles’ Workbook, lesson 121 says:

“Forgiveness is the key to happiness. I will awaken from the dream that I am mortal, fallible and full of sin, and know I am the perfect Son of God.”

This lesson reminds us that we have forgotten who we are, and now we find ourselves lost in the idea of sin (that we are separate from each other and God), but that is not the truth. It is time for us to awaken from the dream that we are “mortal, fallible and full of sin” and know we are God’s perfect Child. This lesson guides us to our Answer.

“Forgiveness is acquired. It is not inherent in the mind, which cannot sin. As sin is an idea you taught yourself, forgiveness must be learned by you as well, but from a Teacher other than yourself, Who represents the other Self in you. Through Him you learn how to forgive the self you think you made, and let it disappear. Thus you return your mind as one to Him Who is your Self, and Who can never sin.” (W-121.6)

Right now, we think something has happened to distance us from God and His Love for us. But, as this passage says, this so-called distance we feel is nothing more than a choice we have made to reinforce the separation (sin) instead of our holiness. But through the power of forgiveness, we can learn from the Holy Spirit the truth we have always been. He is the gift that God has given us so that we would never be lost. The Holy Spirit is in our minds right now, ready to help us make the choice for healing, the choice to awaken, the choice for God and our true Self.

Let us not simply say “uh-oh” to the world of pain and separation, as if we are being victimized by the world and its chaos. We have been given the power to choose happiness over misery, unity over separation, forgiveness over fear. Let’s make the choice for healing.

What better choice could you make today?

P.S. Lesson 121, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness,” is the thought in our prayer ministry for the month of October. We will be doing this lesson in our livestream tonight (10.7.26). I hope you will join us.

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