A Course in Miracles, Lesson 307:
"Conflicting wishes cannot be my [an individual's] will…we join our holy will with God's in recognition that they are the same."
Gloria:
So, dear God, there is only One Will?
God:
There is only One, so there is one everything, One Will, One Love, One Mind, One Desire, and that One Desire is union with Me, which is called Heaven.
All seek this union whatever they call it or if they know not its name. That is what they seek because it is what I do. I seek My children. I seek you. There, you seek for that which seeks for you.
Gloria:
That's great with me! But where is free will?
God:
How soon or how long, by which route, with how many others — that is your free will.
Will you swim upstream or downstream? Will you go off to shore often and long? Will you tread water?
But know that the name of the path to me is Joy. It certainly is not suffering.
Suffering is a huge detour. It is an excuse not to find Me.
Sacrifice is in that category. It is not sacred. What from the outside may seem sacrifice may well be desire. From the inner workings, it is joy, a choice freely made.
Gloria:
I think of Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. He gave up his life. This was fiction, of course.
God:
He absolutely did what he wanted. It was a choice of joy for him. And what is a choice of joy? One made with love.
A child giving up his toy because of force or outside pressure does it not with love.
Duty, obligation are often not with love.
There is no conflict when love chooses. When a decision either way does not give you confidence or peace or joy, look for where your heart's love is.
But now We are getting serious, and We — you and I — would rather talk of love and joy and the great pull those synonyms have.
Gloria:
Yes! But one more question because it came to mind. In Sophie's Choice, Sophie was given the horrendous choice of which of her children would live.
God:
That was not a choice. Her choice was to find Me even in her anguish. Her choice was in how she would live her life in the aftermath. It turned out that her hard-wrought "choice" was the joke of a cruel officer. Neither he nor she had the power of life. The choice had no relevance to the outcome, but much relevance to her heart and her life.
Gloria:
This was also fiction.
God:
Yet humans do offer cruel choices for a perverse sense of power. All illusion. For power is in love. Not power over but power in. I have all power, but you do not find me high-handed, for love frees.
Gloria to Mother Divine:
Dear Mother Divine, inspire me this morning!
Mother Divine:
A day is ever anew. And so are you. Each day is new and so is the one who greets it. Do you think you are the same as yesterday or the day before?
This is a great human error to think so. The change is the clearing out of past junk, for your ultimate true Self is ever the same. So my question is: Do you think that your true self does not come through more today than yesterday? Do you think today is a repeat of yesterday?
It is not. It is a new day, a new rose petal unfolding and opening up to the sun.
Select the day in front of you. Check off its contents: Joy, Love, Honor, Sweetness … Check only what you want.
Today is a golden carpet laid before you.
Today is a mountain stream, so clear and bubbling and flowing.
Today is a lunchbox filled with marvelous surprises, packed by God and you — and you have forgotten what you put in.
Today is a clean slate on which you write the events and love of the day.
Today is a song you compose as you go along.
Today is a page of a book you write as it comes to you.
Today is a songbird.
Today is a sunshine.
Today is a glow on earth.
Today is a fraction of a moment, an instant of holiness.
Today is a play on earth.
Today is a Maypole.
Today is a gift, a present of the present.
Today is yours for the asking, for the taking, for the grabbing, for the writing on.
It is yours to use and to make of it what you will.
It is your day.
It is yours.
It is yours to spend, share, create, behold, and benefit.
Reap your day.
Adorn it.
Arrange it as a bouquet of flowers in a vase.
This day is your life before you. It is a treasure chest. It is a special-delivery package sent by God to you for your opening.
It is delivered to your door.
It is your day. Make it shine. Make it inspire. Make it holy with your love and vision.
Make this day a gift to God, and return this day to Him.
Later…
Gloria to God:
Oh, dear God, it feels like Lauren can't stand the sight of me. She doesn't want to see me, say hello, say good night. I am an irritant to her.
God:
I have told you before, dear Gloria, not to take Lauren's mood so personally nor so seriously. It is her stuff, and not yours at this point. Stay as far away as you can. She will come back to blessing you.
Gloria:
Dear God, I read over what you had written to Brad, and I do think I had influenced it a lot.
God:
No matter. It was truth. Brad, like anyone else, doesn't have to wait for something in order to be happy. You live where you are now. You don't have to stay there, but that is the only present you have. I tell all My children to not wait for something outside or different to make them happy. There is enough right now for there to be joy.
It is nice when outside events contribute, but Brad is not a yo-yo to be up or down dependent on circumstances.
Gloria to Mother Divine:
Dear Mother Divine, what would you like to say?
Mother Divine:
Remember you don't react so much any more. While Brad waits for outer changes to make him happy, you let outer changes make you unhappy. You are a strong mast in the sea, not some windblown stick hurtled from side to side.
You are a stanchion, Gloria. Claim your strength. No longer need anything ruffle your feathers.
Gloria:
Mother Divine, I know it is nothing to even think about, but it keeps occurring to me that I could not have survived in a concentration camp. Even if the cruelty did not personally touch me, I couldn't have borne it around me. I think I would have just cried all the time and preferred to die.
Mother Divine:
It doesn't matter. You may not know what strength you would have found. No matter, it is a moot point. But God has told you that you can be happy anywhere under any circumstances, for He is everywhere.
And I am with you, too, softening your way, helping God lay out the red carpet for you.