Loving as God Loves

"We "love" another in order to get something ourselves. That, in fact, is what passes for love in the dream world. There can be no greater mistake than that, for Love is incapable of asking for anything. Only minds can really join, and whom God has joined no man can put asunder. It is, however, only at the level of the Christ Mind that true union is possible, and has, in fact, never been lost. The "little I" seeks to enhance itself by external approval, external possessions, and external "love." The Self That God created needs nothing. It is forever complete, safe, loved, and loving. It seeks to share rather than to get; to extend rather than project. It has no needs, and wants to join with others out of their mutual awareness of abundance." -- A Course in Miracles; Preface, xi-xii

Loving as God loves is the most natural thing in the world. One might even say it is the only real thing in the world. The projections and illusions that make loving seem difficult, that make love seem absent or scarce or limited in any way, are simply illusions. Only by forgiving our own illusions, by letting them go and ceasing to value them in any way, is the Omnipresence of Love remembered. By true forgiveness, the thinking of the world is reversed.

Loving as God loves is the remembering of perfect, all-inclusive equality. "Only one equal gift can be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that is full appreciation. Nothing more and nothing less." ACIM also reminds us that we cannot love what we do not appreciate.

Love and appreciation are not words, nor are they concepts. They are aspects of Truth, of God, of Reality. They are the qualities of Being that are always fully present, waiting to be consciously remembered. There is no judgement in love and appreciation, no comparison of this and that, no them and us, no that person and me. There is only perfect Oneness and conscious awareness of that Oneness, with God and all God's Ideas.

So whenever we find ourselves competitively comparing and contrasting, analyzing and explaining and justifying, it's a sure sign that we are caught again in the exclusive concepts of the egoic self, and we are not appreciating or loving what we have designated as 'other'. These subtle (sometimes not so subtle) mind games that weave the egoic illusion are always accompanied by discomfort of some kind. As our spiritual radar becomes more refined, we learn to recognize it, forgive it, and let it go. Only by this radical and constant forgiveness is the thinking of the illusory egoic world reversed.

Loving as God loves is effortless, and is our true Freedom. Loving is our true vocation, our only purpose, and our ultimate Joy.

"Open your mind and rest. The world that seems to hold you prisoner can be escaped by anyone who does not hold it dear. Withdraw all value you have placed upon its meager offerings and senseless gifts, and let the gift of God replace them all. In loving gentleness He will abide with you, as you allow His Voice to teach Love's meaning to your clean and open mind." -- A Course in Miracles; Workbook Lesson 127, 8:2-4, 9:5