Spirit Journey III: Connecting to God

This is the third in a series of articles about A Course in Miracles.

Years ago, a friend asked me "Where is God?"

I looked around the room in confusion. I couldn't put a "where" on God, but my friend could. "God is right here," she said, pointing to her heart. I have no reason to doubt she believed what she was saying.

At the time, I wondered how she could be so certain, so convinced. I had been raised in a religion that taught the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in humans, and I still had a hard time believing that God was so very close. The truth is that I'm still not completely convinced, but the gap between us is narrowing daily.

After its lessons on perception, ACIM focuses on the need we have for God to show us reality, and on the love God holds for us as His children. These are the two shores of the gulf that divides humanity from divinity. As humans, our limited abilities impose a need for help. Divinity supplies that help.

Through our personal histories or religious teachings, we often come to believe that God views our imperfection as somehow dirty and unsavory. Some religions prescribe ritual cleansing to enable humans to approach God. ACIM takes a different view. The gulf between the human and the divine is a flaw in our perception. 

The lessons speak to the fact that God would not have made us bad or worthless, and that we are in fact, holy. Little by little, the lessons reveal that God sustains all creation by His love. As children of God, we are especially blessed. Seeing the world with God's vision will allow us to have the happiness He wants to give us, and God is the source of true vision. They emphasize both God's love for us and our need for God.

Just as I am the "same stuff" as my parents, I am the same stuff as God. If my father is Irish and my mother is German, I am Irish and German. I have traits that can only be attributed to my parentage. My parents gave me my physical existence. God gave me my spiritual life. The traits I received from my divine parentage make me seek to be like God and to be with God. God has given me His holiness, His desire for good, His Love. He has placed me in a world that is not meaningless, given me a purpose, and will give me what I need to accomplish that purpose. 

Next: Divine Purpose