This is a day of silence and of trust.
It is a special time of promise in
your calendar of days. It is a time
Heaven has set apart to shine upon,
and casts a timeless light upon this day
when echoes of eternity are heard.
This day is holy, for it ushers in
a new experience, a different kind
of feeling and awareness. You have spent
long days and nights in celebrating death.
Today you learn to feel the joy of life.
This is another crucial turning point
in the curriculum. We add a new
dimension now, a fresh experience
which sheds a light on all that we have learned
already, and prepares us for what we
have yet to learn. It brings us to the door
where learning ceases, and we catch a glimpse
of what lies past the highest reaches it
can possibly attain. It leaves us here
an instant, and we go beyond it, sure
of our direction and our only goal.
Today it will be given you to gain
a touch of Heaven, though you will return
to paths of learning. Yet you have come far
enough along the way to alter time
sufficiently to rise above its laws
and walk into eternity a while.
This you will learn to do increasingly,
as every lesson, faithfully rehearsed,
brings you more swiftly to this holy place
and leaves you, for a moment, with your Self.
He will direct your practicing today,
for what you ask for now is what He wills.
And having joined your will with His this day,
what you are asking must be given you.
Nothing is needed but today's idea
to light your mind and let it rest in still
anticipation and in quiet joy
wherein you quickly leave the world behind.
From this day forth, your ministry takes on
a genuine devotion and a glow
that travels from your fingertips to those
you touch, and blesses those you look upon.
A vision reaches everyone you meet,
and everyone you think of, or who thinks
of you. For your experience today
will so transform your mind that it becomes
the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God.
Your body will be sanctified today,
its only purpose being now to bring
the vision of what you experience
this day to light the world. We cannot give
experience like this directly. Yet
it leaves a vision in our eyes which we
can offer everyone, that he may come
the sooner to the same experience
in which the world is quietly forgot
and Heaven is remembered for a while.|
As this experience increases and
all goals but this become of little worth,
the world to which you will return becomes
a little closer to the end of time,
a little more like Heaven in its ways,
a little nearer its deliverance.
And you who bring it light will come to see
the light more sure; the vision more distinct.
The time will come when you will not return
in the same form in which you now appear,
for you will have no need of it. Yet now
it has a purpose, and will serve it well.|
Today you will embark upon a course
you have not dreamed of. But the Holy One,
the Giver of the happy dreams of life,
Translator of perception into truth,
the holy Guide to Heaven given you,
has dreamed for you this journey which you make
and start today, with the experience
this day holds out to you, to be your own.|
Into Christ's Presence will you enter now,
serenely unaware of everything
except His shining Face and perfect Love.
The vision of His Face will stay with you,
but there will be an instant which transcends
all vision, even this, the holiest.
This you will never teach, for you attained
it not through learning. Yet the vision speaks
of your remembrance of what you knew
that instant, and will surely know again.
