The holy instant is a
miniature of Heaven, sent you from Heaven.
It is a miniature of eternity. It
is a picture of timelessness, set in a frame of time.
The holy relationship is a
major step toward the perception of the real world. It is the old unholy relationship transformed
and seen anew. The holy relationship is
a phenomenal teaching accomplishment. As
it begins, develops, and becomes accomplished, it represents the reversal of
the unholy relationship. The only
difficult phase is the beginning. For
here, the goal of the relationship is abruptly shifted to the exact opposite of
what it was. This is the first result of
offering the relationship to the Holy Spirit to use for His purposes.
The Holy Spirit accepts
the invitation immediately. At once His
goal replaces yours. This is
accomplished very rapidly, but it makes the relationship seem disturbed,
disjunctive, and even quite distressing.
Once the unholy relationship has accepted the goal of holiness, it can
never again be what it was.
The temptation of the ego
becomes extremely intense with this shift in goals. For the relationship has not yet been changed
sufficiently to make its former goal completely without attraction. The relationship is severely strained until
the relationship is changed to fit the goal.
As the change develops and
is finally accomplished, it grows increasingly beneficent and joyous. But at the beginning, the situation is
experienced as very precarious. As these
two individuals contemplate their relationship from the point of view of this
new purpose, they are inevitably appalled.
Their perception of the relationship may become quite disorganized.
This is the time for
faith. Do not abandon faith, now that
the rewards of faith are being introduced.
If you believe the Holy Spirit was there to accept the relationship,
then believe he is there to purify what He has taken under His guidance. Have faith in each other in what seems to be
a trying time. The goal is set. And your relationship has sanity as its
purpose.
For now you find yourself
in an insane relationship. You must
exclude major areas of fantasy from each other to save your sanity. Have faith in Him who answered you. He heard.
You are not wholly insane. Now He
asks for faith a little longer, even in bewilderment. For this will go, and you will see the
justification for your faith emerge to bring you shining conviction. Abandon Him not now, nor each other. The relationship has been reborn as holy.
Accept with gladness what
you don not understand, and let it be explained to you as you perceive its
purpose work in it to make it holy. You
will find many opportunities to blame each other for the “failure” of your
relationship, for it will seem at times to have no purpose. A sense of aimlessness will come to haunt you
and to remind you of all the ways you once sought for satisfaction and thought
you found it. Forget now the misery you
really found, and do not breathe life into your failing egos. For your relationship has not been
disrupted. It has been saved.
In your newness, remember
you have started again together. And
take each other’s hand to walk together along a road far more familiar than you
now believe.
Reference~ A Course In Miracles
