LESSON 168 Your grace is given me. I claim it now.

1. 1God speaks to us. 2Shall we not speak to Him? 3He is not distant. 4He makes no attempt to hide from us. 5We try to hide from Him, and suffer from deception. 6He remains entirely accessible. 7He loves His Son. 8There is no certainty but this, yet this suffices. 9He will love His Son forever. 10When his mind remains asleep, He loves him still. 11And when his mind awakes, He loves him with a never-changing Love.

2. 1If you but knew the meaning of His Love, hope and despair would be impossible. 2For hope would be forever satisfied; despair of any kind unthinkable. 3His grace His answer is to all despair, for in it lies remembrance of His Love. 4Would He not gladly give the means by which His Will is recognized? 5His grace is yours by your acknowledgment. 6And memory of Him awakens in the mind that asks the means of Him whereby its sleep is done.

3. 1Today we ask of God the gift He has most carefully preserved within our hearts, waiting to be acknowledged. 2This the gift by which God leans to us and lifts us up, taking salvation’s final step Himself. 3All steps but this we learn, instructed by His Voice. 4But finally He comes Himself, and takes us in His Arms and sweeps away the cobwebs of our sleep. 5His gift of grace is more than just an answer. 6It restores all memories the sleeping mind forgot; all certainty of what Love’s meaning is.

4. 1God loves His Son. 2Request Him now to give the means by which this world will disappear, and vision first will come, with knowledge but an instant later. 3For in grace you see a light that covers all the world in love, and watch fear disappear from every face as hearts rise up and claim the light as theirs. 4What now remains that Heaven be delayed an instant longer? 5What is still undone when your forgiveness rests on everything?

5. 1It is a new and holy day today, for we receive what has been given us. 2Our faith lies in the Giver, not our own acceptance. 3We acknowledge our mistakes, but He to Whom all error is unknown is yet the One Who answers our mistakes by giving us the means to lay them down, and rise to Him in gratitude and love.

6. 1And He descends to meet us, as we come to Him. 2For what He has prepared for us He gives and we receive. 3Such is His Will, because He loves His Son. 4To Him we pray today, returning but the word He gave to us through His Own Voice, His Word, His Love:

5Your grace is given me. 6I claim it now. 7Father, I come to You. 8And You will come to me who ask. 9I am the Son You love.