WHEN we begin to realize the wondrous riches of God's love, the blessings which His allness includes, and the unlimited good He is continually showering upon His children, a deep sense of gratitude fills our hearts and we long more and more to accept and to manifest all that pertains to His likeness, man. All good belongs to spiritual man, by reflection. Thus God has provided all that tends to the happiness, health, and harmony of mankind; and God holds His image forever perfect, even as He Himself is perfect. A clearer realization of this truth is what we need. Joyous, trustful expectancy of good and spontaneous acknowledgment of the glorious facts of being will help us to become more and more conscious of God's love, and, consequently, to express more and more of man's true being. This high goal, which in itself indicates the true way of living, because it expresses the one and only Mind, is reached through consecration.
"Consecration" is defined in part as "the act ... of devoting and dedicating a person ... to the service and worship of God." Let us first consider what serving and worshiping God means, and then see how we may devote or dedicate ourselves to His service. In order to serve and to worship God one must begin by acknowledging Him as the only Mind; the only cause and creator; Life, Truth, and Love. Almost everyone is ready and willing to do this; but the acknowledgment must be so genuine as to shut out all belief in any other power—all fear, anxiety, worry, doubt; all distrust of one's ability to do right; for these beliefs are denials of God's allness.
Denial of Truth, the fears and doubts of the human mind, so called, have never prevented and will never prevent God's creation from being just as God made it. All that fear pictures, all the sorrow and suffering we consider probable, or inevitable, or present, is an unreal dream which in reality never can take form, because it is not a manifestation of the divine Principle, Love. All that really exists is what God expresses, and it is always good. God holds His ideas forever untouched by aught that fear may suggest.
