Review V: Lesson 171:

GOD IS BUT LOVE, AND THEREFORE SO AM I:

Join me in this prayer:

“Steady our feet, our Father. Let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still, and speak to us. We have no words to give to You. We would but listen to Your Word, and make it ours. Lead our practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not understand. Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him… So do we bring our practicing to You. And if we stumble, You will raise us up. If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering. We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You. And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us”… “God is but Love, and therefore so am I.”

This is the prayer given us in review V of the workbook. Once again, we see His gentle approach to our childish fears while at the same moment, sweeping us up in the sure and loving arms of the Parent we trust implicitly, complete with the sense of never even considering what mistrust of Him might be. We feel safe and assured in His certainty.

A new level of faith and trust reside within us now. We have met the arrogant character of ‘self-reliance’, accepting instead the arm we felt on our shoulder, the hand already in our own that rests as calm assurance in our hearts. We value the path we take in a wholly different way, for we no longer value for ourselves alone. In fact, we are loosing all sense of the idea of aloneness, for it slips gently away as the abundance of oneness fills the forefront of our mind returned the present~ now.

We have accepted that God set the plan for salvation, and we, with relief, have given up the arrogant belief that it is up to us. “Me” ceases its importance; what is not for all, cannot be for any… for such is the composition of oneness, which we know, however vaguely, is the meaning of what we are… We gladly embark on this review group with the vision rendered by first accepting our station in God… We use the core idea, which zeros out the rest and grounds us at the zero point of thought…

“GOD IS BUT LOVE AND THEREFORE SO AM I.”

Here, we wait for the prompting of the Holy Spirit within our mind, and then look with Him, upon the ideas presented in each days lesson. Whatever we thought we thought they meant before, we surrender before the now of meaning that our readiness shall lend…

All things are echoes of the Voice for God…

With the vision of oneness upon our eyes, we are satisfied with what we see, willingly opening all darkened corners of our mind to the light: “Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it is no longer contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not… This is the vision of the Son of God, whom you know well. Here is the sight of him who knows his Father. Here is the memory of what you are; a part of this, with all of it within, and joined to all as surely as all is joined in you.”(T-21.I.8-9)

God is but Love, and therefore so am I…

Having grounded in the truth these symbols represent, we are rejoice in our decision for Heaven, instead hell on earth, for we see simply that decision is the one tool we have to make determination of our experience in time… Will we be hostage to the ego or host to God?

The power of decision is my own…

And about what seems to be making specific decisions on a daily basis? I am immediately referred in my mind to chapter 30 of the text, the section called “Rules For Decision”, where the clearest of instruction is given, including steps for redirection as we fail along the way….

I am also reminded of what the Song of Prayer says in this regard:

“A specific question is actually a decision about the kind of answer that is acceptable. The purpose of words it to limit, and by limiting, to make a vast area more manageable… Answers are not up to you. Any limit you place on them interferes with hearing”…

The careful study and tenacious practice supplied in “Rules For Decision” has been, and continues to be, an invaluable source for me… Turns out, like it says in the section on willingness in chapter 18, good intentions are not been enough, yet also, willingness, is… “Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust implicitly your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be not disturbed that shadows surround it. That is why you came. If you could come without them you would not need the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let it be what it is. And in your willingness for this lies also you acceptance of yourself as your were meant to be”…

~ “God is but Love and therefore, so am I.” ~