Lesson 307:

Conflicting wishes cannot be my will…

Aha… It changed my life to actually see this principle played out in the decision making of my so-called life… As with all the ways the Course serves up this message: There only two, exclusive thought systems; love and fear… And of these, only one is real and true... From each, an entire world can be seen~ and each world can only be seen when the mind chooses alignment with its thought system… Nothing else is going on. Also, the vehicle moving one from one thought system to the other is choice… all-encompassing, uncompromising choice. Something that hooked me up for a long time was that I would have moments of what I was sure at the time was total surrender into God’s Will, with all its peace and joy and certainty… And the next thing you know, I’d be back struggling to survive and feeling ashamed of doing such a lousy job of it, and making myself wrong about being here again. Then duh!, ~ I saw it. I still had private thoughts about time and space being real which I had tucked away in some secret place and wasn’t recognizing as, too, the forgiveness opportunity it is… Cuz, duh! The eternal present is the only time and place where. It is real. There is an unexplainable actuality to it; where one joins with what is… and there is no question about the truth because you’re already what you see… This recognition, in turn, made my way that much lighter…

When I feel conflicted in anyway, whether it be in thoughts and thought or thought with feelings, here’s the inquiry…

What has the state been when I have unquestionably felt the presence of God? Peaceful, to begin… then expansive, life-filled, loving, expressive, joyous… Yes. Starting with surrendering my “I know (anything)”, into the abyss of the currently unknown, only to once again recognize my Self in the already known… It usually looks (in form) like I start listening and stop directing… It feels like innocence and childlike reverence to whatever a situation is, for the holiness it must contain. This is usually accompanied with a bright, joyous, anticipation of experiencing it… This state is the state I recognize as one with my creation and God...

So any time I feel conflicted in anyway, I can’t possibly be in touch with myself in truth, let alone be guided in a way that results in this feeling of peaceful joy, right? And, after all, that kind of happiness is all I have ever wanted in the fires place. Isn’t that the feeling we’re always seeking in the end?

Thoughts leave not their source…

And only thoughts thought with God are true. And truth not only sets us free, it sets aright the goal at the onset of our seeming actions in this world of forgiving dreams… And certainty replaces conflicting wishes in our mind…

Lesson 296:

The Holy Spirit speaks through me today…

Like yesterday’s lesson, today’s lesson represents the decision to accept the Atonement for our Self… And in practice, that means that we set the goal for truth at the outset of the day, dropping all defenses that tell us that we know the meaning of what it beholds. We then step back into the vast peace of trust and let the Holy Spirit give us the meaning in each and every circumstance as the fresh single moment that is, arises… We understand that do not know what anything is, or how to be, without His Voice giving us the meaning we need in each single now, where truth is always found… For the Holy Spirit is our Self. We are united in one Self and we chose to teach only what we want to learn. And what we want is truth…

The body-mind mechanism is now a superb vehicle for the communication of love from brother to brother. We can trust that what we say will be for the good for all, since our voice has been consecrated for truth and given to the Holy Spirit today… Forgiveness is the benchmark of our relationships and love is the experience…

Please join me in this prayer:

“The Holy Spirit needs my voice today, that all the world may listen to Your Voice, and hear Your Word through me. I am resolved to let You speak through me, for I would use no words but Yours, and have no thoughts which are apart from Yours, for only Yours are true. I would be savior to the world I made. For having damned it I would set it free, that I may find escape, and hear the Word You holy Voice will speak to me today…”

Lesson 257:

Let me remember what my purpose is…

In order to remember something, we must have knowledge of it that has merely been displaced, yet belongs to us none the same. All that we are, and all that God is, is available only in the now.

The Course tells us that memory is a skill developed when Learning began and although we overused it for purposes of recalling the past, in other words, recalling nothing, memory can be use in service of Spirit to recall now… Purpose can only be now, and when we choose to forgive the past, we call the present (His Presence) to mind. My only purpose is to call to present mind, God’s Will for perfect happiness for me… which can only be for all…

The Holy Spirit within our mind sees but one purpose for this world we appear to be in. And that is the attainment of the real world through forgiveness; where all is included in joy, and exclusion has lost its meaning. Through forgiveness we see the face of Christ in our brothers instead of our projections of fear and mistaken identity. The face of Christ is looked upon before the Father is remembered…

To say, “let me remember” is to take a leap of faith that we do indeed know and our effort to remember is a show of appreciation into this place of faith. It is our way of keeping in mind His Mind and placing our attention and consideration in the faith that we are as God created and that we have the power to implement the skill of memory for a single purpose to re-member Love…

Through forgiving all other possibilities that favor parts or past or any differences whatsoever, and culminating all in one glorious tapestry of creation, expressed, we recall our Self to Mind…

Father, forgiveness is Your chosen means for our salvation. Let us not forget today that we can have no will but Yours. And thus our purpose must be Yours as well, if we would reach the peace You will for us.