A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 257, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 257 Let me remember what my purpose is. If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions.

Lesson 257

Let me remember what my purpose is.

If I forget my goal I can be but confused, unsure of what I am, and thus conflicted in my actions. No one can serve contradicting goals and serve them well. Nor can he function without deep distress and great depression. Let us therefore be determined to remember what we want today, that we may unify our thoughts and actions meaningfully, and achieve only what God would have us do this day.

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.

Let me remember my purpose could be my mantra.

I know I have a purpose, and I stick to that purpose as closely as I can. When I stray from my purpose, I return to it because serving that purpose makes me happy and keeps me at peace. My purpose is always forgiveness. I forgive everything that is not of God.

I forgive by recognizing it is not real and does not exist. Even if I don’t yet feel like my Self all the time, when I am uncertain, I can ask myself this question. What I would do if I were awakened and then do that. Yesterday, I was thinking about something I did in the past that I regretted. I was feeling guilty about that, and so I asked that question. What would I do right now if I were awakened? I would recognize that this feeling of guilt is not real. I would let it go. So that’s what I did.

Sometimes when I first wake up, my mind strays to ego thoughts.

It happened this morning. I was thinking about a friend who is suffering right now, and I worried about her. That kind of thinking was normal for me in the past, and not being fully alert yet, I was falling into old thinking habits.

Forgiveness of this was important because, as Jesus tells us, Whatever you accept into your mind has reality for you. ²It is your acceptance of it that makes it real. (ACIM, T-5.V.4:1-2) Leaving it unforgiven in my mind makes it feel very real for me. We are told that the ego is literally a fearful thought. As I have watched my thoughts for a long time now, I have seen that this is true.

Soon, I became aware of the ego thinking and looked at it with the Holy Spirit.

I didn’t judge it or think about it. I didn’t follow the fear for my friend to some terrible future as the ego would want to do. Instead, I just looked at it, knowing the Holy Spirit was looking with me and so healing my mind. It wasn’t just the thought I was looking at. I was aware of the tension in my stomach, like fear roiling around in there. As I was aware of it, so was the Holy Spirit. He was aware I felt this, but He knew it was causeless, and so it was healed.

This is a recurring situation and not the first time I have reacted to it. So, I decided to sit longer in silence and let thoughts about it arise in my awareness. As each one arose, I forgave it with the Holy Spirit. There is a purity to this forgiveness process that I appreciate. It is the way I do my part only. We are told that there are three parts to healing. Our part is to look at the thoughts in our minds and give them to the Holy Spirit for healing. The Holy Spirit’s part is to heal. I don’t try to do His part.

I sometimes vary my forgiveness process.

Sometimes I forgive by looking at the situation and asking the Holy Spirit to heal my mind or correct my thinking. Other times I ask Him to show me another way to see it. This is helpful if I am having trouble seeing through the story to the problem. As I was reading what I wrote a couple of years ago, I also thought about what Regina Dawn Akers suggested when I had trouble letting go of my fear. She said to let go of the story and focus on the obstacles.

I didn’t realize at the time how important this concept is. Since then, I have realized that it is the story that hooks me and keeps me in confusion. If I let go of the story and look only at the obstacles, it is much easier to move forward. It is like a fog has cleared. The obstacles will always be a belief in my mind that is not true.

Here is an example.

I have experienced problems with a relationship. The ego loves my stories of past relationships and how they influence this one. It wants to justify my fear and anxiety with “true life” experiences. While I look at the story, I have trouble not believing what it says to me. But when I quit looking at the story and looked, instead, at what I believed, then questioned that belief, I suddenly saw the situation with new clarity.

My mistaken beliefs were obstacles to my peace. I used Byron Katie’s, The Work to cut through the distractions of the stories and get right to the mistaken belief. The Holy Spirit helped me to see differently. This is my purpose. This is the entire purpose of my life. It is not to make more stories or more acceptable stories, but to look, with the Holy Spirit, at the obstacles that are revealed through the story and then to allow my Holy Spirit to correct my thinking.

To access more information on The Work, click here.

Here are some examples of untrue beliefs I might find in my mind.

These beliefs are obstacles to the peace of God, to happiness, to awakening. Perhaps you will find some of them in your mind, too. The Holy Spirit will remove them if you want Him to. Maybe you will discover others.

• I am a victim
• I am vulnerable
• Fear is real
• I am unfairly treated
• I am unworthy
• Guilt is real
• I am unloved and unlovable
• I am not safe
• The illusion is real
• I am this body and in this body
• This is my life
• Judgment is possible and necessary
• Separation from God and each other was accomplished
• I must be in control

Contemplation 2025

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