ACIM Daily Lesson 362 This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.
This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.
Lesson 362
This holy instant would I give to You. Be You in charge. For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.
1. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. ²If I need a thought, that will He also give. ³And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him. ⁴He is in charge by my request. ⁵And He will hear and answer me, because He speaks for God my Father and His holy Son.
This holy instant would I give to You.
Which holy instant is he talking about? It can be any moment or every moment. It is up to us. It is the moment we forgive the past and stay in the present. Moreover, it is the moment in which we embrace our brothers in forgiveness, love, and gratitude. It is the moment in which we trade a miracle for a grievance. It is possible to live in the holy instant if we continue to choose God rather than ego.
Be You in charge.
If I choose for the Holy Spirit to be in charge of my days and my nights, I will be peaceful and happy. I know this is true because I usually do that. If I veer from that path, I notice because I lose my peace. I ask Him to be in charge of all I do, of all I think, and of all I say. There is nothing I need the ego’s advice on, so there is nothing I would do without the Holy Spirit.
For I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.
I know from long experience that following the Holy Spirit’s directions gives me peace. On the other hand, following the ego’s directions always leads to conflict and, therefore, unhappiness. I started out putting the day in His hands, and everything went smoothly. I was doing work I don’t particularly like, but I didn’t have that experience. Instead, I was enjoying my day.
Suddenly, I noticed that things were not going as smoothly as they had been. I wasn’t getting as much done because I wasn’t feeling guided. Since the Holy Spirit never leaves my requests unanswered, I knew that I must have started making my decisions with the ego. I stopped and waited until I felt guided, and now I am back on track. I am happy and peaceful whatever I am doing when I do it with the Holy Spirit in charge. This is the way to live!
Regina’s Tips
The Introduction to the final lesson says, “His is the only way to find the peace that God has given us. … It is His ending to the dream we seek and not our own.”
As you contemplate the final lesson throughout the day today, it is also helpful to contemplate this excerpt from the Introduction. We seek “His ending” and “not our own.”
Recently I read The Final Understanding by Floyd Henderson. In that book, he wrote:
So many take their favorite teaching method and its teachings as the final step, adopting a religious or spiritual persona and fixating in that role for the remainder of the manifestation…doing spiritual stuff and eating spiritual stuff and wearing spiritual stuff and—in all of their spiritual doingness—living in what they take to be a most non-natural, supernatural, “elevated,” “higher” (and yes, “separate and different”) manner.
In other words, the ego can play the spiritual game. It can believe the teachings and imagine itself living them. The ego gets a sense of satisfaction out of being the spiritual one. However, we aren’t seeking a new game for the ego to play. We do not seek an elevated spiritual persona or even an elevated spiritual community. We seek “His ending” and “not our own.”
Let humility be the name of our game. We are students until the very end (even if we happen to be placed in a teaching role).
My Thoughts
That tricky spiritual ego can sidetrack us if we are not careful. This is why my spiritual work has focused on purification. I never try to change my behavior, only my mind. Once the mind has changed, the behavior follows without effort. Here is an example. Jesus talks about using magic, such as medicine, for physical ailments when they are not physical at all, but rather they are manifestations of false beliefs.
I see that this is true and accept it fully. This does not mean I will stop taking medicine in order to live without using magic. What it means is that I will continue to purify my mind of any desire to defend against God and to release the belief in guilt. When the mind is healed, there will likely be no need for magic.
I don’t act like I am holy. I purify my mind of all that is not holy. I don’t act as if I am loving and kind. I purify my mind of all that is not love. I know that behavior, no matter how perfectly mimicked, is not the same as a healed mind. Now, here is an idea I do use at times that has been helpful. If I am uncertain how to respond in a situation, I ask myself what I would do if my mind were perfectly healed, and then I do that. But in doing this, I am not kidding myself or anyone else. I am not pretending. I am simply practicing in the purest way I know how.
Past Entry
I want to set aside the idea that I have goals that are special and different than my brother’s, and realize that we all have the same purpose because we are all the same.
Holy Spirit: Myron, think of life in this way. Imagine a quilt whose pattern is very complex. If you look at only a small part of it, there seems to be no real pattern. It is a crazy quilt. But as you step back from it, you see that there seems to be a pattern emerging, and the further you step back, the more the pattern begins to make sense.
Now come back up close and look at only the small piece that seems to be yours. From this point of view you can see very little other than the little bit that you are creating. You cannot see how it relates to anyone else’s piece. You have glimpses of connections, but even these connections are not clear. How does your piece affect someone else’s piece? From where you stand, it is very hard to know.
Because you cannot know the whole quilt, you cannot judge the piece you work on.
It might seem that you made a misstep, but that is because you do not know how that step affects the whole. It is not helpful for you to judge your steps because it is utterly impossible for you to do so.
It is essential that you complete your piece for the quilt to be wholly done. But no matter how perfectly your piece is prepared, it is never the whole quilt; it will never stand alone. Your piece is unique within the quilt but serves the same purpose as every other piece. Does that make sense to you?
Me: Yes, Holy Spirit, it is remarkably clear. Thank you.
Contemplation 2025
To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 362 click here.
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