The Decision for Guiltlessness P 17-19
Photo by Kerry Sullivan
III. The Decision for Guiltlessness P 17-19
17. How gracious it is to decide all things through Him Whose equal Love is given equally to all alike! ²He leaves you no one outside you. ³And so He gives you what is yours, because your Father would have you share it with Him. ⁴In everything be led by Him, and do not reconsider. ⁵Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with Love for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision. ⁶And everyone will be. ⁷Would you take unto yourself the sole responsibility for deciding what can bring only good to everyone? ⁸Would you know this?
18. You taught yourself the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator. ²Yet you remain in close communication with Him, and with everything that is within Him, as it is within yourself. ³Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance, and learn of all the happy communication that you have thrown away but could not lose.
19. Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of His Presence in you, and tell yourself this, and only this:
²He leadeth me and knows the way, which I know not.
³Yet He will never keep from me what He would have me learn.
⁴And so I trust Him to communicate to me all that He knows for me.
⁵Then let Him teach you quietly how to perceive your guiltlessness, which is already there. (ACIM, T-14.III.17:1–19:5)
You taught yourself the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator.
God communicates with us continually. We simply block that communication by listening to our ego instead. I feel God’s communication when my mind is clear. It feels like love. I feel loved and cherished, and I feel like I am part of a Whole that is unimaginable from here, where I think I am. I don’t just believe that I am one with all, I feel like I am one with everyone else.
It doesn’t always feel this way for me.
The moment I judge, I lose that sublime feeling. It is like I cut myself off from God and from my Self. I didn’t, of course. If I were actually separated from my Creator, I would cease to exist. Thus, I know that I can regain the awareness of our communication. And I am determined to do so. As Jesus tells us in Lesson 20, our will is done because all power is given us in Heaven and on earth. It is our determination that makes it so. And I am determined to regain and keep open communication with God and my brothers.
⁴In everything be led by Him, and do not reconsider.
Lately, I have been tempted to see some of my brothers as separate from me because of their actions in the world. This is not what God would have for me because it leaves me feeling incomplete, isolated, and adrift in a world I don’t understand. Separation leads directly into fear, and this is not God’s Will for me, so it is not mine. God’s Will is that His creation be as it was created, and I will not reconsider this. I love all my brothers, even those I don’t agree with and cannot understand. This is an illusion I am looking at, and I choose vision instead. I choose to know my Wholeness, not this fragmented illusion. Father, I choose to know your Will and only your Will.
We are told this.
⁵Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with Love for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision. ⁶And everyone will be. I don’t want to tell everyone they are guilty, and that is what I will be doing if I tell anyone, including myself, including people who don’t agree with me, who have a different viewpoint, because any judgment I hold teaches guilt, no matter who it seems to be about.
It doesn’t always feel like I am in full communication with all, yet communication has never stopped—only my awareness of it. When I see that I have judged others, I ask the Holy Spirit to decide for me. I don’t know how to ensure that everyone receives only good, but He does.
In paragraph 19, Jesus gives us a perfect prayer for when we are uncertain, and I am happy to use that prayer. I don’t know how to see myself and others as guiltless, but the Holy Spirit will communicate my guiltlessness to me. I need only open my heart to His message and accept it. I do this for us all.