ACIM Daily Lesson 178 Review V
Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
I am entrusted with the gifts of God.
ACIM Lesson 178
Lesson 178
God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
1. (165) Let not my mind deny the Thought of God.
²God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
2. (166) I am entrusted with the gifts of God.
²God is but Love, and therefore so am I.
It is so easy to become entangled in the story that we seem to be living and to lose track of our purpose. I remind myself that all things are lessons God would have me learn so it is the lesson that I am concerned with, not the minutia of the life of Myron. To further confuse the issue, the ego uses the words of the Course and tries to cloak it as a spiritual solution. For instance, I have pain and the ego wants to look for a solution in the medical field. When I lose interest in that, it insists that the pain is proof I am failing at being a Course student. I have to be vigilant for ego thinking.
Pain Is Not Real
I bring my thoughts back to the truth. There is no pain because pain is not real. It is not in my foot because the foot is an illusion so if I feel pain there, I am imagining pain and projecting it onto the foot. Pain is an idea in my mind and the foot is the screen on which I witness this idea. The body is much like the movie screen on which we see actors speaking and moving around. The foot has become the screen on which I see ego ideas being acted out. If I don’t like the movie, I don’t try to engage with the screen. And if I don’t like the pain, the true solution is not in asking for healing of the foot.
⁵When the ego tempts you to sickness do not ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body, for this would merely be to accept the ego’s belief that the body is the proper aim of healing. ⁶Ask, rather, that the Holy Spirit teach you the right perception of the body, for perception alone can be distorted. ⁷Only perception can be sick, because only perception can be wrong. (ACIM, T-8.IX.1:5-7)
Being in a Heavenly State
Instead, I stop denying the Thought of God. I bring my mind back to the lesson that is being presented in this classroom right now. I need only ask for Heaven to be in a Heavenly state, and I can do that right now. If my conviction is not strong, I ask with desire until the conviction is sure. This is a gift of God and He wants me to have it, and I want to have it, so I will. This is where He brings my attention when I ask what it is He wants me to see in this situation.
This doesn’t mean that I won’t take care of the body within the story, see a doctor, take medicine. But my focus is on the healing of the mind that becomes confused and thinks it is the body rather than the witness of the body. If I see a doctor, I do so in loving appreciation for his help. If I feel trepidation at his failure to help, I forgive that reaction as I look at it with the Holy Spirit so that it will disappear. Always, I keep my eye on the prize which is not the healing of the foot, but the healing of the mind.
God Wants Only My Happiness
God wants only my happiness and He placed His Voice in my mind so that my split mind would be healed and I could be led gently back to Heaven. I am grateful for all my lessons and I am thankful that this is the lifetime I have chosen to learn them. Father, I will not squander time in vain attempts to manipulate the world. I will maintain a focus on the truth. I am Yours and You love me and I love You. Thank you for Your Thought that keeps me eternally as I was created, and thank you for Your Gifts which I gratefully accept.
Here is another way I have used this lesson.
One day, I was talking to someone I love very much. He talked about all the things that are wrong and about his victimization. I wondered what to say to him and opened my mind to Spirit for guidance. I heard nothing and so just listened and loved. Knowing what I know, it is easy to see ego thinking in others, easier to see it in them than in me sometimes. But sharing this information is not always helpful to them. My hard and fast rule is to speak only with guidance.
I woke up this morning thinking about my friend and wondering if there was some way to help. I went through various possible conversations in my mind but discarded each. Bottom line; he didn’t ask for my help, and I received no guidance to offer. (If I felt uncomfortable with his situation Byron Katie might ask me whose business I was in. If he is in his business, and I am mentally in his business, who is taking care of mine?) I can look at my reaction to his comments and ask the Holy Spirit to teach me to look past error to see only truth. Perhaps that is all I am supposed to do with this, and perhaps the reason it keeps coming up in my mind is not for his healing, but mine.
I Will Not Betray His Trust
Just before I started this lesson, I thought of him again and asked the Holy Spirit to let me know if I was to say anything to my friend, and to please be very clear about it. My eye went to this message in Lesson 166. Jesus says the gifts of God are for me to give, but then he says to teach by showing the happiness that comes from feeling the touch of Christ. He says that if I live in fear, I am teaching that fear is justified. I have been entrusted with the world’s release from fear. My job is to not betray that trust. The way I do this is to live a happy transformed life. This is a pretty clear message to me.
When I know something that has helped me it can be very tempting to preach it, especially to someone I have a strong connection to. I sincerely want to help. I am a word person and I am most comfortable using words, but nothing teaches like an example. In fact, without example, the words are empty and useless. My experience has been that when a person is ready for something new his mind will open enough to notice that someone else seems to have it. Then he will ask for help, or in some way open that door. Storming the door before he is ready will just cause him to barricade against the assault.
Holy Spirit, thank you for the many ways in which you speak to me. Thank you for finding a way to help me hear your messages.
To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 178 click here.
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