ACIM Workbook Daily Lesson 233, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 233. I give my life to God to guide today.

Lesson 233

I give my life to God to guide today.

1. Father, I give You all my thoughts today. ²I would have none of mine. ³In place of them, give me Your Own. ⁴I give You all my acts as well, that I may do Your Will instead of seeking goals which cannot be obtained, and wasting time in vain imaginings. ⁵Today I come to You. ⁶I will step back and merely follow You. ⁷Be You the Guide, and I the follower who questions not the wisdom of the Infinite, nor Love whose tenderness I cannot comprehend, but which is yet Your perfect gift to me.

2. Today we have one Guide to lead us on. ²And as we walk together, we will give this day to Him with no reserve at all. ³This is His day. ⁴And so it is a day of countless gifts and mercies unto us.

It’s All Part of the Plan

Today has not gone as I planned. Not at all. Evidently, though, it went as it needed to go. It’s all part of the plan regardless of how it seems. Normally, I do this lesson early in the morning, first thing, really. Today it is 1:00 and I am just getting to it. But I did read it this morning and I embrace it. I do give my life to God to guide today and every day. It seems though, it is best to renew that commitment every morning and every night. The world can be enticing and distracting.

I continue to watch my mind for goals other than the peace of God. I had a moment today when I felt the movement of time and worried that I would not have enough of it. So, I asked myself what it is that I want, more time or the peace of God. This is a question that helps me recalculate when I seem to be going in the wrong direction and I easily and quickly choose again.

Choosing Love and Acceptance

I so love the last sentence. I love that I have surrendered my days to God and so I know that this day is one of countless gifts and mercies. Knowing this makes it easy to love everything, to find the good in all things, even those things I at first resist. The contractor said he would try to get by this morning but he didn’t. I can resist this and hate it, or I can accept it and love it. I choose love and acceptance because the peace of God is the only goal I have.

The following are some stories from the past. I share them because they were helpful to me and so may be helpful to others as well. Our lives, what I call our stories since they are not reality, are filled with opportunities to forgive. Forgiveness is how we awaken. Here is the first one from a past journal.

I am so very happy to give this day to the Holy Spirit.

As it happens, I started that before I even woke up. I had been half in and half out of sleep and my mind kept going to a student who is having marital problems. It was an ego reaction of being involved in her story and trying to get her to see her error. I would awaken enough to realize what was happening and ask for help to see it differently. This happened over and over until I finally let it go. 

When I woke up, I had only had 3 hours of restless sleep. And only time enough to make a cup of coffee before I began my work with a student. I felt a little dazed at first, but I know better now than to let this go on. I reminded myself that for all I know 3 hours is a perfect amount of sleep for me right now. Evidently it is since that is what I got. ~smile~ I asked HS to work with my mind to override my tired brain and I feel fine. 

I also have been thinking about my son who is going through a rough patch.

The ego would like to think about this situation, worry about it, suggest things to say to him. I see those thoughts and I ignore them, placing my attention on truer thoughts instead. I trust the Holy Spirit to guide me today in this situation as well. If there are words to say, I will be given them. So far it seems my only part is to trust my son and remember who he is. 

It is good to disregard the ego thoughts and to follow Inner Guidance instead. 

Here is something that happened while I was working. 

I am so happy that this is today’s lesson! It is such a beautiful prayer and so encouraging. I had a long week at work. That is the days were long and I ended them feeling very tired. It is at times like this that the ego-mind sees an opening and jumps right in. It doesn’t have as much luck pulling me into false thinking as it used to but it tries really hard, and lately, either it is trying harder or I am more aware of the ego thoughts and feelings. 

Yesterday, after the last customer, but a good two hours from home, I decided I had better stop for supper. I was tired and running out of energy. When I got back to the car, I was glad I had stopped and felt much better. As I sat there getting ready to pull out, I suddenly felt so sorry for myself. The ego had all the proof that I was overworked and underappreciated. My body was achy and I just dreaded the rest of the ride home. I just felt like sitting there and crying. 

It was an ego attack that came out of the blue and hit hard, but not really.

I mean, these are beliefs that are in my mind all the time and have not been fully released to the Holy Spirit. These were thoughts of victimhood, of being unfairly treated, of hopelessness, and carefully hidden rage. I have given these beliefs to the Holy Spirit any number of times, and have received blessings in their place, but I have not let them go completely. I suppose I foresaw a need for them in the future. 

So here they were again, insisting they were real and important and not to be denied. But I want the peace of God. The peace of God is everything I want, my one goal, the aim of all my living here. I cannot have the peace of God and feel sorry for myself or blame someone for my discomfort. I do all this to myself, and I can stop doing it. Nor can I wish myself at home when I am far away, but I can drive home in ease and even in joy. Yes, I feel the pull of ego thinking, but I don’t have to go there. 

I felt better after this little talk with the Holy Spirit and began my way home.

The ego tried one more thing as I was leaving. It started up its chatter about not having enough time. I didn’t get time this morning to read my paragraph in the Text and ask Jesus to enlighten me. Now I would not get home until after 9:00 PM and would be short on time again. I began to worry about this and try to figure out what to do about it. Then I laughed as I realized the ego was at it again. Could I just be at peace? 

The Holy Spirit answered my question and I pulled over to the side and shared it on Facebook because sharing something is how we make it our own. Here is what I was given. 

I will get home when I get home. I will go to sleep when I go to sleep. And I will wake up when I wake up and get as much done as I get done. That was easy! LOL. 

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT

This is a conversation with the Holy Spirit that helped me to let go of guilt that would come up when I was mind-watching. It is so much easier to catch the ego thoughts now that I don’t feel guilty for them. 

I ask the Holy Spirit to bring to my attention whatever it is that I need to look at just now. I set my intention to look at whatever needs to be seen. And I trust my Guide to help me in a way that will be most useful to me at this stage in my spiritual growth. 

Me: Holy Spirit, my goal is to become completely empty of any desire to think with the ego-mind. I know that You know the way home that is perfect for me. I surrender myself to your loving help. And please don’t mind any kicking and screaming you hear as it will subside as I release the ego thought. 

This is my message from the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit: My dear child, indeed you are one who has been consistently bringing your thoughts to Me for correction, and all of the Sonship is in gratitude. If you would like to avoid that period of kicking and screaming, I will tell you that you can by simply knowing that it is not required. Because you chose to make this a difficult and frustrating process in the past does not mean it must remain so. Would you accept it as easy and, yes, even delightful, it would be so to you. 

It would give us great joy to surprise you with the ease of allowing without resistance. Perhaps you would like to set your intention to trust yourself to gladly and gleefully look within yourself for mistaken thoughts, as looking in your closet for worn out and unwanted clothing, and as easily tossing them out, knowing you are making room for what will bring you much joy. Or if you still feel the need, you may kick and scream through the whole process. 

GRATITUDE 

Holy Spirit, you have said before that I am making this harder than it needs to be, but I keep doing it. (Sigh.) It seems that especially these deeply hidden thoughts would be painful to look at and discard. After all, if they are deeply hidden it must be for a reason. But I do love the picture you draw of me looking at and tossing out unwanted thoughts. I will set that intention, though as I type this, I notice some contracting of my body around itself. It is as if it is fending off something fearful or unwanted. This may take some practice, but wouldn’t it be fun to do this with ease! Thank you for the thought. 

REGINA’S TIPS 

I give my life to God today. 

Nisargadatta Maharaj said that in order to realize the Self, you need the right teacher. He went on to say: 

“Generally speaking, there are two ways: external and internal. Either you live with somebody who knows the Truth and submit yourself entirely to his guiding and shaping influence, or you seek the inner guide and follow the inner light wherever it takes you. In both cases your personal desires and fears must be disregarded. … If you are earnest, whatever way you choose will take you to your goal. It is the earnestness that is the decisive factor.” 

Our way is a combination of the external teacher and the internal teacher.

We have structure laid out by the external—by A Course in Miracle Workbook for Students, by Gentle Healing Homework Assignments, by Tips from Regina—but most of the time we are left alone with our internal teacher, inner spiritual intuition. Within the structure given by the external, it is the internal we need to submit ourselves to. We submit ourselves to its “guiding and shaping influence” by asking, “What am I to do now?” 

Today’s lesson is very clear. An important part of salvation is surrender. We surrender our thoughts, we surrender our actions, and we surrender without questioning the guidance of the teacher. (Note: Nisargadatta does indicate that not all external teachers are trustworthy. Therefore, the wisdom of the internal must guide us in selecting the external.) 

It’s important to notice that Nisargadatta said “your personal desires and fears must be disregarded.” If we let our personal desires and fears lead us to ignore the guidance of the teacher, we will remain attached to the ego. 

True surrender transcends the personality-mind entirely. 

There is a paragraph from The Teachings of Inner Ramana that has been coming to my mind over the last two days. That paragraph says: 

“Watch the mind carefully. Notice how it wants to judge my words or judge my methods. Notice how it wants to choose against me and decide what is best for itself. That is the confusion-mechanism. That questioning and doubting feature, which is a core mechanism within the mind, is a separation-creation mechanism that keeps you blind to the truth.” 

First, we can ask ourselves if we are remembering to seek the guidance of the inner teacher by asking, “What am I to do now?” Next, we need to ask if we are following the intuition we receive, or are we judging for ourselves whether we want to follow or not? 

Yesterday we recommitted to following the instructions laid out by one of our external teachers, A Course in Miracles Workbook for Students. Today, we recommit to seeking guidance from the inner teacher, and we commit to follow the guidance we receive. 

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 233 click here.

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