ACIM Workbook Daily Lesson 234, Year 2022

ACIM Lesson 234. Father, today I am Your Son again.

Lesson 234

Father, today I am Your Son again.

1. Today we will anticipate the time when dreams of sin and guilt are gone, and we have reached the holy peace we never left. ²Merely a tiny instant has elapsed between eternity and timelessness. ³So brief the interval there was no lapse in continuity, nor break in thoughts which are forever unified as one. ⁴Nothing has ever happened to disturb the peace of God the Father and the Son. ⁵This we accept as wholly true today.

2. We thank You, Father, that we cannot lose the memory of You and of Your Love. ²We recognize our safety, and give thanks for all the gifts You have bestowed on us, for all the loving help we have received, for Your eternal patience, and the Word which You have given us that we are saved.

There is a lot of chaos in our dream world right now.

It can feel scary, but Jesus is asking us to anticipate the time when dreams of sin and guilt are gone, and we reach the holy peace we never left. So, I contemplate the truth instead of obsessing about the virus and Ukraine and politics. There is no world.  ⁷In time this happened very long ago. ⁸In reality it never happened at all. (ACIM, M-2.2:7-8). Yes, I seem to be here, and it seems to be happening and illusion or not, I must participate, but I am safe. We are all safe, just as we are safe at night while we dream sometimes frightening things.

I’m just watching the show.

Actually, my participation in the story is really to be the observer and to make decisions as to what beliefs I want to keep or reject. This is my part, and I do it all day, every day. This is my purpose here now. I do it because the more wrong-minded thoughts I release, the happier and more peaceful I am. This, despite what is happening all around me. I do it because the only solution to the world is to undo it and the only way to undo it is to forgive it. Thus, I forgive the world I made by forgiving the thoughts that made it.

The part of the mind that wants the stories to go on, what we call the ego, keeps trying to draw me back into the world. It points to all that is happening and could possibly happen and invites me to be afraid. This is why these past few lessons have been so valuable at this time. They remind us of who we are in reality and of the love of God for us and our love of Him. If we are tempted to react to the world today, let us contemplate this instead. ⁴Nothing has ever happened to disturb the peace of God the Father and the Son. ⁵This we accept as wholly true today.

I remember when I first read this.

At that time, it was just a distant hope and one I could hardly believe in. Then slowly, over the years of consistent practice, the vision of my Self as part of God has become something that I believe in. 

Now, as the ego beliefs that are still in my mind become apparent to me, I no longer feel guilty that they are still there, and I relinquish them quickly and gladly. When I get hung up on one, I ask for help and let it go as soon as possible. I see the ego-mind trying to manipulate me and trying to pull me back into the story with all its drama and intrigue. I see it, and I choose against it. And I remember that the peace of God is everything I want. 

Mostly, I allow everything.

If I want to cry, I cry. If I feel depressed, I let that feeling come. When I am angry, I feel the anger. I can do this now because I am no longer afraid of these feelings. I am not afraid that they prove my guilt or that I cannot control them and they will overwhelm me and condemn me. Now I can allow everything because it is all meaningless and will pass. 

As I allow them without giving them emphasis, they pass quickly, and they pass to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I see the belief behind the feeling or the thought. Sometimes I just know that healing is occurring because that is my truest desire. I can imagine being without fear and guilt even as the ego-mind balks at the thought and insists this cannot happen, even as it shows me proof that guilt and fear are real. And I return my mind to God, knowing that His Will is my will, and so peace and joy are mine. I need only to choose them. 

Here is something from a past journal.

In this one, I am just beginning to accept that I can wake up, and the Holy Spirit is encouraging and helpful. 

As I read that, I can anticipate the time when dreams of sin and guilt are gone. I am sometimes so ready for that moment I feel like I can wake up right now. Then other times, I am reluctant to accept that I really am God’s Son and that awakening can be just a thought away. It does not feel like I am approaching that moment. I understand what the words in the Course say. There is nowhere to go and nothing to be done because nothing actually happened. Then I get out of bed, and it feels like stuff is happening. 

It seems there is a huge gap between what is true and experience.

It is hard to imagine the two coming together. I am, however, willing to be wrong, and I want to be wrong. There is now a willingness to look at the part of me that still clings to the idea of value in this world. I don’t know how I can still believe the world has something to offer, but I do. Holy Spirit, again, I ask that you help me bring up whatever needs healing so that together You and I can look at it. I am willing to accept Your correction. 

INSIGHTS FROM HOLY SPIRIT

Allow your doubts to surface, dear one. That, too, is part of the healing you asked for. Do not be discouraged by your feelings, your doubts, and your uncertainties. You want the unhealed thoughts to come up and to look at them, and that is all that is happening right now. You will find this an easier process if you will imagine stepping back and looking at it from a distance. This will help you see it as if you were detached from it, which truly you are. Detachment will also help your willingness to release it. 

Imagine the thoughts moving through your mind, and you are just watching them. What a strange parade they make. Playfully wave goodbye to them if you wish. Just don’t reach out and grab them. This is what you are doing when you feel guilty or when you think they are important. When this happens, you attach to the thought, and you believe it is part of who you are.

While this is not true, and you have no power to actually change your holy Self, your belief is very powerful and absolutely affects your experience. When you feel attached to your thoughts and beliefs, you think they are you, and it becomes frightening and painful to let them go because you think you are losing your very self when you do. You are not.

GRATITUDE 

Holy Spirit, I love the pictures you paint for me. It is easy for me to understand when you help me to see it this way. My thoughts are indeed a strange parade and a very repetitive one. I keep seeing the same thoughts getting back in line for another run through my mind. I will do as you suggest and practice detaching emotionally from what I see. They, after all, are just thoughts and can be changed. 

Here is one more. This is from 2014.

In this one, I am experiencing a very difficult situation for me. I am grappling with the fact that I am trying to support two thought systems at the same time. I am involved in the ego world of fear. But I am not fully involved because I know that there is God and that I can have God instead. I may not be able to accept the truth completely, but neither do I accept ego completely either. I know too much to go back to total ignorance. And I know enough to ask for help, and I accept it as much as I can at that time. 

I can anticipate the day of liberation.

This is the day I allow myself to be free of all belief in separation. I see it as if it is just ahead and not that far ahead. But today, I had an upsetting conversation with my son. He had surgery recently on his back and had hoped for relief from the chronic pain he has suffered for years now. It doesn’t seem to be happening, and now he seems to have re-injured it. All of this bad news has caused him to be very depressed. 

I love him so much and want only that he be happy. I also know that his story of pain and suffering is not real. He is still as God created him. He is master of his universe. But that is not his experience, and the experience he is having is really painful. I felt his deep discouragement as we spoke, and I wanted so much to do something, but what can I do? 

Jesus, you are the Master Healer.

So, I ask you what my part is in this drama my sweet son has made for himself. I want so much for him to be free. You healed many, and you raised the dead. You say that I can do this too. In Lesson 190, I have learned that I heal through accepting the Atonement for myself. Neither I nor my son are our bodies, and because of what we are, the world, including our bodies, are subject to our desires. They must bow to our holy will, but only as we recognize their harmlessness. 

That is my problem now, Jesus. I have trouble holding onto the idea that the situation with my son’s body is harmless. It seems to be anything but. I am willing, though, to see this truth and to hold to it. I can almost see it now. My goal is not to heal his body and, in fact, seeing him as his body is the opposite of healing. I will to see the face of Christ when I think of him or see him. When I fail in this, I am willing to step back from healing and allow my mind to be healed. Because obviously, I cannot give what I do not have. 

I call on your name, Jesus, as I ask that my son be healed.

I call on you to have my back because I still become tempted by the ego-mind to see what is not there. You have not abandoned us, and you will help and support me as I do my part to accept the Atonement on my behalf and on the behalf of my son. I thank you for your love and for believing in me and my son even when I cannot. Thank you for showing me how this is done. 

I know that I can anticipate the day when dreams of sin and guilt are gone. In the past, when this fear for my son has come up, I have been lost in my fear and dread. And I was unable to think clearly enough to remember the truth. I have been so busy trying to drag myself out of the ego quagmire that I have been no help at all to my son. Today, I feel the pull of ego, but I also feel the draw toward God. I feel that draw so much more strongly than ever before. I still need your assistance, Jesus, but I am very willing to accept it as I know that is good. 

⁵Remembering the name of Jesus Christ is to give thanks for all the gifts that God has given you. ⁶And gratitude to God becomes the way in which He is remembered, for love cannot be far behind a grateful heart and thankful mind. ⁷God enters easily, for these are the true conditions for your homecoming. (ACIM, M-23.4:5-7)

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 234 click here.

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