ACIM Daily Lesson 117 God, being Love, is also happiness. I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
God, being Love, is also happiness.
ACIM Lesson 117
Lesson 117
For morning and evening review:
1. (103) God, being Love, is also happiness.
²Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. ³And so I choose to entertain no substitutes for love.
Have you ever had a crisis of doubt? A time when you lost faith in the process because it didn’t seem to be working for you? Or felt fear that you would just never be able to do this? Don’t worry, you are not the only one. I suspect that most, if not all, of us go through this and probably more than once. I know that I have and still do at times, though not as often. And it doesn’t scare me like it used to because I know there is a miracle available to me.
Getting Stuck
I have been stuck lately in ego thinking. It is not constant, but ego thoughts have been tugging at me. It feels discouraging since that doesn’t generally happen. I think that this is the ego becoming vicious in its attacks because I have lost interest in it. I think that this is the idea of defending against love because Love is calling to me and I am answering.
Anyway, I was looking at today’s lesson and my mind was blank. So, I meditated on it for a few minutes and I saw the rush of ego thoughts trying to pull me away. I saw the doubt and the anger that followed. I kept at it for a while more and was grateful to see what was going on in my mind. But when I looked at the lesson again, I was still blank. The thought given to me was to look at what I wrote last year. I did and I had to laugh. Here is part of what I wrote.
Last Year’s Contemplation
An unusual thing happened today. I was feeling discontented, discouraged, even. I can’t remember the last time that happened. How can I think about love and happiness right now? I know it is just the ego taking advantage of a trigger incident and I choose not to stay in this state. God’s Will for me is perfect happiness so I cannot be less than happy. I called on the name of God and His angels surrounded the ground on which I stand. And, I asked that they protect my mind from all dark thoughts.
I asked Jesus to walk beside me, holding my hand and he assures me this is no idle fantasy. I asked the Holy Spirit to comfort me and to take the discouraging thoughts from my mind and replace them with the miracles to which I am entitled. And, I asked that He guide me from this dark place and into the light where all is clear again. What I love about the miracle is that it is like a sweet breeze blowing away the taint of ego thinking and it comes at my request.
I placed the future in the Hands of God knowing that I do not know what anything is for but that I can trust my Guide to walk me through it. I surrender my self to Him so that my Self can walk in its place.
If You Want to Be Like Me
I think it is so funny when I am helped by my own writing. After I read this, I sat again in meditation and let those words permeate my mind. I felt the darkness of ego thinking fall away. I felt love take their place and happiness return. Doubt can’t unseat God, but it can draw us deeper into the ego and I have no intention of allowing that to happen. I am reminded of a quote from the Course that always makes me laugh even as it reassures me.
³If you want to be like me I will help you, knowing that we are alike. ⁴If you want to be different, I will wait until you change your mind. (ACIM, T-8.IV.6:3-4)
2. (104) I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
²Love is my heritage, and with it joy. ³These are the gifts my Father gave to me. ⁴I would accept all that is mine in truth.
This morning for a few minutes I was discouraged by the ego belief that the world was my heritage and with it fear and doubt. But this is not the Will of God and so not my will. My brother was waiting patiently for me to change my mind. Thank you, Brother.
The strength of God in me took the place of doubt. From this strength, I stated emphatically that doubt and discouragement are not in God and so they cannot exist. They are just senseless ideas in the mind and I am not interested. I will not defend against Love because that is not my will. I am done with that! And poof, they were gone and happiness was what was left. I accept all that is mine in truth.
3. On the hour:
²God, being Love, is also happiness.
³On the half hour:
⁴I seek but what belongs to me in truth.
To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 117 click here.
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