Lesson 230
Now will I seek and find the peace of God.
In peace I was created. And in peace do I remain. It is not given me to change my Self. How merciful is God my Father, that when He created me He gave me peace forever. Now I ask but to be what I am. And can this be denied me, when it is forever true?
Father, I seek the peace You gave as mine in my creation. What was given then must be here now, for my creation was apart from time, and still remains beyond all change. The peace in which Your Son was born into Your Mind is shining there unchanged. I am as You created me. I need but call on You to find the peace You gave. It is Your Will that gave it to Your Son. What Is Salvation?
INITIAL INSIGHT: I know that the peace of God is all I want. I know this is true even though I still find myself choosing something else. I know that I will seek and find the peace of God because it is mine now just as it always has been and always will be. God created me in peace and it is mine forever. How could I fail to find peace when it is in me?
My mind holds the peace of God just as it holds the ego thought of chaos. Chaos is just an illusion I chose to believe in and will be gone the moment I choose not to believe in it anymore. The way I make that choice is to continue to watch my mind and notice the ego thoughts that distract me from the peace of God. I look at them with the Holy Spirit and He gently takes them from me and replaces them with the loving thoughts of God.
Sometimes I hold onto the ego thought awhile thinking there is some value to it. My granddaughter had something harmful in her little fingers and I had to coax her to let it go. She thought it was a treasure when in fact it was dangerous to her health. I am really no different. I hold onto thoughts that I think are useful, or interesting, or protective when really they are a block to the peace of God, which I could have instead.
When I asked my granddaughter to open her hand and give me what was in it, she finally did that. Her trust and acceptance of my place in her life allowed me to help her. When I, at last, decide that I can trust the Holy Spirit to make decisions for me, I open my mind and surrender to Him, and my acceptance allows Him to help me. I begin to understand “become as a little child.”
DAILY APPLICATION: I was created in peace and therefore, peace is mine always and forever. Even here in this imaginary world of my split mind, I can experience uninterrupted peace. All that I need to do is to release all thoughts that block peace. I only need to release thoughts, not do anything to make peace occur. I had an experience of doing that last year and wrote about it. Here is what happened.
As I was looking at my notifications on Facebook, I saw that a certain person had posted in one of my groups. The thought I had was that he is very judgmental and he would do better to realize that his opinions were not facts. Then he could let them flow in and out without blocking love.
The very next thought I noticed was of someone else on Facebook who is very wise but has this idea of what something means and is wrong about it. This thought attracted other thoughts of telling her how she should see it. I started to feel the contraction within my body that occurs when I am judging or conflicted.
I saw what was happening and talked to Jesus about it. I was seeing in the first individual what was in me. Of course, I did. And the proof was in the following thought in which I was in judgment. What a blessing that was! I call that grace, a free gift from the Universe. I expressed my sincerest gratitude and I quickly released all thought of judgment. Was this person actually wrong? Was either person wrong? Was I wrong? I don’t care. I don’t care about right or wrong both of which are tenuous in this world anyway. I just want the peace of God.
A Problem at Work
One day when I was still working, I became anxious because I had a customer with a serious problem and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. If I didn’t fix it, I would probably lose that customer. When I thought of that situation, I lost my peace. I then remembered my commitment not to believe my emotions, and my commitment to deny anything not of God the ability to affect me. I remembered my commitment to the peace of God.
The ego responded by telling me that in spite of my commitment the problem is still there and bad things were going to happen. But when I ask if this clinching in my gut is God’s all-encompassing love, I know that it is not. Fear is not in God. I am in God and so fear must not be in me either. I would not be fooled by appearances. There is only God’s Love. I surrendered to that Love. I chose only God’s Will for me in that instant.
The ego clamored for my attention. But as I listened, I realized that the ego was not telling me anything useful or true. It only asked that I clothe myself in its protective armor of fear, and warned that if I do not then I am doomed. I decided not to be fooled that fear is helpful in any way. I wanted only God. I said no to anything that is not God. That was my holy instant of release.
A Problem with Sleep
I woke up at 3:00 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. I began to hear the ego-mind worry about not sleeping and the consequences of not getting enough sleep. At that moment when I thought I needed something in this world, I lost my peace. I began to feel tense. I lay there trying to go back to sleep and felt itchy and uncomfortable, too hot, then too cold. All my anxiety was showing up in my body.
I began thinking about work and the issues there, and about my house and how I need to get a floor redone but haven’t found someone to do this. I listened to a meditation tape and relaxed, but it did not put me to sleep. Time ticked along and at 4:00 AM I was reminding myself that the only thing that happened is that I began to believe I needed something besides the peace of God.
I remembered that the peace of God is everything I want. Again, the ego insisted that my problems are still here, but I heard the Voice for God assure me that seeking and finding the peace of God is my only function now. All else will be taken care of and it is not my job to direct that. Trust.
Feeling at peace finally, I decided to use my time wisely. I was awake, so it must be that awake is what I am supposed to be. I asked the Holy Spirit what I should do now and He sent me to my computer to do my work with Him. I love this work and as it turns out, 4:00 AM is a good time to do it. Peace was in me all along, and when I chose to seek and find it, I did. Simple.
GRATITUDE: These years of practicing peace have paid off. I seldom lose my peace anymore and when I do, I regain it quickly because I value it above all else. One goal, the peace of God; it works. And I am so grateful that I made that choice.
REGINA’S TIPS
Tips from Regina ~ Lesson 230
Please take time this morning to read, “What is Forgiveness,” to contemplate Lesson 230, and to spend time in meditation. If you have 30-minutes for meditation and would like a gentle audio to guide you, I recommend this meditation by Michael Langford and Karen Worth:
Today is our last day with the special theme, “What is Forgiveness?” If you have time during the day today, listen again to the audio teaching on “What is Forgiveness?”.
Now will I seek and find the peace of God.
The peace of God is not found in thought. Also, thought is not what you are. These statements are keys to finding the peace of God.
The peace of God is not found in thought. – If you observe thought, you will notice there are some joyful, peaceful thoughts, but those thoughts are not constant. All thoughts come and go. When attention is focused on the movement of thought, you experience change. If thoughts are currently joyful or peaceful, you have those experiences temporarily. However, when they are replaced by worrisome thoughts, thoughts of guilt or unworthiness, blame, annoyance, anger, etcetera, you experience loss of peace.
The peace of God is constant. Since thought is not constant, the peace of God cannot be found in thought.
Thought is not what you are. – Today’s workbook lesson says, “In peace I was created. And in peace do I remain. It is not given me to change my Self.”
Peace is what you are.
Today, when you pay attention to awareness during meditation, notice it is perfect peace. Thoughts change, and thoughts come and go, but the awareness they arise in is perfectly open, changeless peace.
Also, as you watch awareness today, notice that you are not thought. You are the perfectly open, changeless peace that thought arises in. If an emotion arises, notice you are not emotion. Like thought, emotion comes and goes; emotions change. But you are the awareness that is aware of emotion. You are the perfectly open, changeless peace that emotions arise in.
To seek and find the peace of God is merely to seek our Self. To know the peace of God is to identify with our ever-present Self, instead of identifying with the moving show of thought.
MY THOUGHTS
Thoughts come and go. Some of them are nice and some of them are not. But since I was created changeless, obviously, I cannot be my thoughts. I am learning not to identify with my thoughts. I have thoughts, that doesn’t mean that I am thoughts. That’s why I don’t feel guilty for my thoughts no matter how dark they might be. They are not me; they are not mine. They are just the effect of the split mind, the idea of separation.
My only desire is to release them, especially when they block the awareness of Love’s presence, or said another way when they block the awareness of the presence of peace. Meditation is so essential because it is a time when one can be free to focus our attention on our Self rather than our thoughts, at least for a time, and so be in touch with what is real about us.