Lesson 242
This day is God’s. It is my gift to Him.
I will not lead my life alone today. I do not understand the world, and so to try to lead my life alone must be but foolishness. But there is One Who knows all that is best for me. And He is glad to make no choices for me but the ones that lead to God. I give this day to Him, for I would not delay my coming home, and it is He Who knows the way to God.
And so we give today to You. We come with wholly open minds. We do not ask for anything that we may think we want. Give us what You would have received by us. You know all our desires and our wants. And You will give us everything we need in helping us to find the way to You.
Journal
The reason I am willing to turn to the Holy Spirit to provide all I need is because He will do so safely. He will make sure I have what I need but will not provide for my ego desires if they do not coincide with my path home. For instance, if I thought I wanted to win the lottery but having great sums of money would move me from the lessons I came to learn, this is not a desire he would fulfill.
Since I don’t know what I came for I cannot know what is best for me to have. My greatest desire is to awaken from the dream of separation and to help others do the same. So, I don’t want anything in my life that would slow that down. He does know. In Chapter 13 here is what Jesus says about asking the ego.
“Everything the ego tells you that you need will hurt you.”
And then, he tells us to ask the Holy Spirit instead.
“Only the Holy Spirit knows what you need. 2 For He will give you all things that do not block the way to light. 3 And what else could you need? 4 In time, He gives you all the things that you need have, and will renew them as long as you have need of them. 5 He will take nothing from you as long as you have any need of it. 6 And yet He knows that everything you need is temporary, and will but last until you step aside from all your needs and realize that all of them have been fulfilled. 7 Therefore He has no investment in the things that He supplies, except to make certain that you will not use them on behalf of lingering in time. 8 He knows that you are not at home there, and He wills no delay to wait upon your joyous homecoming.
T-13.VII.13. Leave, then, your needs to Him. 2 He will supply them with no emphasis at all upon them. 3 What comes to you of Him comes safely, for He will ensure it never can become a dark spot, hidden in your mind and kept to hurt you. 4 Under His guidance you will travel light and journey lightly, for His sight is ever on the journey’s end, which is His goal. 5 God’s Son is not a traveler through outer worlds. 6 However holy his perception may become, no world outside himself holds his inheritance. 7 Within himself he has no needs, for light needs nothing but to shine in peace, and from itself to let the rays extend in quiet to infinity.”
My eyes are on the goal and I am grateful to have this Guide to keep my feet on the path that will help me most quickly to achieve that goal. Today’s lesson encourages us to turn to the Holy Spirit to make decisions and this is something I strive to do all the time.
In Chapter 14, Jesus says this.
“Say to the Holy Spirit only, “Decide for me,” and it is done. 2 For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. 3 Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all you cannot know, when all knowledge lies behind every decision the Holy Spirit makes for you? 4 Learn of His wisdom and His Love, and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. 5 For you decide for them and for yourself.”
Why would I do it any other way?
Regina’s Tips
Today is a day of devotion to That which knows so much more than we know with our limited minds and from our limited experience. Today we drop all ideas that we know anything, because we don’t, and we surrender to something that is far beyond the meager perspective of the false self, and therefore fully capable to lead us back to our truth.
Prayer from NTI Acts I
Father, I do not know what is best for me now, in this time and this place, that I may be led back to You. Because I cannot see the path I am ready to walk, take my hand and send me your Voice to guide me. I shall go where it asks me to go, and I shall do as it asks me to do in joy and peace and certainty. Amen.
My Thoughts
Regina also includes an article by Bentinho Massaro in which he talks about what it is like to not just awaken in the dream but to awaken from the dream altogether, to penetrate the Absolute. What I think is most important about this article is that it emphasizes for me that I do not know anything. This is why I laugh when people start arguing over what something in the Course means. As if any of us have a clue as to what is Reality. We are like little children who have discovered arithmetic and a bit of science and think that we now understand the world. If you are interested, here is the link. https://awakening-together.org/tips-regina-lesson-242/
Past Entries
Today I will be satisfied with the “I don’t know” mind, not just satisfied, but released. As I accept that I don’t know, I free myself to be led by One Who does know. I see clearly now, in a way I refused to acknowledge in the past, my resistance to this simple instruction. In the past, I simply did not believe that God had my best interests in mind. How could I go to Him with empty hands when I needed so much? How could I trust Him to know what was best for me and to give it to me?
What if He didn’t understand how important it is to me to have a certain body image, to maintain a certain special relationship, to have a healthy body, to pay for my home and retire? What if He didn’t think of these little things that occupy my mind so completely? What if He didn’t care about them?
What if He knew these things were important to me but knew that I had lessons to learn from the circumstances and maybe I needed to walk through them? What if God just didn’t care about my little life and my little desires, but if I brought them to His attention then He might grant me my wishes. How could I afford not to ask for what I just knew would make me happy? How could I not strive to get what I believed would make me happy?
Through doing the lessons and listening to the Course, and through practicing what Jesus has given us to help us Awaken, something has happened. I still hear the insistent ego voice urging me to keep trying to make my little world into something that I like better than what I have. I feel the draw of that voice, but I feel a stronger attraction to peace, to love, to God.
Today, I let go. I become willing to be led. I accept that I don’t know what I need to make me happy. I don’t know how to get it. I have been mistaken about everything, and so I resign as my own guide. I put You in charge, Holy Spirit, and I ask that You speak to me all through the day. I will listen to the best of my ability. I will trust that everything that comes up is for my good, and that You will show me how to use it. The ego complains that this doesn’t make sense, but it is the ego that is confused. I simply choose to trust God.
I am free of expectations. I don’t expect even that I be at peace today, only that I be led out of chaos and toward peace as I follow and not lead. Even as I write this, the ego mind starts making lists of things that really are important. I don’t know anything about that. I give the endless listing to the Holy Spirit and I wait for Him to guide me to the thing I need to do, to show me how to see this story of Myron as it unfolds. I offer this vessel to Him to speak and act through me as I become empty of my needs.
A past posting and lovely message from Spirit.
I have been watching for those ways, both obvious and subtle, in which I am trying to lead my life. I woke up in the mood to write and definitely not in the mood to go to work. I thought of how lovely it would be if I could retire and then spend my life writing, counseling, performing weddings (which I love) and facilitating students through the ministerial courses – all things I would prefer doing over selling chemicals.
Then I remembered my purpose, which is none of the things listed above. I thanked the Holy Spirit for the reminder that I am mistaken if I ever think my life would be better if only…. I remembered that my Father knows the way home, and since it is my intention to go home, all I need will be given me. My life, just as it is in every moment, is my way home. What else could I want? My preferences are only my way of thinking that I, not the Holy Spirit, know the way.
Holy Spirit, please help me recognize the gift of my life. I often overlook many opportunities my life offers to forgive and so to undo the ego. I keep my life and my mind so busy that I finish the day and wonder why I even bothered to get up; I’ve missed so many chances to listen to Your gentle Voice during the day. I commit to learning a different way of being in the world. I ask that You help me do this. I ask that you show me how to turn from my ego thoughts, to pay attention to the Other Voice instead.
Holy Spirit: Dear One, those days that you spend in unconscious living are rare, and even then you notice what you have done and how it feels, so that is done. Do not decide what is a success and what is a failure. This, too, is the ego trying to find a part in salvation. When you notice that you have been lost in your distractions for awhile, ask yourself how that feels. Ask yourself if that is the energy in which you wish to continue the day, or to continue the night. That is what is needed from you.
During the day when you are uncertain how to proceed, or what to say, ask what is the most helpful thing to do at this moment. Then do as you feel guided. Do not agonize over the answer. This, too, is ego joining in. When you ask for Guidance you are simply reminding yourself that you are not in charge; that you are stepping back. You have asked with the intention of being guided in all things, and the decision to do so is the decision to choose the Voice for God. Trust that decision. Release your attachment to the outcome and move on.
It is very easy while you think of yourself as a body to forget that it is all an illusion and has no real meaning. It all seems to matter so much. But I say to you, what you do in the world is of little consequence. That you be aware of the voice you are choosing to follow does matter. That you be aware of where you place your value does matter. That you notice the choices you make matters. You need do nothing, but if you would choose to make this the day you awaken from the dream, choose to be aware of your choices and to decide differently if they do not serve your awakening.
And if you do not choose to awaken today? If you choose to spend the day in unconscious ego thinking? Then so be it. You are absolutely free, you holy child of God, because that is how you were created by your Father. You are free to be loving and joyful, and you are free to choose the drama that is typically life in the illusion. You cannot do anything wrong, you only choose which experience you want, heaven or hell. Each moment offers you this choice. It matters not what you chose a moment ago because a moment ago does not exist. Only now exists. What do you choose now?
In making the choice moment to moment, you teach yourself what it is you really value. You have thought that pretending to be separate from your Creator was what you wanted. By paying attention to how that choice feels, and to the effects of that choice, you are beginning to realize that you don’t really want it. In choosing to see differently, you are changing your mind about what you value.
Do you see that it does not matter what the circumstances are, or how important the moment seems, or how insignificant? The choice to choose love over rage is no more significant to the process than is the choice to choose to surrender judgment about going to work. Both are equally an opportunity to listen to the Voice for God and thereby choose heaven over hell. Your choice will either bring you a step closer to awakening or will leave you in hell. Notice what the result of your choice brings you and decide if that is what you want.
Your part is really so simple and no matter how crazy your life seems, or how much variety the ego offers, the only thing that is happening is that you are making a single choice; do you want God or do you want ego. My child, you have demonstrated that you want to return to your natural state and experience yourself as you really are. This daily choosing is the way to do this. Do not judge and do not be concerned about your progress. Trust. That is the answer to your concerns and your doubts. Surrender your day to Me. Set your intention, follow your guidance, and trust.