Lesson 86

Lesson 86

These ideas are for review today:

(71)   Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

It is senseless for me to search wildly about for salvation. I have seen it in many people and in many things, but when I reached for it, it was not there. I was mistaken about where it is. I was mistaken about what it is. I will undertake no more idle seeking. Only God’s plan for salvation will work. And I will rejoice because His plan can never fail.

These are some suggested forms for applying this idea specifically:

God’s plan for salvation will save me from my perception of this. This is no exception in God’s plan for my salvation. 
Let me perceive this only in the light of God’s plan for salvation.

(72)   Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

Holding grievances is an attempt to prove that God’s plan for salvation will not work. Yet only His plan will work. By holding grievances, I am therefore excluding my only hope of salvation from my awareness. I would no longer defeat my own best interests in this insane way. I would accept God’s plan for salvation, and be happy.

Specific applications for this idea might be in these forms:

I am choosing between misperception and salvation as I look on this. If I see grounds for grievances in this, I will not see the grounds for my salvation. This calls for salvation, not attack.

Journal

I noticed that when the contractor was putting up the toilet paper holder and towel holder, he put it in a place on the wall that would not hold it. Now they are falling off and I am going to have to replace them and repaint. I was feeling aggrieved.

I checked my bank balance just a few minutes ago and noticed the bank clerk deposited my money into my checking even though I asked her to put it in my savings, and for just a moment I felt annoyed with her. Lesson 21 says that annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury. Jeez! That’s crazy.

But it is an example, I think, of the value I place on grievances. It seems that I am resisting the holy instant so that I can be furious at a nice lady for a simple error. I did, however, catch it quickly and I changed my mind just as quickly, so there is that. I would be discouraged with myself except that Jesus reassures me that I will have the holy instant and he also reminds me that it has gone nowhere. It may be obscured, but it has not ceased to exist.

Something that bears looking at is that my grievances are an actual attack on God’s plan for salvation. They seem to prove that God’s plan doesn’t work, when all along if I am willing to see the obvious, my grievances will prove to me that my plan is not working. They make me miserable and frighten me. I am astounded at myself as I realize how often I have these little grievances in my mind. I am happy to let them go. I do that as quickly and thoroughly as I can. I don’t want to defend against God any more.

Regina’s Tips

Discouragement is of the ego. It is one of the ego’s preservation strategies since discouragement keeps us from spiritual practice. If we see discouragement as an ego trick, it may help us NOT listen to thoughts of discouragement.

My Thoughts

I used to go through discouragement periodically and it was painful. Now I experience it briefly and it is still painful, but only for a short time until I move out of it. Understanding that this is just ego or bad code is helpful in keeping me from getting drawn deeply into it. I am also aware that where I place my attention becomes my experience, so I try never to place my attention on what I don’t want to experience.

If I have an ego moment of discouragement, I shift my attention to the truth because the truth gives me an experience that I prefer. What is true now, is that the ego mind has become vicious in its attempts to maintain itself and so those rare attacks are brutal. I guess that’s good, really, because I am highly motivated to end them.

Past Entries

I Learned to Look Within to Solve My Problems

Before A Course in Miracles showed me a different way, I would look at a situation that seemed to be the source of my suffering and try to fix it. Sometimes the only solution seemed to be to find the one responsible and attack them. Or sometimes it seemed I must be responsible and so I attacked myself. I tried to become a better person or to hang out with better people. I prayed and begged and bargained with God to change my perceived situation. Always, I was looking outward to something that appeared to be out of my control no matter what I did. Even if I received temporary respite, the problem returned in some other form.

Now I see that I was looking in the wrong direction. There is only God, and I am in God and part of God. This is the only truth there is. If I see a situation as anything other than joyful, peaceful and loving, then I must be seeing something that is not there. It is not the situation that needs correction, but my perception. I look inward for the solution. I look at the mistaken belief that is generating the problem as I see it, and realize it cannot be real because it is not God. I accept that nothing and no one is responsible for my suffering. I am just mistaken and I accept correction.

At first, it was a little scary. If you think projecting the cause of the suffering away from you is your salvation, then looking within to find it seems unsettling. If you think making someone else the guilty party is going to save you, then letting them off the hook is going to seem self-defeating and frightening. But if you put your trust in Spirit and follow His guidance, you will discover that the problem itself is an illusion. You are safely and always in God, and nothing else exists.

 

A Persistent Challenge

I accept that only God’s plan for salvation will work, but I occasionally get distracted by some other plan. My most persistent challenge is that I think I need my children to have a different life. I have a child who is facing his own challenges and sometimes I am so sad for him and sometimes so worried about him. My plan for salvation is for him to have a better story, one with easier challenges at least. When I get caught up in this belief, I am very unhappy. My solution is to ask the Holy Spirit to decide for me what it all means and to decide for me what part I have to play and to decide for me how I feel about it. This is returning to God’s plan for salvation.

I have absolutely no doubt that grievances have to go! If I feel even the slightest bit aggrieved about something in my life, or toward someone in my life, or a situation in my life, I let it go fast! Attack thoughts attack me and I am done with self-attack. Mostly now, attack thoughts come into my mind only briefly, just long enough for me to forgive them. Sometimes I have to take a moment to remind myself that this thought is a grievance and represents the ego’s plan for salvation. But I let it go as soon as I recognize it.

The grievance I have against my son’s story is a little harder for me to dismiss, but dismiss it I must and I will. The Holy Spirit helps me without fail when I call on Him. That is His function and He always responds to my slightest request, so I cannot fail. Sometimes I feel very angry with this child of mine. I am angry with him because thinking about his choices scares me and I want him to make other choices. This is an attack on him and holding that grievance against him is painful.

A couple of days ago, I asked the Holy Spirit to decide for me how to handle a present problem, and when I spoke to my son it was a completely different conversation than we normally have, not one I had planned, but one that came from asking for healing. It was a loving and helpful conversation rather than fearful and threatening. This is how the God’s plan will save this relationship. I ask and I receive as I asked. I am grateful.

Outrage is an Attack

In the evening I read an article about a politician. He made some remarks that were so blatantly wrong and so foolish that I just couldn’t believe what I had read. I shared it on my Facebook page with the remark, “Did he really just say this??” Someone commented right away with outrage. I felt uneasy, but still right. People needed to see this, I thought. I went to bed and as I lay there, I could not relax. My mind was brought back to that post every time I tried to fall asleep. Holy Spirit was prompting me to look at this.

What am I doing? Is increasing the divide between people God’s plan for salvation? Is attacking this brother of mine God’s plan for salvation? Is inciting my dear Facebook brother to anger God’s plan for salvation? This turning inward and questioning my thoughts and actions is part of God’s plan for salvation. The ego mind was so sure that I was in the right, but after looking at this with the Holy Spirit, I lost all interest in being right. I removed the post.