HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY?
page 41, paragraph 7
HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY?
HOW SHOULD THE TEACHER OF GOD SPEND HIS DAY?
7. How simply and how easily does time slip by for the teacher of God who has accepted His protection! ²All that he did before in the name of safety no longer interests him. ³For he is safe, and knows it to be so. ⁴He has a Guide Who will not fail. ⁵He need make no distinctions among the problems he perceives, for He to Whom he turns with all of them recognizes no order of difficulty in resolving them. ⁶He is as safe in the present as he was before illusions were accepted into his mind, and as he will be when he has let them go. ⁷There is no difference in his state at different times and different places, because they are all one to God. ⁸This is his safety. ⁹And he has no need for more than this. (ACIM, M-16.7:1-9)
²All that he did before in the name of safety no longer interests him.
Lack
What did I spend my time defending when I thought I was in danger? I used to worry about money a lot, even when I didn’t need to. In fact, in retrospect, I see that I didn’t feel any differently about fear of lack when I made a lot of money to when I made very little. It wasn’t until I finally let go of the idea of lack that this ended and a feeling of perpetual abundance took its place. It has nothing to do with how much or how little is in the bank account. Abundance is knowing that what you need will be provided when it is needed.
Insecurity
I used to worry about my physical safety, my health and the possibility of injury or attack. I worried about locking doors and windows. I read up on everything that could possibly help me live healthier and that would preserve my faculties as I aged. It was stressful. Now I ask within if there is a question about any of this. I move into that holy instant and then I do what feels right without questioning it. Much less stress!
Offspring Safety
I worried continually about my children. I worried when there was something going on in their lives, worried they would suffer. I worried that something might happen even when everything was fine. Talk about stressful! This has been a useful hook for the ego for a long time. I can still be distracted by a present problem with one of them, but I don’t obsess and when I do worry, I ask the Holy Spirit to look with me and remove from my mind the dark thoughts that we find there.
Beliefs
⁵He need make no distinctions among the problems he perceives,…
The thing I found the most helpful is that I discovered that there is no difference in any of these problems. First of all, everything is a belief. I think I have a problem and I think I know what the problem is. I might even think I know what to do about the problem. But these are just thoughts based on beliefs not truth. And the belief is either real or unreal. I learned that the Holy Spirit will sort them for me and then remove any unreal beliefs that I do not want to keep.
Trust
It has taken me a while to become convinced that there is never value in a thought that doesn’t bring me peace. It took longer still to accept that the dark thoughts are not real and thus no thought is more difficult for the Holy Spirit to remove than another. It may seem so to me, but if I place my trust and my wholehearted desire with the Holy Spirit the thought simply disappears, or at least my reaction to the thought disappears. It is a miracle. Really.
⁶He is as safe in the present as he was before illusions were accepted into his mind, and as he will be when he has let them go.
Changelessness
Before illusions, I was safe. I was as God created me. While in illusions, I am safe. I am still as God created me. After illusions, I am safe. I am as God created me. See, no problems, nothing to fear because nothing has happened to me. As Jesus says:
7Much has been seen since then, but nothing has really happened. (ACIM, T-3.VII.5:7)