Lesson 361-362 This Holy Instant Would I Give To You…

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LESSON 361 to 365

Day 362

This holy instant would I give to You.  Be You in charge, for I would follow You, certain that Your direction gives me peace.

  1. And if I need a word to help me, He will give it to me.  If I need a thought, that will He also give.  And if I need but stillness and a tranquil, open mind, these are the gifts I will receive of Him.  He is in charge of my request.  And He will hear and answer me because He speaks for God, my Father, and His holy Son.[1]

One of the key practices that our Course has taught us is to always choose holiness.  This is not magic – God does not choose holiness for us; we must go to our innermost Self, the Holy Self, and request that the God in us choose for us.  Before our daily study, prayer, and meditations make it apparent to us that this is the only real choice, this is a practice that will at times, weary us and seem to tax our sensibilities.  It will not feel natural to go to God for the response to what seems like very real issues that call for judgment, condemnation, rebuke, and punishment.  Nor will it feel natural to go to God for the response to what seems like very real issues that call for an outpouring of love, appreciation, and gratitude.  Knowing that we go to God for all judgment, whether it seems positive or negative, good or bad, a call for reward or a call for punishment is critical to the putting away of ego that stands for all that is anti-Christ in our lives. 

Our year in the Course together leads us to and on the path for God.  We have come to know Jesus, and to know Jesus is to love Him.  He leads us to God.  He is the Vine, and we are the branches.  We are one with Him in the salvation of the world.  His function is our function.  We practice forgiveness for the mistaken identities we have made in our efforts to separate from Reality, we forgive the fictional account; we forgive the call for bloodshed and sacrifice, wrath and vengeance, building of edifices that provide no sanctuary.  We forgive all that happens in the fictional story and put it away once and for all – for we now know the truth about who and what we are.  We awaken to God’s call, we put away all that would impede us on our return, we lay down our toy weapons which could never destroy Reality; we lay down our toy defenses because Reality needs no defense.  We forgive it all and in forgiving we are forgiven, we are redeemed, we are saved. 

In our day-to-day dealings we will encounter all kinds of reasons to make humanity real to us.  We will have heartaches and sorrows, we will have yesterdays that sorely seem to predict our tomorrows, we will be badgered to accept another gospel based on bloodshed, sacrifice, and specialness.  There will be calls from those who are dear to us to join causes, choose sides, and dedicate our lives to that which leads to nothing.  When we come to understand that nothing in the ego realm is worthy of our time, our attention, our allegiance, we may become even more confused than when we started out!  Okay we gave it all up, Lord, as the fiction it is, so now what? 

Forgiving it all does not mean that we have nothing else to learn, nothing else to do, no place else to go, and that the fictional version that would replace God’s Truth has no more use for us.  We are here for a purpose.  Forgiving the world is not a one-time deal – as long as there is humanity our work here is not done. 

To those of us who thought we had a free ticket to the heavenlies and could escape while the rest of the world suffers through pre-determined destruction, this may not sound like salvation.  The redeemed however could not possibly enjoy the Kingdom without the missing parts; the whole cannot be one until everyone returns.  We are brothers with all of Creation.  The God in us Who is one with Christ, does not return and happily forget those who were left behind, we would never experience the joy and peace of God with only the ninety and nine.  

100% salvation.  100% saved and redeemed.  100% – this is the gospel of Christ.  Every knee shall bow.  Every tongue confess.  When we believe any other gospel, we do not know the Love of God; we do not know God as Father.  We have not put God in charge; we have said in our hearts, “Me and the ones who are like me deserve salvation, but so and so does not.  Let them burn in hell; let them continue to suffer in darkness along with all the rest of the infidels and unbelievers.”

When we put God in charge of our humanity, He leads us in our function.  We perform miracles because when we are awake, we awaken others.  When we make the choice for God, others make the choice for God.  When we recognize the manmade world as fiction; others recognize it as fiction.  When we stop being pawns of delusion, others lay down their lower-case selves and exchange them for the holy Self. 

This is A Course in Miracles, Jesus told the scribe, Dr. Helen Schucman.  Take notes.  Let us all take notes!  Let us all reflect the Love of God by standing with Christ as one, forgiving all that is not of Him.  When we put God in charge, we can do this.  For our minds are cleared of all that would stand in the way of our giving and receiving the eternal Gifts of God. 

[1] A Course in Miracles, Workbook for Students, Lesson 361-365. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).  p. 486.

Audio credit: www.eckiefriar.com

Published by eckief

My love for God, home and hearth, my husband and family fueled my decision to devote the rest of my life only to pursuits which brought love, joy, peace, and purpose. I am a writer, seeker, student, and teacher with experience professional and otherwise from waitressing to teaching the English language in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. I hold a BA in Psychology from Bloomsburg University, which took nearly 30 years to attain while I squeezed courses in between raising my children, journaling, relationships, work, and an assortment of escapades, some of which I would rather forget! An ongoing passion for reading, writing, adventure, food, and fun, eventually led me to the love of my life, James, whom I met in 1996 and married in 1997. Our life together has been an exciting journey of work and travel, spiritual awakening, and domestic bliss ever since. Although we have experienced the tragic loss of family members and friends through death and estrangement, we have managed to turn our special relationship into a holy one by the grace of God and an acute and growing awareness of “there must be a better way!” In 2006, I published my first novel, Luella’s Calling, and am currently working on my second, Grover Good and the Stone Chateau. From 2013 through 2018, I worked as a Prevention Education Specialist for Transitions, a local domestic violence sexual abuse victim’s service agency. My work there, fueled by a lifelong enthusiasm for teaching, led me to obtain an MS in Education from Scranton University. In 2018, I resigned to accompany James on his work travels while focusing on my calling to study and teach A Course in Miracles. To that end, I dedicate the rest of my days to writing, sharing, and teaching the message of salvation found within the Course pages. Thank you for your interest in this blog. As I do not respond to comments on the posts, if you care to contact me, please email me at eckief@yahoo.com.

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