VIII. Patience
1. Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait and wait without anxiety. Patience is natural to the teacher of God. All he sees is certain outcome at a time perhaps unknown to him as yet, but not in doubt. The time will be as right as is the answer. And this is true for everything that happens now or in the future. The past as well held no mistakes, nothing that did not serve to benefit the world, as well as him to whom it seemed to happen. Perhaps it was not understood at the time. Even so, the teacher of God is willing to reconsider all his past decisions, if they are causing pain to anyone. Patience is natural to those who trust. Sure of the ultimate interpretation of all things in time, no outcome already seen or yet to come can cause them fear.
IX. Faithfulness
1. The extent of the teacher of God’s faithfulness is the measure of his advancement in the curriculum. Does he still select some aspects of his life to bring to his learning, while keeping others apart? If so, his advancement is limited, and his trust not yet firmly established. Faithfulness is the teacher of God’s trust in the Word of God to set all things right; not some, but all. Generally, his faithfulness begins by resting on just some problems, remaining carefully limited for a time. To give up all problems to one Answer is to reverse the thinking of the world entirely. And that alone is faithfulness. Nothing but that really deserves the name. Yet each degree, however small, is worth achieving. Readiness, as the text notes, is not mastery.
2. True faithfulness, however, does not deviate. Being consistent, it is wholly honest. Being unswerving, it is full of trust. Being based on fearlessness, it is gentle. Being certain, it is joyous. And being confident, it is tolerant. Faithfulness, then, combines in itself the other attributes of God’s teachers. It implies acceptance of the Word of God and His definition of His Son. It is to Them that faithfulness in the true sense is always directed. Toward Them it looks, seeking until it finds. Defenselessness attends it naturally, and joy is its condition. And having found, it rests in quiet certainty on That alone to Which all faithfulness is due.[1]
Patience is only necessary in time, and it is a natural virtue in the teacher of God. For we have learned the outcome and we can trust in the outcome with no anxiety. Just as I have no worries about my own perfection and salvation, nor do I have any worries or concerns about you. My trust in God awards me patience; the time that I learn everything I need to learn from this realm may vary from the time you need to learn; the things I need to learn may vary from what you need to learn, the mistakes I make may not look like the mistakes you make, but all of it has worked together for our good and for the good of all. We no longer look to our own understanding. We do not accept the labels that the world would put upon us. We no longer accept the ways in which some would shame us for our mistakes and label us as sinners and hold us as despicable forever. We no longer accept the pain and suffering that egoism and false doctrines would lay upon us, for we trust in God and the oneness that comes with Sonship. And because of this patience is natural to us – because we trust in the Ultimate, the One Who judges us worthy forever. Patience endures all things because we know the end of the story here is when our true Life begins.
Patience indicates our faithfulness to God. Our faithfulness is measured by how much we bring to our learning – do we bring everything without holding back? Do we trust in God for our soul but yet not trust in God for the souls of our children and grandchildren, our friends and relatives? Do we lower our arms against some but reach for our weapons against others? Do we forgive those who say they are sorry but refuse to forgive those who do not? Can we overlook some mistakes but hold others to a higher standard? Do we see some people as worthy and others as not?
Whatever we hold back from our learning and keep for our own judgment and discretion not only limits but takes away from establishing the trust of God necessary in our lives with Him. We prolong the bands of time. Instead of freeing ourselves from the death cycles of this realm, we bind ourselves to them. When we bind ourselves we bind others who are involved with us, and so we do not prolong suffering for ourselves alone.
Faithfulness is to give up all problems to the one Answer – and the one Answer is always our Oneness, the One for all and all for One. This reverses the laws of this world which would keep us grubbily and greedily striving and conniving for our own separate selves and our own chosen few. While each small degree we move in the direction of Oneness is worth achieving, we do not reach faithfulness until we are faithful to bring all to God.
This does not mean that we do not make mistakes, for if we did not make mistakes in this we would go directly to Spirit and no longer deal in flesh and blood. We consistently take our mistakes to the Throne of God, we are honest, we do not hide our jealousy, greed, selfishness, and judgments – we bring them to the inner altar, and we lay them down – for as many times as they arise, we bring them and lay them down again – confident and unswerving in our desire to be free of all that would separate us from each other and from God. We accept God’s Love, we accept the Voice for God in our hearts and minds; we accept that all are worthy of Sonship and nobody and nothing created by God and for God and in God can be rejected, abandoned, or destroyed. Our faithfulness is always directed to God and the Sonship where we find our identity and our completion. As teachers of God, we seek until we find it, and we teach this to others by the way we live it. We do not seek a “following,” we do not make collections of people and name drop this one or that one to make ourselves special in any way, we do not hold ourselves to higher standards, or claim special privileges – but if we do, we accept forgiveness and knock it off!
Today in your devotional period, ask Holy Spirit to help you reach for faithfulness in every aspect of your life. Pray for the teachers of God that come from all religions and no religion. Instead of condemning, making fun, and despising other teachers for what you see as their mistakes, humble your ego and refuse to believe in your own judgment. Trusting in God, we realize that it is our mistakes and the mistakes of others, that advances our learning the most! Some of the best teachers in our lives are the ones we feel most hostile toward. Commit to faithfulness and rest in Him Who made us and makes us One.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Manual for Teachers. 4. What are the characteristics of God’s teachers? VIII Patience IX Faithfulness. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
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