[acimlessons_list] Lesson 359--December 25

Fri Dec 24 06:55:06 EST 2004

Lesson 359

"God's answer is some form of peace. All pain
Is healed; all misery replaced with joy.
All prison doors are opened. And all sin
Is understood as merely a mistake."

PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II
Introduction)

COMMENTARY

Today I want to share some thoughts just on the first line of this
lesson. Yesterday we were reminded that "No call to God can be unheard
nor left unanswered" and that "His answer is the one I really want."
Today we are told that when God answers, the answer "is some form of
peace." So the answer that I want is peace. Every call to God is
answered with some form of peace, and that is what I really want,
despite what I may think to the contrary.

I think that when we begin to grasp that what we really want is
peace--in every situation--things start to fall into proper perspective.
Say it looks like I may lose my job, or a relationship that I believe I
need. Say it looks as if I don't have enough money. I find myself, more
or less, praying for that job, or that relationship, or that money. Or
perhaps I'm not up to prayer so I just obsess about the situation. I'm
thinking this is what I want.

If, when that happens, I can begin to recognize that what I really want
is some form of peace, I've made a giant step. It isn't the job I want;
it's the form of peace I think it brings. It isn't the relationship I
really want; it's the peace I think lies in it. It isn't the money I
need, it is the peace of mind I think it buys me.

"The prayer of the heart does not really ask for concrete things. It
always requests some kind of experience, the specific things asked for
being the bringers of the desired experience in the opinion of the
asker." (M-21.2:4,5)

When I begin to realize that I am not really asking for things but for
the experience of peace I think they bring me, I can start to ask for
peace directly, bypassing my (perhaps) mistaken opinion that a certain
"thing" will bring me that experience. I can open my mind to the
possibility that God will bring me the peace of mind I seek through
another avenue than the one I see.

Once I can begin to let go of my insistence that the answer must come in
a certain form, I will much more quickly be aware of God's answer. I may
find I can experience the peace of God completely independent of form. I
may find the peace comes to me in a form I could never have anticipated.
I will lose my anxiety over whether nor not the form I first envisioned
as what I needed ever comes to me at all. If peace of mind comes, I am
satisfied because this is all I really ever want.

To tie this in with the rest of the lesson, just briefly, "Help us
forgive, for we would be at peace" (1:9). Peace is impossible if my mind
is blinded by unforgiveness. Peace is incompatible with anger. A lack of
peace is always some kind of unforgiveness, although often it is
difficult to see how that could be. When I ask for peace I am asking to
be taught to forgive, whether I recognize it or not. If I make peace my
goal above all else, I will learn forgiveness.

WHAT AM I? (Part 9)

W-pII.14.5:1-2

Whether we really know it or not, "We are the holy messengers of God"
(5:1). That is our function; it is what we were created to do--express
God. This is our job here, and we won't be completely happy until we are
carrying it out. The way this is worded here seems significant; we are
"carrying His Word to everyone whom He has sent to us;" it does not say,
"to whom we are sent." It is not so much that we go out looking for
people to give the message to; rather, they come looking for us. That is
a different attitude than the one which says, "Let us go out and convert
the world." This is simply a passing along of the message of peace and
the fact of forgiveness to everyone who comes into our lives. People
don't just "happen" to show up in our lives; they are sent. And they are
sent because we have something to give to them.

Let me begin to learn to ask myself, when someone shows up in my life,
in my time, or perhaps in my face: "What do I have to give to this
person? What is the Word of God I can communicate to her? What does God
want to say to this person through me?" Or, in much simpler terms, "How
can I be truly helpful to this person?"

Doing this--actually doing it, not just thinking about it--is how I
learn that the Word of God is written on my heart (5:1). And doing this
is <how my mind is changed>  about what I am and what I am doing here.
My mind won't be changed just by trying to change my mind; it is changed
by carrying God's Word to everyone He sends to me. When I engage in that
kind of active serving and forgiving of my brothers and sisters, I begin
to form a new opinion of myself. I begin to see myself in a different
light. That is the Holy Spirit's plan of salvation.

    COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
    by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry
    The Circle of Atonement--Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com>

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