[acimlessons_list] Review VI, Lesson 214 - August 2

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+ COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
+ by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry, 
+ of The Circle of Atonement
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Review VI, Lesson 214 - August 2

Central theme:

"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."

Review of:

(194) "I place the future in the Hands of God."

Practice instructions

See instructions in separate document.

Commentary

Accepting that the past is gone is simply common sense, because by
definition, what is "past" is no longer here; it is gone. Only our mental
attachment to things past, our insistence on regurgitating past incidents
and chewing them over again, can have any effect on the present. The effects
we feel are not of the past, but of our present thinking about the past.

Accepting that the future has not yet arrived is also common sense, because
again by definition, what is future is not here now. It cannot have any
effect on the present moment. Only our mental imagination of what the future
might hold, and our thinking about what has not yet occurred, can have
present effect.

In both cases, the effects that we imagine come from past or future come, in
fact, from our present thinking. Therefore, only by changing our present
thinking can those effects be altered. When I am able to mentally let go of
the past and the future, placing the future in God's Hands, I am freed from
their apparent effects. I am at liberty, in the now, to open myself to
accept what God is giving me <now>.

The present circumstances in which I find myself may appear to be
threatening. They may have come about, in my perception, because of past
events. They may appear to lead inevitably to some unhappy future. Yet if I
can open my mind to believe that "what God gives can only be for good"
(1:4), then that good will come to me. We cannot know all the factors
involved in the events of our lives and their effect on everyone around us.
But God knows. We can safely and confidently take our hands off, and place
the future in God's Hands. We can look upon things that seem to bring evil
and refuse the evil, accepting only what <God> gives as what truly belongs
to us. In everything, there is a gift of God, if we look carefully enough.
To place our future in God's Hands we must let go ourselves, and stop trying
to orchestrate the events of our lives. Doing so is a constant lesson in
trust. Trust is the key, an essential ingredient in placing the future into
God's Hands.

In the Manual for Teachers, the fundamental stage in the process of
development from "teacher of God" to "advanced teacher of God" is the
development of trust. The full flowering of trust is not an overnight
process. It goes through several stages, clearly set out in the Manual. Most
of those stages involve some discomfort, because until we have truly
acquired trust, we keep trying to second-guess God. The pain comes not from
the learning, but from what we have not yet learned. What we are learning
will bring the removal of the pain, but pain along the way seems almost
unavoidable. "Few teachers of God escape this distress entirely"
(M-4.I.5:3). Yet when the lesson is learned, the peace will be like nothing
we have ever known. We can only imagine what total freedom from all anxiety
feels like, and yet, if we have wholly placed our future into God's Hands,
what else could be the certain result?

Each effort we make in this direction is beneficial. Each moment we place
into His Hands will lessen the burden of care we carry constantly for our
lives. Gradually, we are learning to cast all our cares on Him, trusting in
His caring for us. 
 
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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
+ Available in book format from The Circle
+ of Atonement (Vol. 1 reprint due by fall of 2005, write us for info)
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