[acimlessons_list] Lesson 361 - December 27

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 361 - DECEMBER 27

"This holy instant would I give to You. 
Be You in charge. For I would follow You, 
Certain that Your direction gives me peace."
Practice instructions

See instructions for Lessons 361-365.

COMMENTARY


I will be doing COMMENTARY on the "Final Lessons" and "Epilogue" sections
intermingled with the daily COMMENTARY for the next five days, since the
actual lesson is the same for all five days.


So we come to the final lessons of the year. Today and for the next four
days we have the same lesson, which gives us the very simple directions by
which we are to live the rest of our lives. The intent of the Workbook is to
aid us in forming the very habit portrayed by this lesson: to give each
instant to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to be in charge, committing ourselves
to follow His direction in everything, knowing that He always leads us
towards peace.

The introduction to this simple lesson ("Final Lessons") is one that we
would do well to read each day for these five days. Each day as we read this
over, along with the lesson, we follow the reading with a time of quiet in
which we seek a holy instant of communion with our Father and His Voice.

We are not seeking for words: 

	Our final lessons will be left as free of words as
	possible. We use them but at the beginning of our
	practicing, and only to remind us that we seek to go
	beyond them. Let us turn to Him Who leads the way and
	makes our footsteps sure.	(W-pII.fl.1:1-3).** 

What we are seeking is that communion with Him. We open ourselves to the
experience of peace. We give our lives to Him, asking to be directed in "all
our thoughts to serve the function of salvation" (W-pII.fl.3:1). We are here
to remember God through forgiving our brothers, through sharing His reality
with everyone.

We are as free of words as possible in these times of practice, and yet "if
I need a word to help me, He will give it to me. If I need a thought, that
will He also give" (W-pII.361-365.1:1-2). He will give whatever I need.
Sometimes there will be words; sometimes, thoughts. And sometimes, nothing
but "stillness and a tranquil, open mind" (W-pII.361-365.1:3). We present
ourselves to Him and wait for Him to give whatever we need. We do not tell
Him what we need; we leave that to Him.

Each day we can begin like this. And during the day, often, whenever we can,
we stop and once again renew the set of our minds, our determination to make
no decision by ourselves, without Him. These lessons have been, as the
Workbook's epilogue says, "a beginning, not an end" (W-Ep.1:1). They have
trained us in a practice that is meant to continue for the rest of our lives
until our entire life has become a holy instant.

Whenever you can today, remember these words and repeat them: "This holy
instant would I give to You." He will never fail to hear you.

___
**   The reference translates as Workbook, Part II, Final Lessons
(introduction), paragraph 1, sentences 1 to 3.