[acimlessons_list] LESSON 324 - NOVEMBER 20

[Sue Roth]

LESSON 324 - NOVEMBER 20

"I merely follow, for I would not lead."

PRACTICE INSTRUCTIONS 

See complete instructions in separate document. 
A short summary:

* Read the commentary paragraph slowly and personally.

* Pray the prayer, perhaps several times.

* Morning and evening: Repeat the idea and then spend time in Open Mind
Meditation.

* Hourly remembrance: Repeat the idea and then spend a quiet moment in
meditation.

* Frequent reminders: Repeat the idea often within each hour.

* Response to temptation: Repeat the idea whenever upset, to restore peace.

* Read the "What Is" section slowly and thoughtfully once during the day.

COMMENTARY

Learning to follow my inner guidance is a big part of doing the Course. That
guidance is the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit. It is part of me and part of
God. In the end all is one, but while I think of myself as separate I will
experience that Voice as a separate voice, calling me back home: "Your
loving Voice will always call me back, and guide my feet aright" (1:5).

Father, I need to learn that I am not on my own, and that Something or
Someone has planned "the way I am to go, the role to take, and every step in
my appointed path" (1:2). As Lesson 321 reminded me: "I have neither made
nor understood the way to find my freedom" (W-pII.321.1:4). In fact, You
have set the way, and the Holy Spirit is simply the Voice that speaks for
You. So, then, let me follow "One Who knows the way" (2:1). What a relief it
is to have this One to trust! When walking through a dark jungle with
twisted and confusing pathways, what a comfort to know I have a Guide Who
knows every detail of the path. Because of Him, "I cannot lose the way"
(1:3).

Today let me remember that every step of my journey has been set by You. As
I look back with You, I know that this is true: nothing I have ever done has
ever been anything but for my own good; it has all worked together perfectly
to get me exactly where I am now. Even my wanderings were perfectly designed
to teach me the falsity of the illusions I was following. What I thought
were detours away from You were really lessons bringing me closer to home,
and I am grateful for them all. Let me now look to the future with the
confidence imparted by that knowledge: I cannot lose the way. Every person,
every event, and every circumstance of my life today can be, if seen with
vision, a step towards home, a means of finding my way back to You.

If I wander today, Father, bring me back. I thank You for the blessed relief
of knowing that I do not have to figure it all out. It's been figured out
for me. I can let the day unroll in whatever way it does, trusting that it
is all perfectly planned by You to bring the memory of You most rapidly to
my mind.

"I would not lead." I don't want to be known as a leader of others. I don't
know the way for myself; how can I know for anyone else? Some of my brothers
may follow me; in fact You will bring them to me for that purpose. But all I
am doing is following Your Voice; if anyone follows me in this path they are
not following me, but You. Let me always remind them of that and never make
anyone dependent upon me.

"We cannot stray except an instant from His loving Hand" (2:2). To Jesus,
six billion years is "a tiny tick of time" (T-26.V.3:5) that is nothing in
comparison to eternity, so small that "not one note in Heaven's song was
missed" (T-26.V.5:4). To us it seems we stray much longer than an instant. A
mathematical example that comes to mind is this: When we divide one number
by another, we are, in a sense, comparing them. One hundred divided by ten
is ten; that means that compared to ten, one hundred is ten times bigger.
The interesting thing about the number zero is that any number, compared to
it mathematically, is infinite. If you imagine being able to divide a line
into points with zero width, there are an infinite number of such points in
the line, whether it is an inch long or a mile long.

The "tiny tick of time" is like zero. Eternity is infinite, and compared to
it, all of time is literally nothing. There is no comparison. The time we
spend in wandering, which seems so long to us, is nothing more than an
instant, an infinitesimal piece of nothing, a fragment of a dream. We've all
experienced dreams that seemed to last for hours or days, yet happened in a
few seconds of "real" time. And that is all this time is: 

     Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in
     which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is
     a plan behind appearances that does not change.
     The script is written.	(W-pI.158.4:1-3)

There is a plan behind the appearances, and that is what I can rely upon
today. Following the Holy Spirit, I know that the ending is sure. He
"guarantees a safe returning home" (2:4). I may feel really messed up and
confused, but I just can't really blow it! I've got a perfect Guide, and He
is going to stick with me until I reach the end and fall once again into my
Father's Arms.

I merely follow, for I would not lead.

WHAT IS CREATION?

Part 4: W-pII.11.2:4

     What God has willed to be forever One will still be One
     when time is over; and will not be changed throughout the
     course of time, remaining as it was before the thought
     of time began.

God has willed all Creation to be One. Therefore it is One. Time cannot
change what God created in any way. Time and change seem inextricably
related: change is what signifies the passage of time, and it seems
impossible that time should pass without change. It is impossible that God's
creation should change. God's creation is outside of the realm of time
entirely, and time is simply an illusion, a dream in which change is
possible.

What we are, together, as the one Son of God, existed before time was
thought of, still exists during the apparent course of time, and will exist,
still One, when time is over. The Son of God is as unaffected by what seems
to occur during time as the sun is unaffected by my passing a few of its
rays through a magnifying glass, and deflecting their path, or as the ocean
is unaffected by a child who throws a stick into the water. In other words,
not at all. That is the power of creation. It is immutable. Therefore, <I am
immutable> when I recognize my Creator.

     Your Self is radiant in this holy joy, unchanged, unchanging
     and unchangeable, forever and forever.	(W-pI.190.6:5)