ACIM Workbook Lesson 47 – for Wedneday, February 16, 2011
Affirmation: “God is the strength in which I trust.”
Selected Passage:
“Now try to slip past all concerns related to your own sense of inadequacy. It is obvious that any situation that causes you concern is associated with feelings of inadequacy, for otherwise you would believe that you could deal with the situation successfully. It is not by trusting yourself that you will gain confidence. But the strength of God in you is successful in all things. (WB75)”
Reflections:
1 – We Are Not Inadequate
We need to recognize that we are not inadequate to the demands of our busy lives. We only think this, usually, when we are very stressed or very tired. If we believe that God is our Helper, we will be more prone to take that nap, or just sleep longer at night, and then put in some prayer time. Things will seem better, also, after we have eaten something. These are all practical, very mundane, helps that do not appear in ACIM.
2 – Guidance of the Holy Spirit
We need to learn to depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This idea appears all the time in this blog, because I have found that it is the only sure way to live successfully. Finding A Course in Miracles some 30 years ago changed my life. And living with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, when I have been able to do that, has made my life worth living.
3 – Do Not Despair
Do not despair, then. The old advice that we are never given more than we can bear is applicable here. And in the Text, we learn that we do not have to learn through pain. We also learn that learning through rewards is superior, because learning through pain can have only a temporary effect. God will see us through. We will prevail. And Awakening is before us at the end of our pathway.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
Deal with my feelings of inadequacy today. I know that I can take practical, mundane steps to improve my coping skills this day and everyday, and I know that Your guidance will see me through. Help me to be willing to trust Your guidance as the only sure thing in this world.
Feelings of inadequacy are close to feelings of inferiority, but we have traveled far enough with ACIM to know that no child of God has any reason to feel inferior. We also have no right to feel superior, and both–inferiority and superiority–are ploys of the ego. Let us discard the ego as a bad idea, a false idea that we believe will give us a place above others. This is an absolute falsehood, and may I realize this fully today.
Amen.
