ACIM Workbook Lesson 74 – for Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Affirmation: “There is no will but God’s.”
Selected Passage:
“The belief that conflict is possible has gone. Peace has replaced the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. As an expression of the Will of God, you have no goal but His. (WB130)”
Reflections:
This passage brings up a question about God’s Will that is answered conclusively in the Text. Many of us, before discovering A Course in Miracles, may at time have felt like the biblical Jonah, who was cast into a whale because he did not want to do what had been God’s will for him. He is “made” to do God’s will. Does this idea not seem to make of us puppets, caught by a God who wills something for us that we ourselves may not desire?
A Course in Miracles, though, has a different slant. ACIM says that our real will and God’s will for us are identical. Anything else, any other will on our part that we perceive, is erroneous and placed in us by the ego–that part of us that is prone to conflict and egocentric ideas. When we listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are in tune with the universe; we choose for ourselves and all things that we perceive as being outside of ourselves. We choose for ourselves and all the universe (ACIM tenets).
We then can let go of conflict. When we eliminate our own judgments about the right pathway to take (a choice in direct opposition to what the world teaches), we are finally at peace. We know the Way, whether consciously or unconsciously. Our Teacher (the Universal Inspiration or the Holy Spirit) guides us each step of the way (though we do not want to become too preoccupied with each individual step). If we start the day aright, and turn to the Holy Spirit as possible, then our day will go well. Even so-called bad things will not upset us as they did formerly. We will carry a calm with us that is unshakeable.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
May my conflict dissipate in the light of Your peace. Conflict is impossible when I know that my real will is actually Your will for me. I am not a puppet, made to do things that I do not want to do. I want to follow Your will because it is my own. Only the ego in me would think differently.
Thank You for the concise understanding that ACIM affords us in regard to Your will. May we rest in the peace to know that Yours and mine are actually identical.
Amen.
