ACIM Workbook Lesson 321 – for Thursday, November 17. 2011
Affirmation: “Father, my freedom is in You alone.”
“Your Voice directs me, and the way to You is opening and clear to me at last. Father, my freedom is in You alone. Father, it is my will that I return. (WB462)”
Reflections:
1 – The Path to Salvation
This is a three-part procedure to salvation, to Oneness with God, to return to the Oneness that we thought we lost in separation. We can have freedom only when we are at One with God; anything else leads to the imprisonment of our will with resulting pain. Detailing the path to salvation in three sentences in the prayer for today does indicate to us how very simple the essence of A Course in Miracles really is.
2 – God’s Voice Speaks
First, God’s Voice, the Holy Spirit (or Universal Inspiration) tells us what to do to effect not only our salvation, but the best living out there that is possible while we are effortless seeking our salvation. It is a straight line to God when we are flexible in changing our directions during any given day, changing to head straight through to the next right step that we have been given. God’s Voice does not often direct us in advance, though when we need to plan for the future, He does direct us how to do so. (That is the only time that planning is encouraged; otherwise, it is a defense best left alone.)
3 – Our Will Is Free
Second, we are free only when we are at home in God. Then our will is not imprisoned. Our imprisoned will is a theological point in ACIM that may be difficult to grasp. Basically, it explains that God put the limits on how much we could miscreate. Sooner or later we would have to recognize that there is a better way to proceed. The limits for pain may be high, but they are not infinite (a paraphrase from the Text). We will want to avoid pain, and the only way is to bring our will into alignment with what our real will is, which is the same as God’s Will for us. He does not punitively punish, though–never. He only gently guides us into the right decisions, the ones that will easily show us the better way.
4 – Return Is Our Priority
Third, we recognize that our return to God is the priority of our lives. It is all that we really want, but all the other blessings of the real world wait upon this return. We do not desire to follow down blind pathways, trying every turn, here and there. We want the straight way to the heart of God, and we can have it. A Course in Miracles explains the means to us (from the Text). Occasionally revelation will reveal the end of Awakening, but to get there the means are needed, and this is what Jesus is detailing in ACIM.
5 – Our Freedom Is in God Alone
So, our freedom is in God alone. To live this truth is to find our way back. But we have to love God, and we have not to be afraid of Him. When we see the blessings that He has waiting in His storehouse for us, we will be more reassured that His Will is never punitive, and that He is never cruel. Our own meanderings have caused the pain and suffering inflicted upon us so far in our journey through this life. We create our own reality, and if we choose pain, then we will find the suffering that this pain entails. But we can live peacefully, even when the world cries out in pain, if we have a calm certainty that what we are seeing is illusion. We help others in pain, but we do not join them in their pain. We recognize that pain is a form of insanity, and we would ask that our minds be awakened to the truth, the benign truth, that reality actually contains. Guidance will show us the way.
Prayer:
Dear Father/Mother,
I would walk the pathway to You today. I would not seek inferior methods, but would seek to know that Way by listening to Your Voice, the Holy Spirit. I would do only what is loving, discerning Your Will, in part, by testing out if I am feeling love or feeling fear.
Only in love is there hope of salvation, to finding our way back home. I would be at home in You today.
Thank You for this brief passage for today from A Course in Miracles that encapsulates the way to You.
Amen.
