LESSON 175 (REVIEW V)
June 24
"God is but Love, and therefore so am I."
"I give the miracles I have received."
"I am at home. Fear is the stranger here."
PRACTICE SUMMARY
REVIEW V
Purpose: To prepare for part II of the Workbook. To give more time and effort to practicing, that you may hasten your slow, wavering and uncertain footsteps, and go on with more faith, certainty and sincerity. Make this review a gift to Jesus and a time in which you share with him a new yet ancient experience.
Central Thought: "God is but Love, and therefore so am I." This thought should start and end each day, start and end each practice period, and be repeated before and after each thought to be reviewed. Each of these thoughts, in turn, should be used to support this central thought, keep it clear in mind, and make it more meaningful, personal and true.
Morning/Evening Quiet Time: 5 minutes - at least; 10 - better; 15 even better; 30 or more - best
Repeat and dwell on central thought and review thoughts.
Let go of the words, which are only aids. Try to go beyond their sound to their meaning. Wait for experience, place your faith in it, not the means to it. If your mind wanders, repeat the central thought.
Close with the central thought.
Hourly Remembrance: as the hour strikes more than 1 minute (reduce if circumstances do not permit)
(Suggestion) Repeat the central thought and the review thoughts slowly enough to see and receive their gifts. Spend a quiet moment with them.
Frequent Reminder: Take one of the review thoughts and surround it with the central thought ("God is but Love, and therefore so am I."). Use the review thoughts to keep the central thought clear in our memory throughout the day.
Response To Temptation: (Suggestion) When tempted, respond with a review thought, the central thought, or both.
COMMENTARY
Review Intro, paragraph 7, comments:
You know, from the way Jesus talks in the first sentence, it sounds like this is something he has experienced more than once! "My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot" (7:1). I'd certainly like to think that there have been more than just him; it would be disheartening if he were the only one so far. I think, today, that there have probably been far more than we realize who have reached the journey's end with him. Sometimes we wonder why there seem to be so few in this world who seem to have "made it," but if I think about it, it seems to me that "this world" is the last place we are likely to find such people! I'm just glad that Jesus, at least, has decided to hang around and be a "savior...with those he teaches" (6:5). (Actually the Course implies that there are others as well; see Chapter 26 of the Manual, "Can God be Reached Directly?", first two paragraphs.)
There is something uplifting about the idea that when I learn, in some circumstance, the way out of "misery and pain" (7:3), that Jesus is "renewed." Actually, of course, that is true of all of us; every one of us is renewed when a brother learns the way out of pain. Everyone we touch with a miracle enriches us when they receive it. Everyone on this list is renewed when we read of your account of your miracles; that is what makes the sharing so refreshing. My own walk with God is strengthened every time I realize that something I have said helped someone. The Course often says that those we help help us, that our brothers see in us more than we can see in ourselves; that is how we learn to remember what we are. So I thank you all! (This gives new meaning to the famous title of Jack Benny's theme song, "Thanks for the memory!")
Let me remember, today, that every time I turn my mind to the light within myself, and look for Him, Christ is reborn. This is how the Second Coming happens (see W-pII.9.3:2, in "What is the Second Coming?"). When we all have given our minds wholly to Christ the Second Coming will be complete. Each time I turn to the light within, I bring it nearer. Each time today that I remember, "God is but Love, and therefore so am I," I hasten that day. Each time I choose to give the miracles I have received, each time I remember that my Self, and not fear, is at home in me, Christ is reborn in the world.
No one has been forgotten. I love Marianne Williamson's line, "God hasn't lost your file." I like to imagine the hustle and bustle in the "heavenly office," with all sorts of entities working on my behalf, all unknown to me. Planting little clues where I'll find them. Arranging for me to meet the right people, stumble over the right books, and go through the experiences I need to go through.
But all of this needs my cooperation. The last sentence is almost paradoxical, stating that Jesus needs my help to lead me back to where the journey was begun. But it makes sense, for as the Course says all along, the one essential is my willingness. He leads me, he doesn't force me. My help consists in being willing to follow, stopping now and then to listen for directions. And in doing the practice he gives me to do.
I notice that he is leading me backwards (!) to where the journey began, in order that I can make "another choice." All of his work with me is to take me back to that moment when I made the wrong choice, so that I can make it differently. Nothing, then, is irrevocable. Even the pivotal choice that began the nightmare can be undone, and will be undone, and has been undone. He is leading us up the ladder that separation led us down (T-28.III.1:2). Each mistaken choice that I allow him to undo today is another step back up the ladder to the memory of my original state, to the memory of the fact that, "God is but Love, and therefore so am I."
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