Commentary on ACIM Lesson 125

©2010 Rev. David Seacord

 

In quiet I receive God's Word today.

 

 

 

Being here nearby my parents at this time in their lives has been a very rich and eye-opening experience.  It's been several months now since I arrived without a 'by when I would exit plan'.  I've integrated into the assisted living facility culture as an odd duck of aliveness 'without much disturbing' of the 'regimen' of the inhabitants.  My mother is often embarrassed at my antics (which has exposed clearly for me where THAT voice in my self-judgement arsenal was learned from).  My dad is usually thrilled at them (my antics are simple things, like suddenly starting to sing old world war II songs like a 'grand performance' while we are sitting at the institutional feeding troughs [er...] dining room tables).   Then, Mom, when she sees everybody is loving it, she gives up some of the embarrassment and becomes pleased as punch, proud to be the mother of this odd duck man.  It's a hoot, sometimes, but I deliver it totally straight, like it is the most natural thing in the world to be so uninhibited and fully self-expressed.  Being totally straight with you too, it is.  (In the realm of Course I would reference the principles of Miracles [front of the book, page 1] where it says "Miracles are natural.  When they are not happening, something has gone wrong...").

 

In 'Sufi' culture, I have often heard the phrase 'In'sha'allah', which means simply "God Willing" or "As God Wills".  My father used the english 'God Willing' tonight as I was leaving from an evening visit.  I had said "See you tomorrow", to which my father humbly answered "Yes, God Willing".  We had been talking about that he might not have all that much longer to live.  And somebody they had liked had died today....  which happens 'regularly' there.  

 

It all has me being present to the transient nature of our lives.  I opened a box today that had a picture album of mine from 20-30 years ago.  Me as a young man, my son as a baby, people I had loved that I have no clue about now....  all of it now passed, no longer 'real', except as a memory.  I had gone over to see my folks because word had come that their other property up in Oregon had been broken into (probably by local kids---nothing stolen-- just a mess left behind).  In the course of Mom's reaction to the news, she spoke of her 'treasures' that were there that she understood had no value to anyone but her (or, she hopes, a family member).  As she was speaking, I began to recognize that these 'treasures' were really her 'deep attachments', and that understanding extended to then recognizing that culturally, a lot of us have this 'collapsed' in the same way.  Explaining, if I label something I have a strong 'attachment to' as a 'treasure', I don't have to examine what the attachment is about, what it represents, and where it may be holding me in bondage and keeps me from being free (if I could let it go).  Instead of that inner examination, I simply let my very brief life be used up 'protecting my treasures'. 

 

We all do this (letting our lives be used up by some kind of foolishness, one way or another).  We're all like 3rd graders in 3 D time/space, and we're all just 'passing through'.  As I spoke to my Mom tonight, I suggested that the real treasure she has in her hand is the unknown precious time she still has left with my Father... That may be far more important than worrying about what might have happened up at the Oregon place.  That will get handled by other people.  Being here with Dad, this is our opportunity to learn the kind of love that can let go 'of the world'. I am watching my Father slowly do just that.  

 

All that said, the final poignancy for me is that suddenly it is time for me to leave them and Yuma for a few weeks and go 'make some livelihood' over in New Mexico.  It wasn't on the screen until yesterday, but a contract was offered, and I'll be on my way in a day or so, to be gone several weeks.  Another 'right on time' grace of God.  I have to admit I count on it to be this way more and more.  I just believe in miracles, and they happen.  So I said 'Dad, are you going to be here when I get back?' To which he said "Yes, God Willing".  "Just in case you're not, Thank you Dad, for being my Dad."  "Thank you Son, for being my Son"....  "See you tomorrow then..."  "Yes, God Willing...."  

 

Namaste, 

 

David

 

_____________________

Edited first person version

 

 

Lesson 125

In quiet I receive God's Word today.

I choose that this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening. My Father wills I hear His Word today. He calls to me from deep within my mind, where He abides and gives me life. I will hear Him today. For I understand no peace is possible until His Word is heard within all hearts beating everywhere around the world; and until my own mind, in quiet listening, accepts the message that all my brothers in the world must also hear, in order to usher in the quiet time of peace.

The only way this world will change is 'through me'. No other means can save it, for God's plan is simply this: The Son of God is free to save himself. !!!!!!!  I have been given the Word of God to be my Guide, forever in my mind and at my side to lead me surely to my Father's house by my own surrendered will, yet forever to be as free as God Himself is. I am not led by force, but only by love. I am not judged, I am only sanctified.  And this is so for all my brothers also!

In holy stillness I will hear God's Voice today.... without intrusion of my petty thoughts, without my personal desires, and without any judgment of His holy Word. Neither will I judge myself today, for what I am can not be judged. I stand apart from all the judgments which the world has laid upon the Son of God. It knows my being not. Today I will not listen to the world, but I will wait in silence for the Word of God.

Hear, O holy Sons of God, our Father speaks! His Voice would give to us His holy Word, to spread across the world the tidings of salvation and the holy time of peace. We gather at the throne of God today, the quiet place within every mind where He abides forever, in the holiness that He created and which He will never leave.

He has not waited until I return my mind to Him to give His Word to me. He has not hid Himself from me, even while I have wandered off a little while from Him. He does not cherish the illusions which I hold about myself. He knows I AM His Son, and wills that I remain as part of Him regardless of my dreams; regardless of my madness that my will is not my own. He knows it is my own, because He gave it to me!

Today He speaks to me. His Voice awaits my silence, for His Word can not be heard until my mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled. I await His Word in timeless quiet. And there is a deep peace within me to be called upon today, to help make ready my most holy mind to hear the Voice for its Creator speak.

Three times today I shall, at times most suitable for silence, give ten minutes set apart from listening to the world, and choose instead a gentle listening to the Word of God. He speaks from nearer than my heart to me. His Voice is closer than my hand. His Love is everything I am and that He is; the same as me, and I the same as He.

It is my true voice to which I listen as He speaks to me. It is my true word He speaks. It is the Word of freedom and of peace, of unity of will and purpose, with no separation nor division in the single Mind of Father and of Son. In quiet I will listen to my Self today, and let Him tell me God has never left His Son, and I have never left my Self.

I shall be only quiet. I will need no rule but this to let my practicing today lift me above the thinking of the world, and free my vision from the body's eyes. I shall only be still and listen. I will hear the Word in which the Will of God the Son joins in his Father's Will, at one with it, with no illusions interposed between the wholly indivisible and true. As every hour passes by today, I shall be still a moment and remind myself I have a special purpose for this day; in quiet, to receive the Word of God.