Lesson 296
The Holy Spirit speaks through me today.
“The Holy Spirit needs my voice today, that all the world may listen to Your Voice, and hear Your Word through me. I am resolved to let You speak through me, for I would use no words but Yours, and have no thoughts which are apart from Yours, for only Yours are true. I would be savior to the world I made. For having damned it I would set it free, that I may find escape, and hear the Word Your holy Voice will speak to me today” (ACIM Lesson 296 1:1-4).
Talk the talk, AND walk the walk…in miracles, this is our initiative for today, as sometimes being the miracle means speaking the miracle. Our words begin with a feeling, which then becomes a thought, which then becomes what leaves our mouths. Let us go back further in that process where the Holy Spirit orchestrates the entire cascade. How holy would our words be then?
We slow our pace to listen to the Holy Spirit and let Her flow through us and use our Voice as Her own. We kindly step out of our own way, our own reactive cycle of responding to the world, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead. As we build our relationship with Her in this way, it takes a bit of patience and slowing down to listen intently. Since there truly is no such thing as time, we have all the time in the world to do this. And if you do consider this to take time, well, you couldn’t use time more wisely than by slowing down to the pace of holy. Trust me, you won’t regret it. Give it a try.
Today, I think of a quote from Buddha,
“If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind.” -Buddha
Those are beautiful words to live by. Taking a breath and asking yourself that question alone slows one down long enough to connect to the Heart of an exchange. Yet it really isn’t what you say but with the vibration in which you say it. This is where abiding with the Holy Spirit can quail any potential miscommunication because we are not just communicating word to word but Heart to Heart, with what author Paulo Coelho calls in The Alchemist, “The Language of the World.” It is the language beyond the verbal to that of what is truly felt, the energy of what is said.
However for today, our experience is held within our words. Who speaks them and directs them? Notice how the Holy Spirit uses your words. Have you ever had those moments when you spoke but have no clue what you said but the person receiving found your words to be divinely perfect? That is it! That is the Holy Spirit! On the other hand, have you ever noticed how when you did remember what you said, that those words were probably meant for you more than they were the other person? That, too, is the Holy Spirit, speaking through you for you. Are you listening?
I met Buddha one day on a pilgrimage. She had been married for many, many years. Upon speaking with her, I asked, “In your opinion, what creates a sustaining relationship?” She replied, “Be slow to speak.” This wise Buddha went on to describe that in her experience one can never take back words when they are spoken and she has always chosen her words wisely when speaking to her partner. She knows some of the words she may want to say will pass and others may stay a bit longer. But the ones she knows she must say, she has come to decipher and speak them when necessary. I was very inspired by her response, as I have been one quickly to speak, leaving myself to repair the words I spoke, finding myself in a cycle of cleanup after various exchanges.
I am always grateful for the living Buddhas on earth. In this beautiful being I saw the works and words of the Holy Spirit as she lives, walks, and talks the words of Buddha. She slows down long enough to ask herself, “Are my words true, necessary, and kind?” The Holy Spirit was so divine that She used this living Buddha in front of me as the conduit, as She, too, uses you. Such, have these words stayed with me and brought to my attention how I can slow down so that the Holy Spirit can speak through me, as me, and for me.
Be slow to speak. Listen. Let the Holy Spirit speak through you today, and always. This is one of the most important practices in the Course we can cultivate, as this integrates our thoughts, our talk, and our walk…in miracles. Thus, in doing so, we become the blessed trinity in living form. Namaste.
