Lesson 71
Only God’s plan for salvation will work.
On our walk of salvation, we have gathered from our practice periods that it is much easier to give up grievances and suffering and skip right to happiness. We have found that the true answer to any dilemma, deliberation, conflict, or situation presented to us, is to “just let go.”
Buddhist text simplifies our suffering to two things, craving and/or aversion. The answer to both, just let go. It is like the old saying “Let go and let God.” Let go and let God’s will move through you, as you. This is our practicing step in our dance with Source today.
Do you not think God wants the best for you and would only give you the best? Do you think God would leave you destitute? Often we believe in the worst-case scenario for our lives. We are always in fear of the worst and it is the voice of ego that will happily take us there,
“Since [the ego’s plan] is the opposite of God’s, you also believe that to accept God’s plan in place of the ego’s is to be damned” (ACIM Lesson 71 2:1:3).
Today we boldly face why we have chosen opposite of God’s plan. Often, when we think of letting go of control and letting go of our meddling, we start to feel a sense of contraction in the body and then the “what if’s” start to pour in:
- What if I don’t get Person A to do XY&Z? Then I know all of my efforts will be for not and everything will come crumbling down and it will be my fault.
- What if I do take that personal day for myself? I know something bad will happen if I am not around. It always does.
- What if don’t say those little things to keep my partner in line? I know they will live recklessly and will bring the whole family down with them, above all, me.
- What if I do leave this job or relationship? I know I will be sorry and regret it. I will be destitute without it.
…And the list can go on and on. They are all the damning statements that fill our heads when we try to make a decision to live at a higher vibration. As we discussed yesterday in Lesson 70, it is only the fear of the ego in those statements. If the ego doesn’t have something to work on or worry about, what is it going to do? Recall, we are not trying to abolish the ego or send it to the hell it makes us think we are damned to, rather we are integrating the ego and taking way it’s driving privileges in our lives.
In addition to the ego making us believe that we are damned with whatever we do, it also leads us to believe that there is always something more. This can also be a gray area for the Voice of God. Most of us got on this journey Home because we knew there was something more than this world. Now that is the Voice of God, letting you know there is more than the illusion you have created as your life. To believe that there is more to obtain or achieve in this world, now that is the voice of ego. The ego’s cravings will never be satisfied and can be likened to a stomach with a bottomless pit that is never full. That is certain and right as rain. Have you not already experienced this?
Did the new house satisfy you?
Did that new car satisfy you?
Did that new phone finally bring the happiness to your life you always wanted?
Did that new outfit finally make you feel pretty for the rest of your life?
Did that new certification quench your thirst of knowledge or do you feel like you need more letters after your name to be worthy?
Did that new spiritual book even satisfy you or you still believe there is more to know before you can awaken?
More, more, more. And more. If we are all honest, we are all little “Veruca Salts,” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, walking around the world crying “I want more…And I want it now!”
“I want the world
I want the whole world
I want to lock it all up in my pocket
It’s my bar of chocolate
Give it to me
Now!”
-Veruca Salt
Here we are met with the concept again for the rabbit chasing the carrot on a string. I once more encourage you to be the rabbit going down the hole in search of Truth, and not on the ego’s goose chase for all that is meaningless. As we can choose to skip the suffering, we can choose to skip the meaningless and instead choose the only plan for salvation that will work, God’s plan.
“Another person will yet serve better; another situation will yet offer success. Such is the ego’s plan for you salvation. Surely you can see how it is in strict accord with the ego’s basic doctrine, ‘Seek but do not find'” (ACIM Lesson 71 3:4 & 4:1-2).
You are given the gift of free will and are free to keep turning over every rock in the meadow until you finally see it is the one who is lifting the rock who has all you will ever need, because She is created in the image of God, as God Herself. That is what is so beautiful about a walk in miracles. We have free will to pause our walk, step off to the side for bit, smell the honeysuckles, turn over rocks, collect more rocks, take off our shoes and feel the earth beneath are feet, and the ability to just keep walking and witnessing miracles step by step. No matter what we choose it is always a perfect choice and we are embraced in every choice we make as it all serves a purpose in the atonement (At-one-ment). Even when you think you are not choosing God, you are still, indeed, choosing God.
But I will say once more, aren’t you sick of suffering? Aren’t you tired of searching and coming up empty-handed? If you are reading these words you have reached a point in your journey where you are saying “yes” to both of those questions. I am confident in that. It does, however, take practice to begin living life this way; a life of letting go, a life of surrender, a life of trusting in the Divine plan. Once more, it is about giving these lessons more than lip service. It is about giving these words your embodiment.
This lesson includes one of the more powerful statements in the entire Course:
“What would You have me do?
Where would You have me go?
What would You have me say, and to whom?
-ACIM Lesson 71 9:3-5
Imagine waking up each morning and saying that statement. Imagine asking those questions when you have reached a moment of deliberation in life. Imagine sitting in silence and hearing the response those powerful questions. Letting these three questions guide you in life, is living a bold life, indeed. Far bolder, with far more goodness involved, than anything the ego could conjure up.
If you are not convinced, today is your opportunity to give it a try.
“All things are possible to God. Salvation must be yours because of His plan, which cannot fail” (ACIM Lesson 71 7:3-4).
You are too brilliant to fail. You are too full of Light to fail. You are too Loved to fail. You are a Child of God. You shall not fail when you have the one goal of salvation resting on your heart.
“God’s plan for salvation works simply because, by following His direction, you seek for salvation where it is. But if you are to succeed, as God promises you will, you must be willing to seek only there” (ACIM Lesson 71 5:1-2).
No pinkies can be left out of heaven. No two opposing plans will work, as it is impossible to walk two different paths at once. “Only God’s plan for salvation will work.” And so it is.
I leave you to contemplate this question, what would it be like to live your life completely satisfied and fulfilled? Not because of something outside of you but because of what is pouring out from within you, Your Light. What if you lived you life fed by your Eternal Inner Being? Now that is a bold, radical way to live.
We are on this walk together because we have given many things a try, so why not give this one a go, as well. Are you ready to make your final choice? Are you ready to let go and let God? I think you are. God thinks you are. The world you are living in wants you to make that choice. Only you can stop the madness. True peace and the end of all illusion waits upon You. You are the salvation of the world. Its time for you to live it.
Godspeed. Namaste.