Lesson 98
I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.
Today we wear the purpose of our Light, salvation, if only for a few moments. We will wear it, claim it, know it, revel in it, and experience it as our One Truth. No longer do we doubt or remain uncertain about our purpose on earth and lament about why we are here. We stand in a firm vibration that will only birth more certainty in moments to come. As fear begets more fear. Certainty begets more certainty. Ask yourself, which you desire more of, certainty or fear? I am sure we can all agree on the response.
When we stand in certainty and in full acceptance of our part in God’s plan for salvation, it is impossible to withhold any fear. If there is fear present, we believe we no longer stand with God, but are separate. In our firm stance we are certain that everything, I mean everything, is always working out for the greater good of all. Even if you are sitting on the side of road with a flat tire, you know that somehow God is moving other energies to help you through this; either by sending you a kind stranger or a tow truck or even just the moments of stillness while you wait for help to arrive. In our stand today we are certain that everything that happens around us is all part of Her perfection.
“They do not doubt their own ability because they know their function will be filled completely in the perfect time and place” (ACIM Lesson 98 3:4).
I know of a very sweet woman who lost her husband a year ago. It has been quite a journey for her to understand why she is still here without her beloved. I love talking with this beautiful soul as I love how each day, no matter how tough it may be, she embraces that she is still here for God’s purpose and that there is still an integral part she plays in salvation. This is certainty. This is knowing beyond knowing, even though you may wish the outer world looked different.
The Course talks about those who have taken the stand prior to us. There are many examples such as Jesus, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and many more. Souls who have either taken a stand through injustice or inspired by curiosity, serve as our way show-ers of the power that lies in accepting our part in salvation. They do not make the stand or choice for us but merely, by example, have shown the safety that lies in choosing for what we know to be “a different way to live in this world.”
Just as those before us strengthen our affirmation, so do we for those who shall awaken after us. This is what is meant when we say we are all helping one another Home. No soul can be left behind. Yet notice how the Course states that we do not make the choice for another nor did those before us make the choice for us, either. There is a tendency when one comes into a powerful teaching like A Course in Miracles, to want to share it with family and friends. There is nothing wrong with this, however it is important to recognize your intention. Since we feel we are receiving so much benefit from the Course, we do not understand how it could not be helpful and beneficial to another. May be it could. May be couldn’t. It is not about you choosing for another or another for you. In your practice periods, you are accepting your part in God’s plan yourself. There is no one else you can choose for and no one else that can choose for you. As you live your choice, that becomes the living salvation that others will observe, thus inspiring them to make that choice for love themselves. But it does not need you to choose it for them. Your function is to choose for You.
“We do not choose but for ourselves” (ACIM Lesson 98 4:4).
In her book When the Heart Waits, Sue Monk Kidd discusses the view that often Christians feel the need to “save” someone’s soul, “I began to get an almost stunning sense of how little attention we Christians have paid to the soul as the seedbed of divine life within us. We’ve mostly looked at it as something so save — an immortal essence in need of redeeming” (48). As the Course tells us the only correction that need take place is that in the mind, not the soul. Our soul is already perfect, whole, and at Home. We are merely living out the choice to remember. In that holy instance, there is the miracle of salvation, but there is not the saving of one’s soul involved or saving of that of another. We just patiently wait while some still pretend they are not Children of God. Those before us have been patient with us and in the art of giving and receiving, we extend that patience to those who have yet to make the choice we make in our practice periods today.
Once more we come to ask ourselves, is five minutes an hour really too much to spare for that which we truly want, to stand in our purpose with God? God meets us where we are in time and space but Her work in those five minutes extends beyond the bounds of minutes and seconds where we fully receive much more than what we ask for.
“And since time has no meaning, you are being asked for nothing in return for everything. Here is a bargain that you cannot lose. And what you gain is limitless indeed!” (ACIM Lesson 98 6:305)
We need do nothing but say the words, “I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation” (ACIM Lesson 98 7:6), and they will be infused by the power of God, showing us the fullness of the divine seed that lies within us. The seed that is soul of remembrance: knowing, certain, joyful, and at peace. There is nothing that we need to prove to the world or ourselves. You can only be shown that your purpose and function are true.
“Give Him the words, and He will do the rest. He will enable you to understand your special function. He will open up the way to happiness, and peace and trust will be His gifts; His answer to your words. He will respond with all His faith and joy and certainty that what you say is true” (ACIM Lesson 98 9:1-4).
We give thanks today for our practice periods and for those who have walked before us. As we have seen the miracles of those prior, we know that we are guaranteed the same. I also thank you for affirming your part in God’s plan for salvation. Your choice to stand in your purpose only confirms and inspires my own.
May your walk today be blessed with the joy and peace in knowing your purpose in God’s plan. May you enjoy wearing your rightful blessed robes of Love and Light. This truly is who You are.
Namaste.
Resources:
Kidd, Sue Monk. When the Heart Waits. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Print.