Lesson 334

Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

I will not wait another day to find the treasures
that my Father offers me.
Illusions are all vain,
and dreams are gone even while they are woven
out of thoughts that rest on false perceptions.
Let me not accept such meager gifts again today.
God's Voice is offering the peace of God to all who hear
and choose to follow Him.
This is my choice today.
And so I go to find the treasures God has given me.

I seek but the eternal.
For Your Son can be content with nothing less than this.
What, then, can be his solace
but what You are offering to his bewildered mind
and frightened heart,
to give him certainty and bring him peace?
Today I would behold my brother sinless.
This Your Will for me,
for so will I behold my sinlessness.

http://www.acim.org/Lessons/lesson.html

Lesson 334 ? November-30
Today I claim the gifts forgiveness gives.

Commentary

"I seek but the eternal" (2:1).
This lesson is about deciding not to waste any more time
going after the supposed gifts of the ego.
"I will not wait another day to find the treasures
that my Father offers me" (1:1).
The primary use we are making of our free will
is to delay our acceptance of our divine inheritance.
We are holding on like crazy to our illusion of independence,
and denying ourselves the only thing that will ever content us (2:2),
like a homeless person stupidly clinging to his rags
while being offered brand new clothing.

Let me keep in mind today
that nothing in this world is of lasting value.
"Illusions are all vain,
and dreams are gone even while they are woven out of thoughts
that rest on false perceptions" (1:2).
This reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes that says
all our seeking is like trying to hold on to the wind.
The illusions of the ego are so evanescent;
they can never satisfy a Son of God.
Only that which is eternal can satisfy me.
A Christian hero of mine, Jim Elliot, once said,
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain
what he cannot lose."

Let me remember that what I truly want is God and
His peace in my heart. When I think I want something else,
Holy Spirit, please help me to translate that desire into
what it truly is, a symbol of my longing for the Father and
for Home. God's Voice is offering peace;
let that be my only aim,
and let everything else fall by the wayside.

"The gifts forgiveness gives":
What has all this got to do with forgiveness?
Simply this: Every goal other than peace generates unforgiveness,
putting me in competition with someone or something for that thing,
whatever it is. Peace comes through forgiveness.
If peace is my only goal,
I will not judge my brothers
because a mind in judgment is not a mind at peace.
Only a mind free of lesser goals,
free of desire for ephemeral things,
can see his brothers as sinless.

Every encounter today offers me a chance at Heaven.
There does not need to be any great crisis.
All the world is my classroom,
and every instant is a moment of choice.
Today, let me choose peace.

http://www.circleofa.org/lessons/334.php