LESSON 125. In quiet I receive God’s Word today.
Today’s lesson seeks to lead us in the practice that is key to our awakening. This is the practice of listening to Inner Wisdom. “Let this day be a day of stillness and of quiet listening. Your Father wills you hear His Word today. He calls to you from deep within your mind where He abides. Hear Him today.”
While the lesson asks us to devote three 10 minute periods to practicing listening only within, it is really encouraging us to take this stillness with us throughout the day and all our days. It is only through such inner focus that we find true peace and happiness.
The degree to which we are unhappy or suffering, is the degree to which we choose the opposite of inner wisdom. This fact can be painful for some people to look at with absolute honesty. Some people will avoid accepting that statement as true, even though it would be really helpful to accept it as true. That is okay. As today’s lesson says, you are not “led by force, but only love. … not judged, but only sanctified.” However, you will find happiness sooner if you can accept that happiness comes from following guidance.
By losing interest in the voice in our heads and focusing on the voice of Inner Wisdom, we free ourselves from the pain and suffering inherent in listening to the thinking mind. “God’s plan is simply this: The Son of God is free to save himself, given the Word of God to be his Guide, forever in his mind and at his side to lead him surely to his Father’s house by his own will, forever free as God’s.”
Note that the stillness does not come without your invitation. Your silence (withdrawing attention from the thinking mind) is that invitation. “His Voice awaits your silence, for His Word can not be heard until your mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled. Await His Word in quiet.”
If you find yourself unhappy or suffering, look to see what voice you are listening to. Whose counsel are you seeking? Listening to the voice of Inner Wisdom brings peace. Be silent, trust, and know the peace of God that is you. And, just as you normally follow the guidance of the thinking mind, look to see the Guidance given by Inner Wisdom. Practice that guidance.
Many people think it is hard to hear the voice of wisdom. I don’t think that is true. I think we simply need to begin to listen to it instead of wanting to do things our own way. When today’s lesson asks us to be still, quiet, silent, so the voice can speak, it really means we need to put our mind’s will aside and be willing to follow that intuitive voice. The more we do that, the clearer the voice becomes.
