Learning Not to Judge the Holy Spirit's Guidance
When you turn over your life to the Holy Spirit you have to let go of judging how you are guided and judging how your life unfolds. Judging only gets in the way and makes you miserable. You have to trust that everything happens for a reason. Often, you won’t see why something has happened until later. Sometimes you won’t see it at all. But your life is no longer your own. You are part of a much larger plan and the One in charge of it can see the whole plan. You can only see a small part at a time.
Sometimes students write to tell me they don’t like that I am mentoring students of A Course in Miracles or they are uncomfortable with the way I have set up my mentoring practice. I used to doubt and wonder and question, too. But what was that but ego blather making me unhappy? When I decided to not judge what I was asked to do and let go and let things unfold I became so much more at peace. But it isn’t just with mentoring that I have to get out of the way. It’s my whole life. The Holy Spirit does not see things in parts as we do. There is no distinction between work, play, teach, learn, public, private, etc. for the Holy Spirit. It’s all one and wholly integrated. Every part affects every other part.
There are times I think I am doing something for one reason and it turns out to be for another. For example, for a long time I was trying to decide what to do with these floor-to-ceiling windows I have on the east side of my house. They were in a sitting room we hardly use except to pass through and to hold our books. There were upper windows and lower windows that also had a glass door in them. I live in the desert and this is an older house with single-paned glass in the windows. The insulation was not great, so we always kept the vertical blinds closed. We considered upgrading to insulated windows or choosing among various window coverings and my partner wanted to put in a half-wall on the bottom. One morning I was looking at them from the dining room as I ate breakfast. I was thinking about the half-wall when it came to me clearly to put in a full wall and a normal door with glass in it. I knew this idea was inspired, both from the way it came to me so clearly and without emotional charge as well as by the feeling of certainly that accompanied it.
We had the wall built and the door put in all very easily – and for half of what I was willing to pay. I thought all this was just for better insulation and security. Then a friend of ours who is very sick needed a place to live as he goes on disability. We have a spare bedroom I used for my exercise equipment. We moved the exercise equipment into my converted-garage office but found that our new roommate needed more room for his books and computer. Well, guess where those are now? In the room that used to have all those windows. The walls are needed for his shelves and his desk.
This is typical of the kind of thing that happens when you follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance. While I usually think I know why something is happening I have learned to keep an open mind. Everything flows so much better when I don’t judge. About that exercise equipment: I was prompted to add strength training to aerobics a few years ago to help strengthen my bad back. Now, you can argue (judge) that I shouldn’t need to work out, that I should just trust the Holy Spirit to keep me healthy. But for now, this is the way I can accept the Holy Spirit’s help. I’m not yet at a place where I have let go of the body, though I know the Holy Spirit is leading me there. In the mean time, however, I live with two disabled people, so guess who is the strongest and who gets called on to move furniture and carry heavy boxes? The strength training is paying off in many ways. I could not have foreseen this. So who am I to judge how the Holy Spirit guides me and how my life unfolds? I’d much rather let go and trust.
Wisdom is not judgment; it is the relinquishment of judgment. Make then but one more judgment. It is this: There is Someone with you Whose judgment is perfect. He does know all the facts; past, present and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgment on everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to everyone, for there is no distortion in His perception. (M-10.4)
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View the archive for this blog by topic at www.acimmentor.com.
Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.
Sometimes students write to tell me they don’t like that I am mentoring students of A Course in Miracles or they are uncomfortable with the way I have set up my mentoring practice. I used to doubt and wonder and question, too. But what was that but ego blather making me unhappy? When I decided to not judge what I was asked to do and let go and let things unfold I became so much more at peace. But it isn’t just with mentoring that I have to get out of the way. It’s my whole life. The Holy Spirit does not see things in parts as we do. There is no distinction between work, play, teach, learn, public, private, etc. for the Holy Spirit. It’s all one and wholly integrated. Every part affects every other part.
There are times I think I am doing something for one reason and it turns out to be for another. For example, for a long time I was trying to decide what to do with these floor-to-ceiling windows I have on the east side of my house. They were in a sitting room we hardly use except to pass through and to hold our books. There were upper windows and lower windows that also had a glass door in them. I live in the desert and this is an older house with single-paned glass in the windows. The insulation was not great, so we always kept the vertical blinds closed. We considered upgrading to insulated windows or choosing among various window coverings and my partner wanted to put in a half-wall on the bottom. One morning I was looking at them from the dining room as I ate breakfast. I was thinking about the half-wall when it came to me clearly to put in a full wall and a normal door with glass in it. I knew this idea was inspired, both from the way it came to me so clearly and without emotional charge as well as by the feeling of certainly that accompanied it.
We had the wall built and the door put in all very easily – and for half of what I was willing to pay. I thought all this was just for better insulation and security. Then a friend of ours who is very sick needed a place to live as he goes on disability. We have a spare bedroom I used for my exercise equipment. We moved the exercise equipment into my converted-garage office but found that our new roommate needed more room for his books and computer. Well, guess where those are now? In the room that used to have all those windows. The walls are needed for his shelves and his desk.
This is typical of the kind of thing that happens when you follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance. While I usually think I know why something is happening I have learned to keep an open mind. Everything flows so much better when I don’t judge. About that exercise equipment: I was prompted to add strength training to aerobics a few years ago to help strengthen my bad back. Now, you can argue (judge) that I shouldn’t need to work out, that I should just trust the Holy Spirit to keep me healthy. But for now, this is the way I can accept the Holy Spirit’s help. I’m not yet at a place where I have let go of the body, though I know the Holy Spirit is leading me there. In the mean time, however, I live with two disabled people, so guess who is the strongest and who gets called on to move furniture and carry heavy boxes? The strength training is paying off in many ways. I could not have foreseen this. So who am I to judge how the Holy Spirit guides me and how my life unfolds? I’d much rather let go and trust.
Wisdom is not judgment; it is the relinquishment of judgment. Make then but one more judgment. It is this: There is Someone with you Whose judgment is perfect. He does know all the facts; past, present and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgment on everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to everyone, for there is no distortion in His perception. (M-10.4)
>>>>
View the archive for this blog by topic at www.acimmentor.com.
Now available at www.acimmentor.com: Understanding A Course in Miracles: A Quick Reference for Students.
Comments
I love this post and your story within it.
I had a similar experience yesterday where I felt guided to go to the shops even though I woke up feeling like rubbish. Normally I wouldn't go out if I felt this bad but I just got ready and went anyways. I thought I was being guided to the shops by Holy Spirit because I had been dehydrated by the recent heat and needed a physical remedy from the Chemist. I got what I needed from the shops and came out to the parking lot just in time to stop two drivers from crashing into each other. I found this amusing because before going to the shops I thought the trip to the shops was all for just my little self's benefit but it was actually for the benefit of All.