Lesson 118: Review of
Lesson 105: God’s peace and joy are mine, and
Lesson 106: Let me be still and listen to the truth.
Today’s lesson calls our internal voice – that incessant chattering ego – our “feeble voice.” That’s not what I would call the raucous and loud voice that speaks first and loudest about every little thing I encounter during the course of the day. That voice hardly seems “feeble.” It always has an opinion. It always has a judgment and a grievance at the ready no matter what situation I find myself in. Feeble isn’t exactly what it feels like. It feels overpowering on most days.
That is, of course, what the ego likes to hear. It loves to know that I have handed over my will and my power to it so it can run my life – and ruin my life. That’s its job, after all, to convince me that darkness is better than light, fear is better than love and despair beats the socks off of hope. Most days, I must admit, it wins the battle.
That’s only because I forget – a lot. I forget that God’s peace and joy are mine. I forget that this is my heritage – a gift from my creator that I can unwrap and enjoy any moment that I choose.
We forget that we have a choice. The voice of the ego may ultimately be “feeble” but when we’re tuning in to it, it can be a pretty overwhelmingly powerful influence over how we make choices and live our lives.
In those moments of overwhelm, this lesson advises us to be still and listen to the truth. The voice of the ego never, ever tells the truth. It does not have the ability to be truthful. Everything it tells us is a lie and everything it tries to pass off as happiness and peace are counterfeit – poor substitutes for God’s Reality.
Today’s lesson is a reminder that we must get still so we can hear the still, small voice of our Creator calling to us among the din of the ego.
St. John of the Cross reminds us of the power of silence. He writes:
“You might quiet the whole world for a second
if you pray.
“And if you love, if you
really love,
“our guns will wilt.”
Photo by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash