LESSON 83  MARCH 24
(65) "My only function is the one God gave me."
(66) "My happiness and my function are one."
Practice instructions
Longer: Two times (once for each of the ideas), for about fifteen minutes.
 For three or four minutes, slowly read over the idea and comments (repeatedly if you wish) and think about them.
 Close your eyes and spend the remainder of the practice period listening for the message the Holy Spirit has for you. We can see this time of listening as having the following components:
1. Listen "quietly but attentively" (3:1)-listen in stillness and with all your attention.
2. Hold an attitude of confidence ("this message belongs to me"), desire ("I want this message"), and determination ("I'm determined to succeed").
3. Listening for ten minutes can easily be one big invitation to mind wandering, and so the majority of instruction for this exercise deals with this issue. For out-of-control mind wandering, go back and repeat the first phase. For more minor wandering, realize the distracting thoughts have no power and that your will has all the power, and then replace the thoughts with your will to succeed. Do so with firmness. "Do not allow your intent to waver" (4:1). "Refuse to be sidetracked" (5:2).
This is not mentioned in the instructions, but you may find it helpful to actually ask for the message, at the beginning and then periodically throughout. You may say, for instance, "What is Your message for me today?" You may even want to use this request as the specific vehicle for dispelling wandering thoughts.
Frequent reminders: Frequent.
Repeat the idea as a way of reaffirming your determination to succeed.
 First half of day: first lesson
 Second half of day: second lesson
Response to temptation: Whenever you are tempted to be upset.
Repeat some variation on the idea, modified to apply to this particular upset. 
 You may use one of the three "specific forms" (W-pI.rII.In.6:1) suggested after each lesson. Notice how they are directed at a specific upset. Virtually every one is aimed at an upsetting "this" or an upsetting "name."
 Or you may generate one of your own specific forms, by using a variation on the practice of letting related thoughts come. Simply lean back and let your mind come up with a sentence that applies the essence of the idea to your current upset. For examples, see the specific forms suggested after each lesson.
Commentary
To be without conflicting goals in life is a wonderful blessing. Most of the time, I feel stressed out with conflicting goals. I want to exercise but I have a deadline to meet for work. I want to spend time with my friends but my favorite TV program is on. And so on. When I am able to realize that my only function is the one God gave me-forgiveness, or simply being happy instead of being angry or upset-things become marvelously clear. My goal becomes to be at peace, to be happy, to be serene and unaffected by what surrounds me. "What to do, what to say and what to think" (1:4) simply come to me. Perhaps I realize that it makes no real difference whether I exercise or write. Perhaps I realize that one or the other can wait. Remembering my one and only true goal somehow sorts out everything else.
I used to think that when I had a conflict, the only way to become peaceful again was to make a decision, to resolve the conflict. It rarely worked. Usually, when I made my choice, I felt some distress at what I was leaving undone, or some loss at what I could not do because of my choice (e.g., watch TV or be with my friends; one or the other had to be "sacrificed"). Lately I've begun to realize that if I put becoming peaceful at the top of the list, if I choose to be peaceful first, before making my decision (perhaps taking a minute just to close my eyes and be quiet, remembering Who is with me), the decision becomes simple, and there is no sense of sacrifice. When I put peace first, I just know what to do.
This is the way to be happy. My function is one with my happiness. If I can be at peace, letting go of my grievances, the little demands I constantly make of life, I am happy. Like forgiveness, happiness is a choice I can make at any time.
I notice today that the examples given of different ways to apply the ideas in specific situations seem to emphasize a kind of negation. They stress that the situation, or the way we perceive it, can not affect us if we so choose. The way I perceive this doesn't change my function, give me a different function, or justify selecting a goal other than the one God gave me. No matter what I see, no matter what happens, nothing will alter the fact that the only way I will find happiness is if I fulfill my function of forgiveness, blessing, and peace. There is no happiness apart from my function, and I am deceived by an illusion whenever I think there is. Do I expect to find happiness by indulging worry, justifying my anger, indulging my appetites, or licking my wounds of pain? It will never happen. Only in forgiveness, only in releasing everyone and everything from all my demands and expectations, only in quiet peacefulness of mind will I ever find my happiness.