A Course in Miracles,
Lesson 194 I place the future in the hands of God.
His idea takes another step toward salvation,
And a giant stride it is indeed.
So great the distance that it encompasses,
It sets you down just short of heaven,
With the goal in sight and obstacles behind.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Accept today's idea,
And you have moved beyond all anxiety,
All pits of hell,
All blackness of depression,
All thoughts of sin,
And all thoughts of devastation brought about by guilt.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Past,
Present,
And future are one to God,
And so they should be one to you as well.
Yet in this world,
The progression of time still seems real.
Let the future go,
And place the future in God's hands,
And you will see by your experience that you have laid the past and the present in God's hands as well.
Because the past will punish you no more,
And future dread will now be meaningless.
Place the future,
For the past is gone,
And what is present is freed from the past,
Is freed from past grief and misery,
Freed from past pain and loss,
Thus freed the present becomes the instant,
The holy instant,
In which time escapes the bondage of illusions,
Where it runs its pitiless,
Inevitable course.
Now is each instant,
Which was a slave to time,
Transformed into a holy instant,
And the light that was kept hidden is freed to bless the world.
Now we are free,
And all God's glory shines upon a world made free,
With God to share his holiness.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Worry can beset us when we give our future to the loving hands of God.
What can we suffer?
What can cause us pain?
What can bring the experience of loss?
What can we fear?
What can we look upon,
Accept with love?
I place the future in the hands of God.
The one who has accepted today's idea has escaped all fear of future pain,
Has found their way to present peace,
Has found their way to a certainty of care the world can never threaten.
I place the future in the hands of God.
The one who has accepted today's idea is sure that their perception may be faulty but will never lack correction.
They are free to choose again when they have been deceived.
They are free to change their mind when they have made mistakes.
Place then your future in the hands of God,
For thus you call the memory of God to come again,
Replacing all your thoughts of sin and evil with the truth of love.
Do you think the world could fail to gain thereby?
Do you think every living creature will not respond with healed perception?
Repeat after me in your mind.
I place the future in the hands of God.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Ponder on this.
Release the future,
For the past is gone.
Past,
Present,
And future are one to God.
In this world,
The progression of time still seems real.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Release the future,
For the past is gone,
And what is present is freed from the past.
Release the future,
For the past is gone,
And what is present is freed from past grief and misery.
Release the future,
For the past is gone,
And what is present is freed from past pain and loss.
Those who entrust themselves to God lay aside the sick illusions of the world,
Along with their own,
And offer peace to the world and to themselves.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
