I love the beginning of a new year when everything feels clean and newly possible.  This year, after spending so much time with the intricacies of Bill's story, I feel doubly inspired to follow the lessons of his life as he continues to speak to us and am evermore determined to trace his steps from ego bondage to freedom.  He really was the first completely successful student of A Course In Miracles and his astounding presence is still right here guiding and reassuring each of us whenever we ask.  We are called to our transformation and assured the promise of success. 
 
With the circumstances of our world, our collective mirror, in such a fractious and divided state, it certainly seems essential that we dedicate ourselves anew to the practice of forgiveness, continually asking for help with keeping our focus on the desire for peace above all else.  Bill often asked for help when he felt he was going off-course.  He acknowledged that he prayed a single word, "Help,"  without specifying the subject or the object of his prayer.  As he grew in his own wisdom, his deepest desire was to forgive everyone and everything.  Jack and Layle Luckett, with whom he shared a home in his later days in La Jolla, could sometimes hear him earnestly praying his longer version, "Help me do this!" through the walls of the less-than-soundproof condo.  The Course speaks in many ways of the help that is always offered us; the following quotes appear in Never Forget To Laugh and are timeless in their relevance.