Lesson 60
These ideas are for today’s review:
W-pI.60.1. (46) God is the Love in which I forgive.
2 God does not forgive because He has never condemned. 3 The blameless cannot blame, and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. 4 Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. 5 It is the reflection of God’s Love on earth. 6 It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.
I would like to say that I never see anything to forgive, but that’s not true. But I can say that I seldom see anything to forgive and that when I do judge, I quickly and easily release it. That was not always the case. I used to be at war with the world and there was always someone or something at fault. Slowly, through doing the lessons and letting go of the belief in victimhood and the idea that I could be mistreated, this changed. I lost interest in finding the guilty party when I stopped condemning myself. Now, if something seems to be going wrong, I ask the Holy Spirit what it is in my mind that needs to be healed and I accept His healing. There is no judgment and no blame. This is how I use the Love that is God to forgive.
W-pI.60.2. (47) God is the strength in which I trust.
2 It is not my own strength through which I forgive. 3 It is through the strength of God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive. 4 As I begin to see, I recognize His reflection on earth. 5 I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. 6 And I begin to remember the Love I chose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.
I learned to forgive when I stopped making decisions on my own (with the ego) and began to trust the strength of God in me. At first, it felt like nothing was happening. I would give a thought to the Holy Spirit to be healed and then it would come back. I would forgive someone and then I would catch myself judging them again or judging someone else. But I trusted that I was being led and that it was not my Guide that was wrong so it had to be me. I would start over and do it again. This trust and my persistence paid off. And, I have begun to remember the Love I chose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.
W-pI.60.3. (48) There is nothing to fear.
2 How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! 3 It will not look anything like what I imagine I see now. 4 Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. 5 I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. 6 What could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?
Oh, wow! What a thought! You know, it is almost like that for me now that I think about it. When I meet someone new and they don’t automatically love me, I am surprised. I think it just happened slowly that I stopped judging people and stopped holding grievances or defending myself. The natural result is that the world looks different to me. Maybe not everyone and everything leans toward me to bless me, but something significant has occurred on that front.
Let us just consider for a moment sentence six. What could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me? This is telling us that the fear we feel is caused by unforgiveness. I cannot control what others think of me, but I can choose forgiveness every time. It seems like as I do this, everyone else is friendlier. But for certain, even if they are not friendly it does not upset me. I remember when I used to expect people to judge me and thought they were judging even if they weren’t. That doesn’t happen anymore and I think the reason is that I have forgiven myself and so I don’t expect judgment.
W-pI.60.4. (49) God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.
2 There is not a moment in which God’s Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save me. 3 There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet. 4 I am walking steadily on toward truth. 5 There is nowhere else I can go, because God’s Voice is the only Voice and the only Guide that has been given to His Son.
I feel God’s Love now and I feel the Holy Spirit directing me almost all the time. If life hits a bump, I automatically examine the thoughts that were in my mind. Chances are, I have fallen back into making my own plans or ruminating over something said or done. As long as I stay in the present moment without judgment, I am aware of guidance and of Love. I feel safe.
W-pI.60.5. (50) I am sustained by the Love of God.
2 As I listen to God’s Voice, I am sustained by His Love. 3 As I open my eyes, His Love lights up the world for me to see. 4 As I forgive, His Love reminds me that His Son is sinless. 5 And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember that I am His Son.
Every day, I get closer to this being my life. I do have some days that I am not seeing with healed vision, but they are getting fewer and further between. The fastest way to darken my world is to judge someone, but I release the judgment as quickly as I can because I’m not used to the darkness anymore and I don’t want it. Some days it feels like my feet are barely touching the ground, I am so light. ~smile~ And then I drop from the mountaintop and into the valley to find another belief that needs to be undone, and maybe I struggle for a little while with that before I release it.
Sometimes I worry a bit about not getting everything done in time, or about not sleeping well. However, I don’t like how that feels and so I release it to the Holy Spirit and accept His healing and all is well once again. It is hard to believe that I used to fumble along in the darkness trying to fix my world before I would finally give up and turn to the Holy Spirit for help. Sometimes I would do that for days. That was crazy. Why suffer when we have God’s Voice right in our mind alongside any troubling belief. All we have to do is turn to It and we are helped.