LESSON 60
These ideas are for today's review:
1. God is the Love in which I forgive.
God does not forgive because He has never condemned. The blameless cannot blame, and those who have accepted their innocence see nothing to forgive. Yet forgiveness is the means by which I will recognize my innocence. It is the reflection of God's Love on earth. It will bring me near enough to Heaven that the Love of God can reach down to me and raise me up to Him.
2. God is the strength in which I trust.
It is not my own strength through which I forgive. It is through the strength of God in me, which I am remembering as I forgive. As I begin to see, I recognize His reflection on earth. I forgive all things because I feel the stirring of His strength in me. And I begin to remember the Love I chose to forget, but which has not forgotten me.
3. There is nothing to fear.
How safe the world will look to me when I can see it! It will not look anything like what I imagine I see now. Everyone and everything I see will lean toward me to bless me. I will recognize in everyone my dearest Friend. What could there be to fear in a world that I have forgiven, and that has forgiven me?
4. God's Voice speaks to me all through the day.
There is not a moment in which God's Voice ceases to call on my forgiveness to save me. There is not a moment in which His Voice fails to direct my thoughts, guide my actions and lead my feet. I am walking steadily on toward truth. 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.
5. I am sustained by the Love of God.
As I listen to God's Voice, I am sustained by His Love. As I open my eyes, His Love lights up the world for me to see. As I forgive, His Love reminds me that His Son is sinless. And as I look upon the world with the vision He has given me, I remember that I am His Son.
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Lesson 60
Review of Lessons 46 - 50
This lesson has several very reassuring messages. One that I have come back to many times and use to help me through times of distress is that it is the strength of God in me through which I forgive. I don’t have to try to do it alone. In fact, thinking I am alone is part of what needs to be forgiven. And if I think I am alone, forgiveness is impossible. But through the strength of God in me, all forgiveness of all is not only possible but inevitable.
It is helpful here to remember that the Course defines “forgive” differently than most of us have learned in this world. In the Course, forgiveness means letting go of illusions, or letting go of the past. With the strength of God in me, I can learn to see that whatever I thought happened had absolutely no effect. Through his resurrection, Jesus demonstrated this in the most extreme example. Gratefully we do not need to go to this seeming extreme. Yet any time we perceive ourselves as harmed it is a form of crucifixion. But as I remember that the strength of God is in me, is me, then harm is impossible and so in truth, there is nothing to forgive. So in those times when I feel hurt, my job is to take that perception to the Voice for God and ask for His help to see that in truth, no harm has occurred. This is not possible within the ego thought system, but it is possible with Christ Vision.
Another comforting statement in this lesson is that God speaks to me all through the day. When I allow myself to listen, God’s Voice teaches me that there is only innocence to see and thus nothing to fear. What a marvelous gift God has given us, the gift of joy and perfect peace. It is ours to claim in every moment. We need only accept His Vision. Today I call upon God’s strength to forgive myself and forgive the world. In this alone will I find peace.
This review lesson reminds me of my true strength. There are times when I still think that I can solve “problems” on my own. Sometimes I think I know the answer. This lesson is reminding me to let God solve every concern, every “problem.” This lesson is reminding me to return to my Source and let go making illusions real. Many times this seems very challenging. But it is only through the strength of God in me that I can see that these illusions are not real. The only life I have that is real is the life I live in God. If I am experiencing problems, it is only telling me that I am trying to go off into the wilderness again. When I am in my right mind, I know that there are no problems. Only Love is real. If it is not Love, it is a lesson in Love.
The way to walk through each lesson is to remember that I walk with God. The Voice for God, the Holy Spirit, is there to walk with me through every fearful false idea. As I practice daily stepping back, it gets easier and easier to let the Holy Spirit guide me. The Holy Spirit brings me Christ Vision. The Holy Spirit brings me infinite patience. The Holy Spirit reminds me that everyone is in Heaven now, including me. The Holy Spirit helps me discern between the real and the unreal. The Holy Spirit returns me to Love, my Source, and reminds me that this is what I am. With the Holy Spirit, I can give up making illusions real. I am willing to practice again today.
God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day. It’s always there, a light and warm feeling of joy and happiness. How my day goes depends on how often I follow the path He opens for me, where truly everyone is Friend. Around each turn there is a new Friend, a new communion of joy and laughter, a new miracle of relating, so much more joyous than ever before.
There is a wonderful freedom of knowing that joy is possible, that it is my birthright. That is Who I am. I know that the joy will continue to expand as I continue to listen to that Voice of God that speaks to me all through the day. I feel the forgiveness becoming a part of my experience more and more because I know that the dark path isn’t really there. It’s gone! It doesn’t exist. I know that as I continue this practice of forgiveness the day will come when I can truly look down both paths and see only Light and hear only God’s Voice.
Before I began today's lesson my mind was focused on two incidents which needed forgiveness. They were there in the back of my mind, bothering me, bringing me down. I realized that one of them centered around my belief that I needed other people to affirm my specialness and they weren't doing so. The other was all about my need to see someone as less than so that I could see myself as more.
Even understanding what was happening, why I was feeling this way, didn't help me to forgive. I said the words, but resisted letting it go. What a wonderful gift today's lessons are to me! I really needed to be reminded that it is God's Strenth which allows me to forgive.
Now it is like I opened my eyes and the world has changed. It is brighter and more beautiful. I feel relieved of an onerous burden. I feel a sense of gratitude that makes me want to laugh out loud.
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