[acimlessons_list] PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part I--November 12

Thu Nov 11 12:07:44 EST 2004

Lesson 316

"All gifts I give my brothers are my own."

PRACTICE SUMMARY (See Part II Practice Summary, and also Part II
Introduction)

COMMENTARY

This lesson is obviously a companion to yesterday's, "All gifts my
brothers give belong to me." We receive all the gifts our brothers give,
and we also receive all the gifts we give. Of course the reverse is true
as well: Everything any brother or sister gives, they also receive, and
they receive all the gifts we give as well. Everyone receives
everything. It must be so because we are all one.

"Each one allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy
mind my Father loves" (1:2). The gifts we are speaking of are gifts of
forgiveness in which we let a past mistake go, instead of holding on in
unforgiving grievance about it. When I give such a gift, I am blessed
because the shadows of that past mistake are removed from my mind. The
shadows no longer obscure the truth about my brother; my forgiveness
shows me Christ in him.

Therefore, we not only receive a gift every time one is given by someone
else--a smile, a word of mercy, an act of love--we receive a gift each
time anyone else receives a gift! "His grace is given me in every gift a
brother has received throughout all time, and past all time as well"
(1:3). When Jesus looked at the woman caught in adultery and said,
"Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more," and she received his
gift of forgiveness, I received a gift as well as she.

Our treasure house is full, says the lesson (1:4). "Angels watch its
open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added" (1:4).
The fact that we may not be aware of these gifts makes no difference;
they can't be lost. Every loving thought is treasured up and kept for
us; not one is lost. The treasure of love just keeps growing, just as
God keeps eternally expanding and extending.

You know, if we could really get a grasp on these thoughts our lives
would be transformed. We are being showered, deluged, with gifts of love
in every moment. We have the rich inheritance of all the love for all of
time, "and past all time as well" (1:3), to draw upon. Our perspective
is so horribly constrained by our self-inflicted isolation! We have no
idea how rich we are.

But I can come now, today, this moment, into my treasure house. I can
"come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome
and at home, among the gifts that God has given me" (1:5). I can
remember all the gifts I have and guarantee them to myself by giving
them away, as Lesson 159 instructs us:

"There is no miracle you cannot give, for all are given you. Receive
them now by opening the storehouse of your mind where they are laid, and
giving them away" (W-159.2:4-5).

The treasure house is in my mind; the gifts are all there. I can
recognize I have them by giving them away. It's like keeping the
circulation going. And since all the gifts I give my brothers are my
own, giving them is how I know I have them, and how I keep them. That's
another way to understand the lesson theme: <The only gifts I have are
the ones I give away>. So let me today give love to my brothers, give
joy to my brothers. Let me offer peace of mind to everyone. As I do, the
gifts will be mine.

If we feel uncertain how to go about claiming and recognizing all these
treasures, this deluge of blessing, we can join in the prayer that
closes this lesson, phrased to recognize the fact that we do not, as
yet, recognize all these gifts, and asking for instruction in doing so:

"Father, I would accept Your gifts today. I do not recognize them. Yet I
trust that You Who gave them will provide the means by which I can
behold them, see their worth, and cherish them as what I want" (2:1-3).

WHAT IS THE LAST JUDGMENT? (Part 6)

W-pII.10.3:2

"To fear God's saving grace is but to fear complete release from
suffering, return to peace, security and happiness, and union with your
own Identity."

If the Last Judgment contains no condemnation, if we are, all of us,
free from our errors and every effect they ever seemed to have, how
foolish to fear it! Street evangelists with their placards proclaiming,
"Prepare to meet thy God!" are offering a message of fear: "Look out!
Soon you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and if you are
not ready, you will be damned." Jesus, in the Course, is telling us that
there is no reason to fear. Fearing God's judgment is fearing the very
thing we all want: complete release from suffering. The judgment of God
does not damn, it redeems.

We suffer because of our guilt; forgiveness releases us. We are in
distress because of our fear; forgiveness returns us to peace, security
and happiness. We are estranged from our own Identity by our belief in
sin, but forgiveness brings back union with our Self.

Our fear of God is deeply ingrained. When God approaches we react like a
trapped wild animal, feral, vicious and terrified. Oh, my soul! He comes
only with healing! He comes only to bring us everything we have ever
truly wanted, and more. "Fear not!" the angels announced at Jesus'
birth, "for behold! I bring you good tidings of great joy to all men!"
That is what we are being asked to believe, that underneath all the
appearance of terror, death and vengeance we have overlaid on it, God's
creation consists of pure joy, pure love, pure peace, pure safety. God
waits for us, not to punish, but to fold us forever in His everlasting
arms.

    COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
    by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry
    The Circle of Atonement--Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com>

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Portions from Clarification of Terms (c) Copyright 1975, Psychotherapy:
Purpose, Process and Practice, (c) 1976, The Song of Prayer, (c) 1978, are
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