July 6, 2021
Lesson 187 –
I bless the world because I bless myself.
We have learned that giving and receiving are the same. We also know that in order to give we must already have what we give. This lesson has an interesting twist to it. It says we bless the world because we bless ourselves. How can this be? In Oneness, all that is, is ours. We all have everything. Abundance is prevalent in reality so we can never lack. The world seen through the lens of the egoic thought system appears limited. It appears that in order to give we take away from ourselves. However, Truth tells us that giving increases what we possess.
To understand this, think about ideas. We must have an idea before we can share it. And when we give that idea to another, they now have that idea and so do we still have it. So, if we are to save the world, we first accept salvation for ourselves. The proof that salvation is ours is in seeing the miracles it brings to everyone we offer them to. Here is the idea of giving clarified and given meaning. Now we perceive that by giving is our store multiplied. In this way we protect what we value by giving it away. But do no become attached to any form of what is given. It is the thought, the act, of giving and blessing that is real and lasting. And as we give, the blessing increases by extension without limit. What joy there is in this.
Give gladly. You can only gain thereby. The thought remains, and grows in strength as it is reinforced by giving. Thoughts extend as they are shared, for they can not be lost. There is no giver and receiver in the sense the world conceives of them. There is a giver who retains; another who will give as well. And both must gain in this exchange, for each will have the thought in form most helpful to them. What they seem to lose is always something they will value less than what will surely be returned to them. W-pI.187.5:1-8
Understanding the blessing of giving and receiving ends all sacrifice. For when we give in this way, we give up nothing real. All that is meaningful remains ours even as we give it away so generously – even with abandon. In this gesture is the end of sacrifice realized. Nothing of any real value can possibly be sacrificed.
See the lilies that another offers us laid upon our altar, with the ones we offer them beside them. The illusion of fear diminishes to nothingness before the purity that we see here. The appearance of form vanishes and what is left is a blessedness we recognize and cannot deny. Now we are one in thought. We stand together in Oneness, our one Self Whose innocence has joined us all. And as we look within, we see the purity of Heaven shine in our reflection of perfect Love.
Now are we blessed, and now we bless the world. What we have looked upon we would extend, for we would see it everywhere. We would behold it shining with the grace of The One in everyone. We would not have it be withheld from anything we look upon. And to ensure this holy sight is ours, we offer it to everything we see. For where we see it, it will be returned to us in form of lilies we can lay upon our altar, making it a home for Innocence Itself, Who dwells in us and offers us Their Holiness as ours. W-pI.187.11:1-6
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