Debra (Debi) Yvonne Simmons

9 min read

All true forgiveness that I give to others is given back to myself and this constitutes LIFE. And it is NOT possible without God’s Reality.

(This is one of the most powerful lessons that I have reviewed up to this point. I am not sure if my words convey what I received from Spirit, but it was profound to me.) Caution: potential triggers.

All that I give is given to myself.

* This really brings out the oneness of the Sonship that is Christ.

* When I first read it my mind switched it and heard it I provide everything for myself. That is not so. This lesson is bringing to focus the fact that we have been given the same characteristics of God which includes everything we GIVE comes back to ME. God gave His Son all that He is and His Son cannot help but give all that He is back to the Father. THIS is where we went off base with the idea of separation. There is no such thing and could be no such thing.

1. Today’s idea, completely alien to the ego and the thinking of the world, is crucial to the thought reversal that this course will bring about. ²If you believed this statement, there would be no problem in complete forgiveness, certainty of goal, and sure direction. ³You would understand the means by which salvation comes to you, and would not hesitate to use it now.

* NOTE: “no problem in COMPLETE forgiveness” emphasis added. That means for the WHOLE SONSHIP, not just one part or piece of it. Not just one person, theory, situation, culture, etc. the Whole Enchilada!

2. Let us consider what you do believe, in place of this idea. ²It seems to you that other people are apart from you, and able to behave in ways which have no bearing on your thoughts, nor yours on theirs. ³Therefore, your attitudes have no effect on them, and their appeals for help are not in any way related to your own.

⁴You further think that they can sin without affecting your perception of yourself, while you can judge their sin, and yet remain apart from condemnation and at peace.

* Isn’t that the truth!

3. When you “forgive” a sin, there is no gain to you directly. (* From that state of mind.) ²You give charity to one unworthy, merely to point out that you are better, on a higher plane than he whom you forgive. ³He has not earned your charitable tolerance, which you bestow on one unworthy of the gift, because his sins have lowered him beneath a true equality with you.

* How many parents are in this position with their children? The sins of the parents “have lowered him beneath a true equality with you?” It is almost worn like a badge today.

⁴He has no claim on your forgiveness. ⁵It holds out a gift to him, but hardly to yourself.

* In other words, it offers no true healing.

4. Thus is forgiveness basically unsound; a charitable whim, benevolent yet undeserved, a gift bestowed at times, at other times withheld.

* “benevolent or kind yet undeserved” — I am thinking of how some say that they will show no respect UNTIL respect is shown to them. What they do not understand is that respect comes from who you know you are and has little to do with “them” at all. Although Jesus is showing us here that we receive what we give. AND that we are all a part of a whole.

²Unmerited (*same as undeserved), withholding it (*forgiveness) is just, nor is it fair that you should suffer when it (*forgiveness) is withheld.

³The sin that you forgive is not your own. ⁴Someone apart from you committed it.

* This is what we believe before we have accepted the Atonement.

⁵And if you then are gracious unto him by giving him what he does not deserve, the gift is no more yours than was his sin.

* In other words, either way his “error” has no influence on or anything to do with you is what we think before we understand the Atonement.

5. If this be true, forgiveness has no grounds on which to rest dependably and sure. ²It is an eccentricity, in which you sometimes choose to give indulgently an undeserved reprieve. ³Yet it remains your right to let the sinner not escape the justified repayment for his sin. ⁴Think you the Lord of Heaven would allow the world’s salvation to depend on this? ⁵Would not His care for you be small indeed, if your salvation rested on a whim?

* Bear in mind here that the Lord of Heaven is NOT Christ, which is all of creation, it is God the Father, Himself. I misunderstood that for decades. But its clarity is with me now. God is our Lord and the one we want to pay homage to, NOT Christ, or the part of Christ that is Jesus of Nazareth.

6. You do not understand forgiveness. ²As you see it, it is but a check upon overt attack, without requiring correction in your mind.

* This cannot be accomplished without a universal attitude of forgiveness for the Son of God.

³It cannot give you peace as you perceive it.
⁴It is not a means for your release from what you see in someone other than yourself.
⁵It has no power to restore your unity with him to your awareness.
⁶It is not what God intended it to be for you.

* This is a result of not believing in the reality of God in the first place and the false belief that you are your own creator. Or that your “parents” made you. When I think of it now, parent is a rather unreal word to me. Perhaps this is why we have such angst toward God, our true Father?!! Because a part of us has ALWAYS known that our parents are NOT our creators.

* Let that soak in a minute. I suggest it is a powerful observation. I suggest that it is perfectly fine to admit that our parents are NOT our creators. And that society will not fall apart by acknowledging this.

* In fact, by acknowledging this perhaps we will organize society in a way that protects children, instead of having an unrealistic belief that the parent has authority over a child. Perhaps “my body-my choice” needs to be extended to the little ones. I suspect that in the not-too-distant future, sex may not be a part of the preparation of a body for a spirit to reside in for learning purposes and that some form of artificial womb provides for the infant in a loving environment where the belief in their survival and progress, as well as happiness, is secured.

* The belief of those who bring the child into this “dream of form” has a bearing on whether they thrive or continue the struggle and death cycle. More so than TOUCH or attention, alone. There are so many ways that recognizing God as our Creator will benefit humanity and all of creation.

* This is just one of the HUGE adjustments that will come to the human race ONCE God has been accepted among us as our universal Creator.

7. Not having given Him (*God) the gift He asks of you, you cannot recognize His gifts, and think He has not given them to you. ²Yet would He ask you for a gift unless it was for you?

* The gift is FORGIVENESS of His Son. What you get back in return is your brother AND yourself.

³Could He be satisfied with empty gestures, and evaluate such petty gifts (*Jesus is speaking of the kind of forgiveness that we offer each other before accepting the Atonement.) as worthy of His Son?

⁴Salvation is a better gift than this. ⁵And true forgiveness, as the means by which it (*salvation) is attained, must heal the mind that gives, for giving is receiving.

* We are literally speaking about giving LIFE here. It is the difference between “surviving” as a walking “bag of bones” and thriving as a free and sovereign Child of the Almighty God who walks in the Knowledge of His Father’s Abundance and Power, and Authority.

* This does not mean that mistakes will not be made NOR that they will not NEED to be pointed out and corrected. It means that we will see each other as Christ and not as “sinners” unworthy of God’s protection or care.

* If we, as a people, TRULY walk in an attitude of FORGIVENESS mistakes will be correctable and set aside in Time, EVEN by the most audacious and self-hating among us. (I am thinking of serial killers here, very specifically.) So much so that Time will no longer have meaning to us.

⁶What remains as unreceived has not been given, but what has been given must have been received.

* FORGIVENESS is what is being talked about giving here. Forgiveness remains unreceived if it has not been given. But forgiveness that has been given must also be received.

* Who does not want to be forgiven??????? I will tell you who. Those who believe the world does not exist and therefore there is NOTHING to forgive and there are students of ACIM who have accepted that very belief and it is as damaging as the belief in separation.

* Why would you need to forgive anything if nothing exists, including yourself and God?

* For fifty years we have had the Key to Life in our hands and we have made it into another lie that the EGO can chase us around with!

8. Today we try to understand the truth that giver and receiver are the same.

* PLEASE think of this ONLY as regards FORGIVENESS because without THIS nothing else matters at all.

²You will need help to make this meaningful, because it is so alien to the thoughts to which you are accustomed. ³But the Help (the Holy (Wholly) Spirit) you need is there. ⁴Give Him your faith today, and ask Him that He share your practicing in truth today. ⁵And if you only catch a tiny glimpse of the release that lies in the idea we practice for today, this is a day of glory for the world.

* Amen.

9. Give fifteen minutes twice today to the attempt to understand today’s idea. ²It is the thought by which forgiveness takes its proper place in your priorities. ³It is the thought that will release your mind from every bar to what forgiveness means, and let you realize its worth to you.

* Forgiveness needs to be the lens through which you see because this is the only way that you will see others and yourself for who you truly are. And that witness will come through the Holy (Wholly) Spirit.

10. In silence, close your eyes upon the world that does not understand forgiveness, and seek sanctuary in the quiet place where thoughts are changed and false beliefs laid by. ²Repeat today’s idea, and ask for help in understanding what it really means.
³Be willing to be taught.
⁴Be glad to hear the Voice of truth and healing speak to you, and you will understand the words He speaks, and recognize He speaks your words to you.

* This is the Holy (Wholly) Spirit. And you are a part of the Wholly that the Holy (Wholly) Spirit IS, this is how He “speaks your words to you.”

* That is also why I write Holy (Wholly) Spirit anymore.

11. As often as you can, remind yourself you have a goal today; an aim which makes this day of special value to yourself and all your brothers. ²Do not let your mind forget this goal for long, but tell yourself:

³All (*forgiveness) that I give is given to myself.
⁴The Help I need to learn that this is true is with me now.

⁵And I will trust in Him. (*the Holy (Wholly) Spirit)
⁶Then spend a quiet moment, opening your mind to His correction and His Love. ⁷And what you hear of Him you will believe, for what He gives will be received by you.

* “His correction and His Love is referring to the Holy (Wholly) Spirit because God, Himself does not need to correct you. God’s Voice is in WITH all of OURS ~yes, duplicate~ in the Holy (Wholly) Spirit. This is how we are all One but it does not make us the personage God individually or unitedly, We are still the Son. Because God IS or we could not BE, even with Forgiveness.

* Acknowledging God is what establishes our RELATIONSHIPS, our communication with one another, and even our communion as a whole. Harmony is our Truth.

Acknowledging God will be what allows Creation to be recognized by the Son of God and continue forever. Played in innumerable forms without end always in abundance, joy, peace, and happiness. And it WILL NOT be BORING. I promise, better yet, God Promises.

(ACIM, W-126.1:1–11:7)

Till next time, God bless, debi.