A major learning goal this course has set is to reverse your view of giving, so you can receive. For giving has become a source of fear, and so you would avoid the only means by which you can receive. Accept God’s peace and joy, and you will learn a different way of looking at a gift. God’s gifts will never lessen when they are given away. They but increase thereby.
As Heaven’s peace and joy intensify when you accept them as God’s gift to you, so does the joy of your Creator grow when you accept His joy and peace as yours. True giving is creation. It extends the limitless to the unlimited, eternity to timelessness, and love unto itself. It adds to all that is complete already, not in simple terms of adding more, for that implies that it was less before. It adds by letting what cannot contain itself fulfill its aim of giving everything it has away, securing it forever for itself. (A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 105, W-pI.105.3-4. See also ACIM Lesson 105 Insights.)
In the ego thought system of separation, to give is to lose what is given. This belief makes us afraid to give because we believe we no longer have what we give away. The ego perceives only images which are limited by definition. Consequently it believes it loses the form it gives away. The most it can hope for is for the receiver to respond with a gift of equal or greater value. This expectation imposes a debt on the receiver which ego fears may not be paid in full. This is why ego-based giving always seems to entail risk of loss and carries guilt with it.
The only gifts we can truly give without limit are the gifts we receive from God. God knows no limits. He gives His Love, peace and joy eternally and without limit. The nature of these gifts is to extend themselves just as God extended them to His Son. To accept these gifts, we must extend them without limit. Without extending them, we cannot know we have His gifts of Love, joy and peace. Here is the key difference between the ego’s giving and the giving of God’s gifts. The ego limits its gifts. God’s gifts know no limits. He has given us all of Himself eternally.
Today we remind ourselves frequently, “God has given me all of Himself. All His Love, joy and peace are mine to give.” As we look upon a brother, we mentally say to our brother, “God has given you all of Himself. All His Love, joy and peace are yours.”
© Copyright 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.
Has this page been helpful to you?
Your contribution in support of this site is greatly appreciated. To make a tax deductible contribution or become a member online, go to http://www.pathwaysoflight.org/polshop/home.php?cat=254.
Or send a check or money order to Pathways of Light, 6 Oak Court, Ormond Beach, FL 32174-2623 (USD only, please) Thank you for your support.