Extension of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s function. Leave this to Him. Let your concern be only that you give to Him that which can be extended. Save no dark secrets that He cannot use, but offer Him the tiny gifts He can extend forever. He will take every one and make of it a potent force for peace. He will withhold no blessing from it, nor limit it in any way. He will join to [our willingness to forgive] all the power that God has given Him, to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift you offer to your brother lights up the world. Be not concerned with darkness; look away from it and toward your brother. And let the darkness be dispelled by Him Who knows the light, and lays it gently in each quiet smile of faith and confidence with which you bless your brother. (A Course in Miracles, T-22.VI.9:2-11. See also ACIM Text Q & A.)
We need to offer the Holy Spirit our willingness to let our perceptions be corrected. We must not insist that our interpretation of what we perceive in the world is correct. As we let go of needing to be right, we open the door to receive God’s gift of happiness.
Again and again the Course points out to us that the body and the world we see with the body are illusions. This is the essential foundation that justifies forgiveness. If the body and what the body’s eyes see were real, there would be no basis for forgiveness. Harm and loss would be real. Guilt and retribution would be justified. Conflict, attack and defend would be a way of life. This is the ego’s world.
But as we are willing to be taught to recognize illusion, we open to the possibility that there is another way to see. The vision the Holy Spirit offers us in our minds shows us that beyond the conflict, guilt and fear is the changeless Love of God’s Universe — our Home. Here is where we remain in truth. As we are willing to forgive and accept Holy Spirit’s vision, the world of fear and guilt fades and the reality of our safety in God’s Love becomes certain. This is the gift our forgiveness offers.
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