II. The Answer to Prayer, P 11
11 Never forget, then, that you set the value on what you receive, and price it by what you give. To believe that it is possible to get much for little is to believe that you can bargain with God. God’s laws are always fair and perfectly consistent. By giving you receive. But to receive is to accept, not to get. It is impossible not to have, but it is possible not to know you have. The recognition of having is the willingness for giving, and only by this willingness can you recognize what you have. What you give is therefore the value you put on what you have, being the exact measure of the value you put upon it. And this, in turn, is the measure of how much you want it.
Journal
Well, he used a lot of words to get there, but basically it seems that Jesus is telling me that I have everything, but I limit my awareness of that when I am unwilling to give. Giving is how I know I have. I limit my awareness of my complete abundance when I don’t accept. He also points out that accepting and getting are not the same thing.
In my mind, I connect getting with taking, grasping, getting more than I am willing to give. Accepting feels like my hands are open to receive what is put there, and they remain open to give as freely as I received. I imagine things coming into my life as I need them, then going to someone else when they need them, only to be replaced with whatever I might need now.
I had a nifty pair of boots that I liked very much. I paid way too much for something I wore maybe once a year, but I wasn’t sorry. One day a friend asked me if she could have them. At first I was so surprised that she asked for them that it took me a moment to realize she thought that because I don’t wear them often that I don’t really want them, or that they were just going to waste and, evidently she really liked them, too. So I gave them to her.
I could hear the little voice in my head saying that I just suffered a loss, but I wasn’t listening. It felt really good to give them away. It’s funny how the ego mind simply cannot grasp that giving is receiving and that there is no loss. This happened two years ago and every time I think of the boots I feel both gratified and sad, depending on which part of the mind I listen to. It makes me laugh.
Things are just symbols of thoughts in our mind, and the boots are meaningless of themselves. It is what they symbolize that is important. If I had listened to the ego which wants to hold onto and keep, I would have told my friend that I still had need of the boots, and I would have taught myself that the world is a small and limited place and that I must guard against loss all the time. I would have taught myself that, and I would have taught my friend that.
I have within my mind the fear that there is never enough and that I must hoard what I have or suffer loss. But I also have within my mind the certainty that I am an open channel for All That Is, and that whatever I need passes through me, staying for as long as I need it, then moving away, returning if I want it again. I know I am fully abundant in every way.
Which of those two thoughts will feel true for me is up to me. The other day I wore an outfit that seemed to need those boots and I reached for them. Then I remembered they were no longer in my closet. For an instant, I felt the loss of them, but that can’t be right. I cannot experience loss. Only the ego can. I easily let that feeling go and when I did, I felt happy thinking of my friend wearing them, and I reached for a different pair of shoes. They looked good with my outfit.
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