Today’s lesson says, “If you believed this statement, there would be no problem in complete forgiveness, certainty of goal, and sure direction. You would understand the means by which salvation comes to you, and would not hesitate to use it now.”
This is true. I know it is true, because it is exactly what happened to me. I stumbled roughly with forgiveness until the day that I truly understood ‘giving and receiving are one.’ On that day it was like a light bulb went off in my mind. In fact, I call it my “Helen Keller moment at the well.”
As you know, Helen Keller was blind and could not hear from the time she was a baby, so she had no understanding of communication. A teacher was hired to teach her sign language, but since the concept of communication was missing for Helen, sign language meant nothing. The teacher tried again and again to teach her with no results.
One day Helen threw a fit at the dinner table and threw down a pitcher of water. The teacher grabbed Helen and the pitcher and took her to the well to refill it. Once at the well, the teacher repeatedly stuck Helen’s hand under the water and then signed the symbol for water against the palm of Helen’s hand so she could feel it. Over and over she did this and then, a light bulb went off in Helen’s mind. Suddenly she understood the concept of communication. With that, signing took on meaning. She excitedly ran around the yard asking the teacher to show her the sign for this and this and this. She became a very eager student.
Well, the day I came to understand the concept of ‘giving and receiving as one’, I understood forgiveness, and I became a very eager practitioner of forgiveness.
I learned ‘giving and receiving are one’ from scribing NTI Ephesians. It was further emphasized in ‘the Code.’ It is summarized by this:
What I think, I see.
What I see, I experience.
What I experience, I think.
The best way to have your Helen Keller moment at the well is to watch. How do you feel when you judge a person or situation? How do you feel when you reject a person or a situation? How do you feel when you genuinely accept what is? How do you feel when you love what is? Can you see that you directly experience your own decision to judge, reject, accept or love? Can you see that it is never different; you always experience your own decision?
Giving and receiving are one. Therefore, to have peace, be peace. To know love, be love. And to do that, let go of any thought that does not make you happy. Just let it go. That is forgiveness.
