Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
Lesson 62 Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.
- It is your forgiveness that will bring the world of darkness to the light. It is your forgiveness that lets you recognize the light in which you see. Forgiveness is the demonstration that you are the light of the world. Through your forgiveness does the truth return to your memory. Therefore, in your forgiveness lies your Salvation.
- Illusions about yourself and the world are one. That is why all forgiveness is a gift to yourself. Your goal is to find out who you are, having denied your identity by attacking creation and its creator. Now you are learning how to remember the truth. For this attack must be replaced by forgiveness, so that thoughts of life may replace thoughts of death.
- Remember that in every attack, you call upon your own weakness, while each time you forgive, you call upon the strength of Christ in you. Do you not then begin to understand what forgiveness will do for you? It will remove all sense of strain and fatigue from your mind. It will take away all fear and guilt and pain. It will restore the invulnerability and power God gave His Son to your awareness.
- Let us be glad to begin and end this day by practicing today’s idea, and to use it as frequently as possible throughout the day. It will help to make the day as happy for you as God wants you to be. And it will help those around you, as well as those who seem to be far away in space and time, to share this happiness with you.
- As often as you can, closing your eyes if possible, say to yourself today: Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. I would fulfill my function that I may be happy.
- Then devote a minute or two to considering your function and the happiness and release it will bring you. Let related thoughts come freely, for your heart will recognize these words, and in your mind is the awareness they are true. Should your attention wander, repeat the idea and add: I would remember this because I want to be happy.
Notes and Personal Application (2019): Meditation – Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. I forgive the world and offer forgiveness to myself. I forgive the separated mind. I forgive the hate and fear and destruction of the world. I forgive to be forgiven. I am happy to forgive because a forgiven world is a world that is free from darkness. I am happy to forgive because I have no need to judge and evaluate and gripe and complain. I am happy to forgive because Jesus has forgiven me. I am happy to forgive because when I forgive, I am like Jesus who came to save the world.
Notes and Personal Application (2020): In today’s devotional, Holy Spirit gave me a personally meaningful, practical way in which I could apply this lesson.
The story begins last year when James received a letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) informing him that he had been overpaid a sum of money in the previous tax year, and the SSA wanted it back. We could either write them a check immediately or, if that was not an option, James’ Social Security checks would stop coming until the amount was paid in full. We realized almost immediately what the problem was – not an overpayment, but a misunderstanding of the difference between what our company made and the money James made personally. He completed a form, we sent it in, and a few months later, we received confirmation that all was well with the SSA. The misunderstanding had been cleared; we did not owe the administration any money; all was well.
A month ago, we receive another letter. This letter informs us that now we owe the administration even more money than we did before. No time frame, no justification, merely a form letter that requests payment within 30 days or there will be no monthly stipends until the arrears are paid in full. Unlike the first letter, this one tells us only that we owe them money. At first we suspected fraud. Then we decided that one branch of the SSA did not inform another department of the resolution, and now penalties and fines must have been added. Since the letter did not inform him, James completed the necessary response and left it here for me to mail.
Since the local Social Security office is in a nearby town, I decided to deliver the forms in person. It was a 20-minute drive one way, and it would be good for me to take a little break from writing. I could be home in an hour.
It was a pleasant day – the sun was shining, there was a hint of spring in the air. When I arrived, I parked my car, entered the building and was trotting toward reception when a gruff voice says, “You must sign in.” I turn to see an armed security guard sitting directly to the left as I go in the door. I am shocked. What kind of agency needs an armed guard?
“I’m only dropping off a form for my husband,” I tell the man.
“Sign in,” he says, pointing to the computer. “You’ll get a number.”
I looked around, and nobody was waiting. A number for what – To hand over an envelope with some forms inside? Taking a deep breath, I register on the computer, typing in my name, address, phone number, birth date, social security number, and mark “other” for a reason for my visit. A little number slides out of a slot to my right. “Just ridiculous,” I think to myself.
“Have a seat,” says the guard, so I sit. And I sit, and I sit, and I sit. And the longer I sit, the longer I stew. I should have just mailed the stinking form, I think to myself. That woman back there, pretending to work, is playing Spider Solitaire, I speculate. I could tell what she was doing, staring at the screen like that, and only making a move after mulling over it for a bit. (I should know – all the spider solitaire I have played in my life!) Our government money hard at work! Finally, after about 20 minutes in which Miss Fun and Games doesn’t even bother to look up from her cards, I throw my number in the trashcan and walk out without even a nod to the man with a gun. I half-expected him to chase me down the sidewalk and demand I complete a form to explain my peevishness.
“No wonder they have to have a man with a gun inside the door,” I fumed to our son on the drive back to the house. “They know they are in a dangerous position, and there is only so much the human spirit can take!” I told him the whole story, slightly exaggerating the gruffness of the guard’s voice, the length of my time there, and my certainty about what the woman behind the desk was actually doing. After all, her screen was turned away from me. While I am not above suspecting it was purposefully turned away so that the entitlement receivers could not see what she was doing on their dime, I did not know for sure it was spider solitaire. Maybe she was playing Free Cell!
My son informed me that there are whole floors of high-rise office buildings designed for just this very thing – to keep people waiting, to keep people jumping through one bureaucratic loop after another to get an insurance payment. It discourages people, he told me, many just decide it is not worth the hassle and drop their claim.
Later on, I repeated the story to James, how I just decided to send the form through the post – let them not take any delight in pretending they are busy or in making me wait to simply drop off a form. We had a few choice words about the administration as a whole, a bit to say about how people who want more bureaucracy are asking for more of the same. Thankfully we did not rant long – we both know better than to encourage that kind of thing in each other, but rant we did.
The whole trip had been a big waste of my time. Instead of being home within an hour it was closer to two hours. I had a sour feeling and plopped down on the recliner and complained about it to my grandson when he called.
During my devotional this morning, I thanked the Lord for how I have practiced forgiveness and have come so far in understanding my function. I was feeling quite pleased with my own progress in this area until Holy Spirit reminded me of my unforgiving attitude toward the Social Security Administration! I am to forgive the SSA, even as I am to forgive all of the systems of the world, which cannot help to fail in their efforts to provide the services they promise.
The systems devised by this world are not based on the love of God, but rather as an attack on each other and attack on God. The very need for their existence is based upon the premise that we have identified with that which is not God – that we have become a tarnished, shadowed, darkened image of His Son. That which we would call social security is actually social insecurity; that which we would call justice, is actually injustice; that which we would call law and order is lawlessness and disorder; that which we call health care is health scare. All are based on the wrong premise – the idea that we can succeed apart from God, and that when we fail to thrive, we have a solution for it. When the solution does not fix the problem it was designed to correct, the ego calls for us to either reproach, judge, and condemn or continue to distract ourselves from the right solution by pouring more resources into our unholy systems.
Christ forgave the system of justice at the time of His death on the cross for the very reason He asks us to forgive the systems of the world. They don’t know what they are doing.
When I attack the Social Security Administration, I call upon my own weakness. When I forgive, I call upon the strength of Christ within me. Our social security does not depend upon the systems of this world, any more than all other forms of protection can be found in the physical realm. When we begin to understand this, we can forgive. When we begin to understand, all strain and fatigue are removed from our minds. All thoughts of bitterness, forms of vengeance, spite, and resentment are taken away. We are reminded of the invulnerability and power God gave to us in our oneness with Christ.
As often as we can today, let us close our eyes and tell ourselves: Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world. I would fulfill my purpose that I may be happy. Let these words sink into your consciousness and become part of your identity in Christ. Meditate a few minutes about your role of forgiveness and the happiness and release it will bring to you and to all with whom you share. Let your heart and your mind know that this is true. Remind yourself to remember because God wants you to be happy, and we cannot be truly happy if we give our power to that which is not love.
the friar patch 