This Lesson follows on the Lesson 315 yesterday, " All gifts my brothers give belong to me." Now we are told, " All gifts I give my brothers are my own." (W.316) We are one with all of our brothers. All of the gifts of forgiveness my brothers give I receive, and all of the gifts I give I also receive. There is only one mind we share. Gifts come through us as blessings when we offer forgiveness. By clearing away egoic thoughts, we become a channel for God's love, and now we experience the blessing that comes from joining. As we release thoughts that keep us in darkness, the mind recognizes its own inner light. The truth of who we are and who our brothers are is recognized when we offer forgiveness. Now, instead of seeing them through our judgments as guilty, we see their innocence and accept it as our own.
 
" Each one [gift of forgiveness] allows a past mistake to go, and leave no shadow on the holy mind my Father loves." (W.316.1.2) This is important because as we read in Lesson 314, our past mistakes are what we drag into the future and carry the burden of guilt. We want to be free of the mistakes that weigh us down with guilt and shame. The means that are given to release past mistakes are by giving gifts of forgiveness, for with each gift we give, a past mistake will go. The shadows that haunt us, as a result of these mistakes, will then be lifted from our holy minds. All that is required is our willingness to take our brothers off the cross and release them so we too can be released and come to know our only Source is love.
 
" My treasure house is full, and angels watch its open doors that not one gift is lost, and only more are added." (W316.1.4) There are many references to our treasure and the treasure house in the Course. Our treasure house is our right mind and it is always full of God's gifts! The answer to everything that troubles us is within us waiting to be claimed. Behind every cloud is the sun waiting for our acknowledgment. Until we recognize this, we look for treasures in the world where they don't exist. When we realize where our real treasure lies, we will be motivated to give our brothers the gifts of forgiveness in every situation where we encounter difficulties. The treasures we seek in the world will no longer hold our interest or attention. We no longer see them as the source of our happiness. We see there is only one source and that is God. This is where our happiness lies. It lies in knowing ourselves. While we do seek treasures in the world, we are just asked to notice our attachments, not to make ourselves more guilty. It is only to recognize when we seek them, we are actually seeking for nothing. When we come to realize this, we will be happy to turn our attention more and more to returning to our true Source of happiness and peace that lies within our own minds.
 
" Nothing you give is lost to you or anyone, but cherished and preserved in Heaven, where all of the treasures given to God's Son are kept for him, and offered anyone who but holds out his hand in willingness they be received." (T.25.IX.2.4)(ACIM OE T.25.X.79)

" Each time today you tell your frantic mind salvation comes from your one Self, you lay another treasure in your growing store." (W.P.I.96.12.1)(ACIM OE W.PI.96.17)
 
" Every time you spend five minutes of the hour seeking Him Who joins your mind and Self, you offer Him another treasure to be kept for you." (W.PI.96.11.5)(ACIM Our gifts are always there and can't be lost even if we are not aware of them. The treasurehouse is where Christ dwells within us, and through forgiveness we recognize that the truth has always been there waiting for our acknowledgment. As long as we keep seeking the 'treasures' of this world, we will not be aware we already have everything. Through forgiveness we realize where the real treasure is.

Even though we may not be aware of the treasures in our right minds, Jesus assures us this makes no difference. They are still there whether we are aware of them or not. Imagine how different our lives would be if we were aware of all of these treasures in our storehouse. Would we ever feel deprived again? Would there be any reason for loneliness, self-recrimination, sadness, jealousy, anger, loss, or distress of any kind? Would we ever feel superior because of who we think we are? If we knew how rich we really were in God's abundant love and support for us, we would only know a deep abiding peace and joy that does not depend on anything outside of us. It is only a decision away. If we don't experience these gifts, it is only because we have chosen our own interpretation and refused to turn it over to the Holy Spirit for correction. That choice is based in our investment in our specialness and our belief that we are right about who we think we are and who our brother is.

We are like the homeless person who is begging for support while dragging all the treasures behind him, forgetting they are there because he refuses to look. We don't have to live with this sense of loneliness and lack. We can take hold of the gifts in our treasure house when we are willing to open our minds and let go of our false beliefs. The Holy Spirit has laid these gifts in our treasure house and " Here the door is never locked, and no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need." (W.159.6.4) Nothing in this world can offer us any real satisfaction, any true happiness, or anything of lasting value, but when our lives are devoted to forgiveness, we receive the miracles we give. It means this world is now seen as a classroom for the undoing of that which is false. Thus, even the painful events offer us the perfect teaching/learning opportunities to let go of what is holding us back, which is our own unforgiving thoughts.
 
Yes, these are all events we have called into our lives, yet  nothing happens uninvited by us. " The day you want you offer to the world, for it will be what you have asked for, and will reinforce the rule of your adviser in the world." (T.30.I.16.7)(ACIM OE T.30.II.31) Our adviser is always the result of the choice between the ego and the Holy Spirit, and whom we turn to determines what we receive. " You choose God's peace, or you have asked for dreams." (W.PI.185.9.4) It is all of our choice. Nothing happens by accident. " Your holy mind establishes everything that happens to you." (T.10.IN.2.6)(ACIM OE T.9.VIII.60) What we receive is what we want.
   
" Let me come to where my treasures are, and enter in where I am truly welcome and at home, among the gifts that God has given me." (W.316.1.5) As we extend forgiveness to our brothers, it is a gift to ourselves, as our own minds are thus released from self-condemnation. This is how we become acquainted with our own holiness. We see evidence of the beauty of who we are when it is reflected back to us through our brothers. By releasing our judgments, our opinions, our comparisons, our unworthiness or superiority, we recognize we are not alone and separate, but one with all there is.
 
The only way we can access the treasures in our minds is to be willing to look at the blocks that keep the treasures from our awareness. We can only know ourselves as the love we are when that love is extended through us and reflected back at us, but we need to acknowledge how we are the ones holding the love back. To the ego, it is all about what we can get from someone, but Jesus reminds us, " You learn first that having rests on giving, and not on getting." (T.6.V.C.6.1)(ACIM OE T.6.Vc.90) Special relationships are all based on bargaining, while " to bargain is to limit giving, and this is not God's Will." (T.7.I.4.4)(ACIM OE T.7.II.4)

What would this look like in our lives? It is easy to be loving and gentle with those with whom we are in an easy and loving relationship. But those very same people, who are our special relationships, are the ones who often bring the most pain into our lives. When I feel unjustly accused or treated badly as I judge this to be, I feel justified in responding in an unloving, attacking way in return. "How dare he say those things to me?" Precisely in those moments when we are tempted to respond with attack, we are called to stop and recognize we are choosing to close the door to our treasure house.

This can be very challenging. The voice of the ego tells me he deserves to be attacked for his bad behavior, but Jesus is teaching us, when we blame our brother, we are trying to purchase our innocence at the cost of his guilt. This is false innocence and does not mirror the innocence of God, which is our true innocence waiting to be claimed. We can't claim it when we attack a brother by blaming him and projecting our guilt onto him. This is what the ego counsels us to do all the time. When we listen to the ego, we happily blame our brothers without realizing we are locking ourselves into the game of guilt.

Yesterday, as I struggled with these thoughts of retaliation in my mind, the Holy Spirit reminded me I could choose peace. He reminded me the power of this choice was in my own mind. He reminded me the gift of peace was my choice to give and thus to receive at the same time. It meant I must choose not to listen to the obsessive thoughts of the ego to make my brother guilty. I had to choose to release my perspective on the situation and see I was wrong in the way I was perceiving my brother. Did I really want to see it my way or was peace more important to me? Did I want to continue to chew on the hatred and the judgments? Was this more valuable to me than peace? This should be an easy decision, yet we struggle with it because of our stubborn investment in the separate self. What a joy to experience the miracle from changing our minds! When we do, it affirms to us the gentleness of God's love is ever-present simply hidden by our thoughts.

Daily we choose to turn away from love in the face of betrayal, conflict, and attack, but this does not make us guilty. If we beat up on ourselves, when we experience issues in our lives, we will not be open to healing. The ego is happy if we feel guilty. Instead, we are invited to welcome all of these situations as further opportunities for healing. That is why they are there, because we have invited the healing and now the perfect situation shows up for that purpose. Welcome it. We make mistakes, we choose to forget, but we can always choose again.

The prayers in these Lessons invite us to enter fully into the spirit of the Lesson, appealing to our Father to help us, relying on His treasure placed in our right minds and trusting we can't fail. When we step out in trust from our ego cycle of defense, attack, and retaliation, and instead we choose to let go of our thoughts, recognizing we are always wrong, then blessings, miracles, peace, and love emerge in our awareness. All it takes is our willingness. We can't lose when we let go of our perspectives. Everyone gains.

I write these commentaries only as a reminder to my own mind of what I truly want. When I let the truth of this teaching enter deeply into my mind, I convince my resistant mind to apply what the Lesson asks me to do. Step by step, day by day, year by year, the mind becomes more focused, committed and disciplined and the results of applying the teachings are evidenced in more harmony in my relationships and more peace in my experience. In other words, it works! All it takes is constant willingness and dedication. If we are not ready, we are nevertheless innocent. The truth of that can never change.