Lesson 197 - Gratitude is born within me

“It can be but my gratitude I earn”

Sometimes, when we do good or try to forgive, we expect people to thank us, acknowledge us, or respond with affection. And if that doesn’t happen, we may feel hurt, as if our gestures were in vain. We may even think of taking back what we offered. But this attitude stems from an illusion: the belief that the value of our actions depends on the other’s response.

A Course in Miracles teaches us that everything we give, we give to ourselves. There is no separation between the giver and the receiver. We are One Self, and everything shared in Love is inevitably received in Love.

Seeking external recognition after forgiving or giving is a sign of confusion — as if the value of the gift were in the eyes of the other, rather than in the purity of our gesture. But the true value lies in freeing ourselves from the belief in attack, fear, and guilt. That alone is salvation.

 The greatest gratitude we can receive is our own.When we forgive sincerely, we are immediately blessed. Because we are freeing ourselves, and that is a gift we give to ourselves. Even if the other does not acknowledge it, a part of their mind — and ours — receives it.True gifts are welcomed in spirit. And God accepts them with gratitude, for all that is given with Love is, in truth, given to Him.

God never ceases to thank us.

When we stop demanding recognition, we understand that God’s gifts — like forgiveness, peace, and love — are not loans, but parts of our essence. They cannot be taken or lost, for they are eternal.

If we take back what we gave because we feel unappreciated, we fall into the trap of thinking forgiveness has a price and Love, a condition. But true forgiveness liberates the giver. It dissolves separation, affirms that Love is safe, and opens the way back to peace. In this way, gratitude ceases to be a fleeting reaction and becomes a quality of Being, the natural reflection of one who awakens to the Oneness with God.

Everything we do to our brother, we do to ourselves. Every act of kindness, every gesture of forgiveness, brings us closer to who we truly are: The perfect Creation of God.

Death loses its meaning, fear disappears, guilt dissolves. And we live gratitude not as duty or expectation, but as the recognition of our true identity: Love, peace, and union with God.

Finally, this lesson invites us to receive the gratitude that has always been ours, but which we denied by forgetting who we are. And to remember that, even when we forget, God has never stopped thanking us for our existence, for our light, for our being.

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