There is no greater beauty secret than that of forgiveness!

I have seen a direct correlation between the effects of my practice and attitude of forgiveness and the lines of life that were etched, but are now lifted off my face.

I have been working A Course in Miracles for over 8 years and it has been life changing. But it wasn’t until I was given an extreme test of my practice and I turned to the 12-step program to accelerate and utilize specific steps of self responsibility that I really experienced the truth and necessity of living and practicing forgiveness.

I was shocked that there were still hidden grievances and subtle beliefs that someone else was to blame for things that had occurred in my life. No doubt, as anyone who is working the 12 Steps knows, it takes an enormous amount of courage to face up to the facts, be vigilant with the inventory, and use ‘all the help you can get!’ to bring yourself face to face with… yourself.

And once you take that step toward truth, there is no going back! It truly is that “half measures availed us nothing. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took, which we suggest as a program of recovery”… How it Works from Alcoholics Anonymous.

So simple, so practical, so extraordinarily ordinary! And certainly, forever sobering!

There is no greater gift than that of the brotherhood of the AA program, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I do not employ their help- not one single day- for I can not do it alone, nor would I want to. There is not one single day that goes by that I am not ‘tested’ in my commitment to be fully responsible for what I see and feel and experience. There is not one single day that I do not find myself on my knees in gratitude thanking God and all that I know to be true for lifting me from my previous life of misery and blame. There is no one else to forgive except myself, and it took the 12-Step program to reveal this to me.

Be vigilant. Be honest.  Ask for help, and you too will see the ‘aging lines of a grievous life’ disappear when you look in the mirror. There is no greater beauty secret than that of a life of forgiveness.