“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15

Just after the Lord’s Prayer is this little follow up. It speaks to a very important aspect of creation… forgiveness. When we practice forgiveness (and it is a practice), we free our own minds to more infinite creative expression. When we release the attachment to our need to be right, allow forgiveness to be centered in our soul, we create a framework in our own minds and heart that opens up the floodgates of love. Basically, we reap what we sow.

How can it be that the “heavenly Father” has any dominion over us, you might ask. Well, again, the heavenly father is that creative energy within that matches our mind. It is not some being “out there” passing judgment on our actions. When our consciousness is rooted in love, kindness, and forgiveness, we attract that into our lives.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who is in secret will reward you.” - Matthew 6:16-18

Here we return back to a consideration of our practice, that it is for us and for no one else. Why do we return to this? Well, I think we return to this as a reminder of the importance of spiritual practice as personal. It’s totally personal, and we don’t need to make a show of it for anyone else. Again, we fast for the “Father” who is in secret… and by that “Father” we are rewarded. Are you understanding the pattern of what the “Father” is, and the importance that creative energy plays in our experience? Our work, is completely in mind, not for show, and not for the accumulation of things in the world of form. Which ties right in to the next passage.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21

It is a common misconception that New Thought is a philosophy about “getting.” I think this is rooted in what many of us come to understand early in the study of the New Thought philosophy, that demonstration is the point of prayer. We mistake demonstration as being the thing “out there” rather than the consciousness of the thing. As we deepen in the study I believe we come to realize that the consciousness is the thing. Ernest Holmes was clear when he taught, “We do not teach that you can get what you want.” What we teach is deeper realization of truth in all circumstances. What we are met with is form in alignment with that truth. As we store up the treasure of loving kindness in our minds, we are rooting that in our hearts, and met with that in our experiences. The form is never more important than the consciousness.