I wanted to share this story with all of you. As a student of A Course In Miracles ACIM, one of my goals is to look at each moment as an opportunity to practice forgiveness.
I had one of those moments the other day. This was a subtle, yet very tangible experience of the power of forgiveness in our everyday lives.
I had just finished my night with the band I work with regularly in Las Vegas. A patron had thrown a $100 chip up onto the stage as a tip.(Nice!) So I went to the casino cage to cash in this chip so the band could split it up.
As I was waiting in line, another man came up and simply walked right in front of me. He did not look my way, he just acted as if I was invisible, and proceeded to stand in front of me. So, my first instict is, like, “uh, you are NOT going to cut in front of me, pal”, and I started getting all tense and red in the face and all that. And this guy, who cut, then was grumbling to himself about how long it was taking in the line!! “Oh, man what are they doing back there, oh, come ON!!” Geez.
But then I remembered the Course and what it says, so I thought about looking at this situation differently. I thought, what does it matter if he goes first anyways? Is it going to kill me if I wait an additional 30 seconds to cash in this chip which I was lucky enough to get in the first place? You know, maybe this guy just gambled away his whole house or something!
So, I let it go, and I relaxed.
Something amazing happened. Not more than 2 seconds after that thought, this man turned, looked directly at me, and took his place in line behind me! I was amazed.