October 24, 1981
God is with each of you and with us here.
We see your lives full of activities which bring rewards as well as frustrations. As God has said, each of you must find a way in your lives to achieve peace, a sense of stability, and a proper structuring of your priorities. It is that peace which comes from God which enables each of you to carry on with life’s activities. Too often we see you pressured and bandied about by demands of your time and energy without the reassuring guidance of God’s direction for each.
There is a great need in the entire world for a time of reflection. This reflection must not be directed specifically to answers alone, but such reflection must enable each of you to be open to a sense of peace. It is only when you are calm within that you may find direction outward, direction toward activity.
Activity must reflect commitment. If you are committed to knowing what it is that God desires of each of you, your activity will reflect that commitment. If your commitment is not centered first of all on God, then all that you attempt to achieve will be empty successes and empty failures. The meaninglessness of that activity will always become evident in the end.
There are many who seek financial reward or material gain above all else, and they may achieve it in a magnificent way, but their lives remain empty. They will always be restless. They will always search for more. There are others whose commitment is to God, and while they may not achieve in so magnificent a manner as perceived by the world at large, their lives will be full. Their lives are complete. Restlessness and impatience have no home. That is the kind of life that God wishes for each.
There are many nations in the world whose people are starving, whose people are deprived the comforts of life which each of you has grown to accept as essential. But in those countless masses who live with deprivation, there is an enormous number of lives which are complete and which are fulfilled. They do not rise up in rebellion for they are not wanting. Their lives may be difficult. There is illness and suffering of all description, but they do not want because that which they see others having is of no importance to their ultimate goals.
Numerous ancient religions thrive in areas of great suffering, but their principal teaching is one of the transitory nature of earthly life. It teaches the continuum of life beyond earthly living in a way which has enormous meaning in their followers’ present lives because they perceive their lives as brief. Whatever suffering is endured will also be brief. There is much to be learned by recognizing the ability of others who lack so much to find meaning and fulfillment in life. The richness of those lives is truly greater than that of the wealthiest king.
There is much to be learned here, for life is essentially a matter of choosing priorities and then responding to them. No priority holds greater potential than the presence of God in every aspect of one’s life. If you truly embrace the truth that you and God occupy the same time and space and are indeed one, a total unit, your priorities are then determined, for all of your responses are God’s responses, and in turn all responses are directed toward God.
God’s presence is all consuming. It affects all. It controls all. There is nothing which can be done away from God. You can ignore God, but God remains there. You can shut the door to a room which is brightly lit and be in total darkness, but the light still shines. If you are in that room, nothing is in the shadow. You do not stand between an object and the light for you, too, are a light. Placing yourself within God’s light and becoming a light means that you cannot cast a shadow on another. It means that all that surrounds you will reflect your light. As you are a light, all that you do is characteristic of light.
If your priorities are centered on God, you cannot have shadows in your life. You cannot be wanting. You cannot be impatient. You cannot experience jealousy. All of those reactions are shadow reactions, and shadow is not a characteristic of light. Therefore, consider yourselves lights, and recognize that the shadows of which we speak are no longer a part of your life. Suffering has new meaning. It is not a shadow which somehow blocks God’s light. Your response to others around you will be greatly helped and smoothed if you are a light. We therefore suggest that you become more aware of the special strengths of others whom you would believe to be in need but who reflect great peace. Recognize in those people the reflection of their priorities.
Each of you at some time in your lives recognizes the necessity for God centering, but such recognition is fleeting. It does not remain permanent, for each of you is human and subject to temptations and questioning. Try as you may, you cannot fully divest yourselves of the concept of self, of humanness, of physical response. That is a part of your life, but through prayer you will be given more strength to center truly on God’s light.
Many times in your life you will be given a clear sense of direction, which way to travel, because of your awareness of God. But of course there will be times, as there have been in the past, when you feel pressured to make decisions within a shadow. That is normal, but we ask for each of you to rekindle your light, to fire it up anew, to shine more brightly. In so doing, the shadow will disappear, the way will become clear. It is a matter of choice. God provides each of you with the equipment, the antenna, the receiver, to focus in and receive divine direction, but you must activate the circuitry. You must decide that is what must be done.
As you know, choice is always a part of human life, and we can assure you that choice is important in our stage of development also. We can choose to respond to our heightened awareness of God, or we can choose to deny the need for action, for we are growing also. We have committed ourselves to a path leading toward God, but the intensity of our travels is our own decision. That part of our human experience remains in our spiritual lives. There are many of us who experienced jealousy and anger, impatience, who clearly wanted what others had. We sought material gains. We looked for the good life. We wished to be measured by our appearance rather than by who we were. But that has left us. The sense of self for us remains, but only as it relates to our desire to help another. It is the desire to help rather than the desire for gains.
Your lives will also progress through this transformation, but much of what we have learned on our side, you also can learn now. Throw back desires for personal gains. God provides all that you really need for a full life. Resist the temptations for competing, to put another down, for making yourselves feel more worthy. You are all equal as God has told you many times, but recognize and accept that equality and recognize in each of your lives the potential for a full and complete life in which you do not want, in which you do not seek more and more material gains.
The ability to feel content with the recognition that you and God co-exist together will have a reflection that reaches outward and is visible from other perspectives. Those who surround you will recognize there is a peace. Those who observe your activities will come to sense a proper ordering. This directing of your lives will provide strength for others. It can be evidence of God to others. For many it will be more immediate than any other manifestation of faith. Your responsibilities, therefore, to the world around you are many-faceted, but all facets have one focal point—God. From God comes peace, from peace grows love, and from love, all are within the embrace of God’s light and care.
Commit your lives to God first. All else will take care of itself. It does not mean that you need not plan your activities of a physical nature. It does mean that with God at the center, the planning which results will be proper, will be constructive, and will be reflective of God’s presence in each of your lives. God is with each of you and speaks to you individually. You are a part of God and because so, you are never out of view. Recognize this fact. Accept it fully and reject temptation to deny God’s light, casting a shadow on another.
We bless you with God’s light, love and peace.
Amen.