December 18, 1983
God is, of course, with each of you.
The transition from human life to spiritual life is often very slow to understand and to accept, but the process is so quick and so natural and, yes, so joyous. It is understandable for humans to experience difficulty in being willing to let go either of their own life or the life of another. But if you can only feel within, not just intellectually, that all life is really continuous, that you are not letting go, then that which takes place will be more easily accepted.
Frequently we have talked about the continuity of life in terms of continuity of generations, the influence of a prior generation on a current generation, but the continuity of life is also experienced between individuals. Your group is small. Though many have passed through, the nucleus has remained intact, for you are all brought together by a common bond and have found sustenance and insight and inspiration through it. Our love for you binds each of you together with a unique intensity, but that is only part of what keeps you together.
Over the years you have experienced numerous events in the lives of others within the group. That sharing of experience is also a part of the continuity of life. The ties which unite all humankind run from one generation to another and within the same generation. What you experience in your group is the opportunity of relating to one another within the same time frame. There is much trust which needs to be exerted. Part of this trust is patience. Part of it is openness. Much of this trust is expressed by listening. God expects you to listen—to listen to God and to listen to one another. This listening is at the very center of your response to God and to another, but as we have said before, you have few opportunities to really listen.
Marriage certainly provides one opportunity to listen, for you cannot live with another in isolation. Marriage is one of experiencing and responding and listening and changing and growing. Although there is so much which is in a state of flux, the relationship still has within it the potential for permanence. Your relationship to one another in this group is also in a kind of flux, but it is that flexibility and the amount of time you have been together that provide the potential for stability. Your relationship to God also exists in a kind of flux. There are times when you are aware of God most intently, but there are times when God seems somehow distant. This flexibility in a relationship is perfectly normal.
You see your life at times within the framework of a relationship with God, but the nature of that relationship is not always clear. Must you assume an attitude of listening or waiting or asking or questioning? What is the nature of that relationship? What is the nature of your relationship to God at any point in your lives? All that one can say with certainty is that the relationship to God is always in a state of change and it is always constant.
Perhaps you feel that this is a kind of philosophical fence-sitting, but that is not so. It is perfectly normal for your perception of a relationship with God to be changing from day to day, from year to year. But despite the changes which take place, there is always a relationship. It is constant; it is never severed. Knowing what you know at this point in your lives, there is no way that you can act or think which is totally out of sight of some awareness that somehow God is present. You sense constancy in the relationship that no matter what you do, you are with God. The difficulty is in knowing the nature, the definition, of that relationship. You can always ask God about anything, anything that is of concern to you. If it is important enough to ask at all, it is important to ask it of God.
Your guides have been empowered to translate God’s response into a form recognizable by you, all of you. If you are concerned about a specific event or matter in your lives, you should feel free to address that specific issue in whatever terms you wish. There is nothing in your lives which is insignificant to God. Be it interpersonal relationships, help, career, money, emotions, whatever your concern, it is always appropriate to share with God. You are living a human life and therefore have human concerns. God’s response and our reflection of it are directed towards human perception. We do not tarry alongside your life is some detached manner, only concerned about spiritual truths as some may believe. Certainly our primary calling is towards spiritual growth, but whatever specifically is important to you holds within it the potential for spiritual growth, and therefore is of importance to God and to us.
Each of you approaches periods in your lives when you must make difficult choices. There are those who approach decisions with a kind of blind faith saying, “Whatever I do, it will be right because I know that God is with me.” There are others who express their faith through a more realistic approach saying, “If I ask to be open to God’s directing me, I will receive God’s help in making the right decision.”
There is a big difference between these two approaches. Although both acknowledge the presence of God, the second approach lays the responsibility upon the individual for choosing to be receptive. God does not simply pass out decisions to all who need help, whether asked for or not, for one of the powers belonging to human life is the ability to block out the beneficial help available from God. We do not say to block out God, but to block out the receptivity for God’s help. If you are ill and medical help is available, that help cannot be offered unless asked for. If you do not ask for it, it does not change the reality of the presence of help. It only blocks the opportunity for help to reach you.
And so it is with God and in facing decisions which are important to you. You must ask. It is in the asking that you enable yourselves to be open. It is more important to ask than it is to be concerned about how to ask. Too often excessive importance is placed on the how and thereby disillusionment frequently occurs because one tries to relate the specifics of a prayer, the how, to the perception of God’s response. If you pray, “God, which choice do I make, choice one or choice two?” and you do not hear a voice saying, “Choose number two,” you feel that somehow you have been left alone, that you have not received what you prayed for. In truth, however, even though you asked for a specific choice to be indicated, you were more importantly making yourself open to receive help, and that help always comes.
What is most important to remember here is that you are, all of you, close at hand to God—that you may live your lives by asking God for help; that you must turn to God for answers; that those answers come at their appointed time and are reflected through your expression of free will. It is a great joy to feel that you can choose freely among many alternatives and yet be assured of the means of making the appropriate choice, a choice which leads you with God in new and rewarding directions.
God is with each of you at this time when so many in the world think upon evidence of God’s presence in human form. The religious doctrines, which are so much a part of this time of year for so many, are ultimately unimportant, but by turning the awareness of much of humankind toward God, only good can come from this. All wars may not cease, but the potential for God’s response in the world is increased when the awareness of so many is turned to God.
We bless you with God’s love and surround you with our prayers now and always.
Amen.