June 12, 2014

• Focusing on light eases burdens

• See yourself and all others as God

• Avoid giving energy to what is dark

• Names of guides

• Following your heart’s desire

God and the presence of All That Is surround each of you with light, a visual light and a spiritual sense of lightness. You are light. You are light that can be seen by us and others, but you are also light in the sense that you have the ability to be unburdened by what is of concern and known by each of you.

We have spoken so often of the spiritual, visual kind of light that is emitted from within, but we would like to talk about a lightness that is a relieving of burdens and concerns. Every human being is, in a sense, light. We could say here “light in weight”— light as a potential to being lifted up in joy and in gratitude. You are all often consumed by worries, anxieties, anger, frustrations, concerns of one kind or another, and this consumption with what weighs you down acts as a kind of wall separating you from one another and, because of each of you being part of what God is, separating you from a vision of God’s presence. You’re not being separated from its presence but by your vision. By concentrating on becoming light, you enable the burdens you feel to be relinquished so that you are more able to see with your heart God’s presence in another.

Take a moment, if you wish, to think about a person in your life who reflects what you perceive to be truly God. Find that person in your thoughts who acts as you would have God act. Everyone will find someone whose life is a direct expression of God. When you fully recognize that godly presence, it becomes easier to accept that such presence is not limited to only one but is actually part of all.

Just as you bring into your thoughts someone who is an embodiment of God’s presence, imagine someone in your life toward whom you feel the burden of tension. Find some aspect in that person that is an embodiment of God. Because all are an embodiment of God, all individuals have something about them that is God’s response.

One of the strongest burdens that human beings experience is the consequence of relationships, because difficult relationships create tension, and out of that tension can come fear and the mistrust of others, either as individuals or mistrust of their behavior, a consequence of their presence. By recognizing the godliness in others, those you admire and those you do not admire, it is easier to affirm your own godliness. Certainly you are aware of your own shortcomings, but that does not take away from the reality of your godliness. As you begin to accept your own godliness, the burdens that you experience become less significant, for you realize that nothing can fully overcome God’s presence, and therefore nothing can fully overcome that within which is God for each of you.

It is not easy to extricate yourselves from the concerns of day to day life. You are only too aware of the differences you feel between what you truly wish for and what you perceive to be. That distance makes all challenges more daunting. When you live your lives with a conviction that you are God, then you cannot give life to whatever may seem dark. You will then not give energy to that which is negative.

We speak of light as you perceive it as something seen, as having energy, and darkness being void of such energy. You do not want to provide energy to what is dark. You do not want to provide strength to that which is not affirming. You do not want to provide strength to whatever is contrary to the spirit and to the brilliance and warmth that is light. You do not want to give energy to what burdens you, but rather acknowledge the strength that lifts you up, provides lightness, buoyancy, affirmation, joy, faith, and most importantly love. That is where your energy must be directed.

We can urge and cajole you to think on the bright side of things, but making such statements does not empower you to take those steps. What empowers you is the heart’s vision. It is your ability to see in God all that is, to view what is godly in what is best that surrounds you and what seems least that surrounds you, for in so doing, you are able to more clearly see the God that you are. Your ability to overcome is directly related to your vision of God that is a part of who you are.

We underscore that you learn to be loving only by having first been loved. In the same light, you see yourselves as being God only through your recognition of others being God. In a sense, as you experience being loved, your commitment to being loving is a commitment to becoming fully the God that you already are, and it is that becoming that lifts the burden, that is, the becoming that makes you light, not heavy. Part of your recognition of being God is being connected as closely as possible to the reality of your guides.

The question arises, who are your guides? Who is your particular guide? How many guides do you have? Is it important to be able to identify them by name?

Names in themselves are not important. But for many, having a name to identify a guide is a means of feeling close in a personal way to that guide. There is no problem in knowing the name, but it is never essential for all. When we identify ourselves, that identity is given because of its need by the human/spirit blend. You may sometimes have a feel for the nature of your guide that may be sufficient to have a personal connection. For others, there is no such need. We reveal ourselves as it may have meaning to do so. Each of you is guided by many. Each of you has a primary guide, a guide with whom you can feel a direct connection. But the truth is, your primary guide, the guide you relate closely to, is accompanied by the guides of all whom you know who have joined us, all whom you love who have joined us. But you are also accompanied on your journey by the guides of other human beings who share your path.

Each of you, in your way, is part of the guidance for others. This is a segment of the connection that exists between you and everyone else. We say you are not separated from others. One of the reasons is that your spirit, the energy, the character, the godliness of your spirit, is part of the guidance of all other spirits. It is a kind of common ground that you share with everyone, whether or not they may be reflecting God directly. You are connected. You are connectedly spiritually, and because you are connected spiritually, there is a guidance that exists between you. Each individual, nevertheless, has a primary guide, and it is that guide that speaks to you in nudges or words or feelings, hunches. It is that guide that is most closely able to communicate easily when you are open to that communication.

The question of leadership direction of a church is important, but it is part of a broader issue, that being the leadership of nations, whether political entities or nations that are more spiritually identified. You have friends with whom you share life in which such sharing may be very different than the means by which you share lives with others. Some of that sharing is social. Some of that sharing is in worship. Some of that sharing is in a feeling of family. Some of that sharing is political, professional. There are many layers. And so it is with leadership, whether leadership in a church, leadership in another spiritual gathering. There is always the question of where do we go, where do we go from here, just as there is the question each of you asks yourself, “Where do I go? What do I do?”

The only advice that can be given is to concentrate on the heart, to concentrate on what is really important for a particular group. Every group has different objectives. Every religious gathering has its own identity, but it is being aware of that identity that becomes essential in determining its direction. Sometimes with a clear view of who you are, individually or collectively, you decide that is not what you want to pursue. You may decide that it had a purpose, and that purpose was fulfilled, and now you identify other directions that share a common commitment. First of all know who you are individually, collectively, and then examine whether that is a description of who you wish to be, what path you wish to take. Without knowing, as well as you can, who you are, you cannot effectively determine who you wish to be.

Part of your own personal growth is knowing where you may have strayed from that which you really wish to pursue. There is an honesty to that. It is essential, therefore, that such honesty always be pursued. You must know who you are, and then you must know who you wish to be, what you wish to be, where you wish to be. Knowing where you are and where you wish to be, you are better able to map a path that gets you where you want to go. It is the old saying of “know thyself.” You never will know yourself fully, but the process is important.

So embrace the effort to identify what is really important for you. It may or may not be shared by many others, but if it is an identification of your own objectives, you are more certain of pursuing the path that meets those objectives.

Your own guides are part of that path as they are a part of the path of others individually or collectively. We guide you because we love you. Feeling our love and knowing it, you can each become more loving. Recognize the God that you are a part of, and allow that recognition to lift your burden, to make you light so that the light that you create can illuminate the darkness and give life and expand love.

Rejoice in the light that you are and in the lightness that you can experience!

Amen.