September 18, 2006

• More on the river of God/Love

• Letting go and letting God

God joins each of you, hand in hand, heart in heart. You are given life as you are given each other. All that you experience can be seen as gifts coming out of the loving presence, the river we referred to, that is God.

You are given your lives in the hope and expectation that your lives provide a spiritual context that nurtures the soul, that educates the soul, that provides a perspective of what love can become for the soul. Yes, you are all to grow, you are all to evolve in your abilities to be loving, but these abilities are for the primary reason of enriching the life of the soul. The soul, as you all know, is what is permanent, but the state of that soul is in constant change. It is a change that is provided through attachment to human life. You are given lives therefore to nurture the spirit, and the spirit is attached to your lives to provide context, meaning significance.

Every stone in the river of love that is God experiences what life would bring to it. There are no human beings who are sheltered from the experiences of life that are brought to them in the loving current that is God’s presence for you. Everything that occurs in life is a part of that river. If we return to the analogy of your lives as being the stones in the river that are shaped by the river, it is important to acknowledge that every stone in the river is confronted by all that is the river. In the springtime, the river flows with great force and that exerts an influence on the stone. In the winter, the river may freeze and that ice will in turn exert influence on the stone. Everything that is moved by the river has an influence on the stone.

It is just so with your lives. You are influenced by all in the river of life. You are influenced by what is easy. You are influenced by what is challenging. You are influenced by what is seen to be destructive. All has influence that comes your way.

You ask about “let go and let God,” and you ask for clarification. “Letting go and letting God” means accepting the necessity of all that belongs to that river of life and the presence of God. It does not mean that you must like all that is brought your way, but rather that you accept the importance of all that belongs to your life. Nothing in your life is predetermined. You have the choice in how you will accept what you encounter. “Letting God” means allowing God’s presence to be felt in what you may experience. It does not mean ignoring what life brings. When you let go, you are freeing yourselves. You are separating yourselves from a dependency on what happens.

Life brings good and positive. Life brings what is painful and destructive. You are not asked to ignore those elements of your life experience, but you are asked by God to accept that such as occurs that may not affirm life belongs to the entire tapestry of all that life means. When something of ill effect upon you occurs, you can choose to be limited by that. You can choose to be defeated by that. You can choose to feel wholly lost, but you can also choose to say to yourself, “I look for God, and that is all. I look for God.” If you commit yourself to looking for God, you may not see it clearly through the debris, but you may find a vision of God in your response to what is negative. Taking something that is negative and ultimately feeling grateful for an opportunity that is made available to you is what is behind “letting go.” You are never asked to be passive, but you are always told that being receptive and not doing, still belongs to the general course of human spiritual development.

You are presented with challenges, you are shaped by those challenges, and if you accept the value of being shaped when confronting what is difficult and upsetting, you are letting go. You are allowing the vulnerability of which we often speak. Letting go is a part of vulnerability. Letting go is a willingness to place events upon the stage of life as belonging there. It is not for you to restrict your own experience of life; rather, you are encouraged to embrace what life provides and to turn what may be necessary into a deeper understanding of the Spirit Center for each of you, God.

You are letting God when you let God’s revelation become apparent in your own awareness. Letting God is not telling God. Letting God is being open to what God provides, whatever the shape of that gift. Letting go and letting God does not mean always to turn your cheek and maybe be hit once again. Letting God implies a commitment by you to action. You are accepting the necessity of letting God be a part of your own response, rather than assuming your responsibility personally to right what may not be right. God never requires that you act alone; rather, God requires that you act with God. That is the choice. When you let God, you continue to be active, but you allow God to enter that activity.

You are not responsible for everything to be perfect. You are not responsible for making another faultless. You are not responsible for expecting another or yourself to act in a way consonant with your perception of God, for no one lives without fault. No one is the embodiment of a perfect life, and therefore no one can require the perfect life of another. No one can require a natural rhythm in the environment that is absolutely without the influence of anyone. If it were the natural course of human life that human beings stayed well aware of what is appropriate for life’s environment and yet did nothing, there would be no growth. You are to be aware and you are to act. You are to be a part of your environment, but how you engage in life must be shaped by your understanding of God.

Letting go means removing your own priorities. Letting God means inviting God to be your priority. The action remains yours to take. Letting God never implies inaction, a lack of caring, a lack of concern. You do not close the door of your life to the friction that is surrounding you. That door is always open and must be kept so. But the resolution of concerns, whether they are of health, of peace, personal reconciliation, the resolution belongs to one who brings God to the table. It is an exercise of responsibility to allow God to accompany your efforts.

It is not for you to make the final determination of what is right and what is wrong. You are not the final judge, but you are part of the process. You are a means by which God interacts with your lives. Letting go relinquishes that sense of self-responsibility that is a soul responsibility. Letting God allows a self-responsibility to become a conjoined responsibility between self and God. If you feel motivated to act on behalf of another, such motivation does not come from what you want for another. It comes from an understanding of what you believe God would wish and your actions then reflect that understanding. Letting go and letting God are not in truth so difficult to comprehend, because you are inviting God to accompany your response. It is a joint effort always in human form to combine your sense of commitment with God’s infinite vision.

Our prayers are always for your vision. Our prayers are always for your ability to remove the dominance of self and to allow for the preeminence of God. By turning your own objectives into desires that you believe reflect God, you are then being directed in an appropriate manner. But when you feel your priorities must prevail because they are what you want, you can be assured that those objectives are not appropriate.

Is it hard to understand God? Of course, but that still allows for your efforts. Each of you must always seek the wisdom of God. You must always seek guidance, a sense of clarity, a vision of what is appropriate. The blessing that each one of you shares is a blessing of knowledge that God is, and that you are a part of what is. You share the reality of God through your understanding of what is. When that understanding encompasses and embraces another human being, then you are always assured that you are being guided toward the appropriate objectives.

Your lives are enriched through your own visions. Your lives are given character through these visions. Your lives belong in the river of God. Your lives are continually surrounded by a host of your loving guides. When you turn to us at moments like these, your hearts are open and you will be given strength, you will be given insight, you will have the vision that is necessary to let go and let God. Believe in your ability to distinguish which are your goals and which are God’s goals working through you. When you fully understand, at whatever level, what God’s goals must be, your vision will be cloudless. You will know immediately how to interact with all that comes to you in the river of God’s presence and love.

Acknowledge your blessings. In the midst of pain, acknowledge what is healing. Acknowledge what is good. Acknowledge what affirms. Acknowledge all that is loving. Acknowledge your own potential to be loving, to shape the river by your very presence.

Amen.