May 24, 2018

• Chief guide and relatives in circle of guides

• Only positive energy transitions to life in spirit

• Challenges provide opportunities for growth

• Guides desire to expand humans’ perceptions

• Standing up for what you believe

• The gap in relationships

God joins your hands together in a circle whose dimensions far exceed what you are aware of with your own senses, for your circle, your gathering, is accompanied by countless guides. All of your guides are together, but one speaks, strengthened by the presence of all other guides and above all, the presence of God.

The question was raised about the function of family members within the circle of your guides. We can say with absolute authority that you are surrounded in part by the spirits of all who have loved you. You are also surrounded by the spirits of all who have known you. That circle is expanded by the presence of all guides who are engaged in the matters of your individual and collective spiritual growth, many of whom have not had personal contact in human form with you in your current life. This circle of guides is enormous.

All human beings have their own individual needs, their own individual spiritual pathways, and they are guided whether they know it or not, specifically by guides whose commitments are shared with those of particular needs. As you grow in human life, some of those spiritual needs that have not yet fully been achieved will go through a kind of metamorphosis. Those needs are altered, refined, and redirected, and with those changes also come new guides.

Every individual who has ever lived and every individual who shall live will be accompanied by a chief guide. It is one guide who responds to the needs of the individual as they are known by the collection of guides surrounding that person’s life. In a way, your guides are considered a kind of network. Each of us is aware of the other. Each of us is sensitive to the insights of all other guides connected to your individual lives. It is not merely one guide for one person, and that’s it. It is indeed a very broad circle of spiritual guides that are with you and accompany your lives and help provide assistance and insight.

For many of us, we are associated with human beings who are totally unaware of our existence. But that is never a deterrent to our dedication to shaping your lives and bringing you in your own individual ways into the Light that is a recognition of God and life.

You wonder about relatives in your family. Do they serve as a chief guide, or what kind of influence might they have in your lives? We can say that this is not a matter of policy, as you would say. It isn’t in all cases that your principal guide is directly related to you, and yet those who are related to you are part of this network of support. They do know of your love for them. They do know of conflicts that arose during their relationships with you, but conflicts between people are not conflicts of the spirit. Just as we urge you to see beyond your current understanding of others, we also assure you that those who have joined our spiritual circle are in no way hampered in their love for you despite relationships that could be characterized as less than loving.

We say that we do not have a full view, a complete understanding of God. We say that for us there is also mystery between where we are and a full understanding of God, but despite that gulf that exists in our awareness of God’s infinity, we do fully bridge the gap between us and you. There is nothing in your past or our past that can weaken our commitment as a collection of guides to your spiritual growth. You are benefitted by all guides. You hear from one, but what you hear is not the thoughts and perspectives of a single guide, but the collective spiritual strength and insight of all the guides that surround you on your path.

When a spirit joins us initially, there is often a direct connection that is felt to those left behind, but as that spirit grows in the Light, the connection is not one of belonging to the human beings left behind but rather enhancement of those left behind. So yes, there is a connection. Yes, that connection persists, and that connection is only a loving one. For many human beings, the loving relationship between one and another who has joined our life has been estranged, but that estrangement no longer exists for us.

One of the big differences between our lives and your lives is that there is no barrier for us that separates our love from you. We say that there is nothing that separates God’s love from you, but we are a part of that love of God, and all of us find ourselves embracing all we knew, all people, all relationships. There is no relationship among your guides that is in any way jealous or vindictive or critical or judgmental in any form, for one of the key realities that every spirit who joins us experiences is that there is only acceptance, love, support, and peaceful presence. There is nothing that in human terms could be interpreted as negative. When you join us in spiritual living, all the negative energy is left behind, and you are only surrounded by what is good, and that goodness is reflected back on your lives.

Certainly, to put it in the vernacular, “bad things happen to good people,” but when such events occur, they are not in a vacuum void of God’s loving presence. They are not in a vacuum void of our presence. Human lives are human lives. They are at times messy, painful, vindictive, or characterized by what many of you identify as being unproductive. That is part of the human experience. Dealing with that is part of the spiritual journey. What happens to you in specific terms is much less important than how you respond. You grow in your response. Certainly, if you are not challenged, you are not tested so to speak, there is little space for growth, for growth is achieved as you encounter what you perceive to be unknown or unjust or unfair.

You experience the anger of others, and in that experiencing you can either respond with equal anger or you can respond with greater sensitivity to what another is saying or doing. Behavior does not occur spontaneously without a source, without a wellspring that gives it energy. Behaviors that you cannot condone are behaviors that you are aware of and yet you may not be aware of the wellspring from which those behaviors arise.

It was questioned whether it is right to stand up and commit yourselves to speaking out against what you feel is unjust or unjustified. Yes, your response to life around you is part of your commitment to life around you. Standing up for what you believe in is an essential component to that commitment, but standing for what you believe in does not imply that you have the only view of what is right. It also does not imply that what you view to be right now is a permanent, unchanging yardstick that judges for eternity what is right and what is not right. Your response to what you feel to be wrong can only be based on your own understandings at the moment.

If you accept that your understandings are not one hundred percent clearly understood, perceived, or believed in, then you can object to an approach or an idea while holding out the possibility that your objections, responses, or engagements are offered with less than full knowledge. With such acceptance comes the ability to ultimately apologize if you believe that you were incorrect.

There are few absolute truths, and yet the truths that are believed to be absolute are legion in their scope. The changes that are the mystery we spoke of, the changes that are the gift of God, are given energy by your willingness to accept that your own perceptions in the future may not necessarily be your current perceptions. Perceptions always evolve.

Listen to a child complaining about a friend. That child’s complaint may seem fully justified, and yet from your perspective the objections that were expressed by the child are based not in fact but only perception of fact. Part of the responsibility of being a parent is helping the child to broaden the field of perception. Part of our responsibility as your guides is to broaden your spiritual perception. Just as adults wish to expand the understanding of children, it is our wish to expand your understanding of what is permanent, what is spiritual, what is truly God-centered. It is in that expanded perception that you can come to a place of greater peace.

You wonder about accommodating fear in your lives at whatever level you may identify it. The power of fear is fed by the presence of uncertainty. You fear what you do not know. Your expectations often are directed toward the worst outcomes that you can imagine, whether they are doing something wrong, others doing something wrong, making an improper decision, or others taking on positions that are unwise. But as your perceptions of others expand, as your perceptions of events and the many layers that accompany those events expands, the fear, anxiety, and level of uncertainty is diminished.

It is very easy for us to say that what is important or permanent is the spirit and nothing else matters. From your perspective, it is often the case that what truly matters is all that is unrelated to spirit. What truly matters is the now; it is not the forever. Understanding more of what is permanent and the power of spirit provides a context for the now that in its own way reduces what causes fear, worry, or anxiety. Those negative experiences that you identify as fear or worry or anxiety are very much a part of what it means to be human beings, for it is in your grappling with those issues that you are stronger, and you do develop a richer perspective that lessens the effect of the fear and anxiety.

Our relationship to you is not unlike your relationship to life around you. We see what is permanent in each of you, your spirit. You cannot see what is permanent in everyone’s life around you, and yet if you acknowledge that there is nevertheless that spark of spirit in everyone, then you are more willing to embrace that gap, to embrace the mystery, to embrace the reality that there is something that is motivating another’s actions, another’s perspective.

Think for a moment of how others react to you. You stand for what you believe, but if another does not see what you believe as being valid, then you are judged to being naïve or wrongheaded or out of touch. But that is not how you view yourself. You view yourself as being reasonable, rational, and wise to a point. The other does not see that part of you. The other only sees what you stand up for and say to be your perception of the truth. Without experiencing your own experiences, the other cannot come to the conclusions you come to.

This gap in relationships therefore is seen from both sides. This holds true for individuals, communities, political parties, ideologies, and religions. When you do not approach an issue in the shoes of another, it is very difficult for you to appreciate the journey that the other is on. There is the mystery. That is what needs to be embraced. It does not mean you cannot stand up and say what you believe. It does not mean you cannot stand up and correct the wrongs you feel must be corrected, for both the wrongs and how the wrongs can be corrected are viewed through your eyes, in your experiences, your learnings. The beliefs and actions of others are going to be expressed according to their own journeys.

This gap, this mystery, this dynamic is constantly changing, and yet your guides are with you to help that change enhance your life and the lives of others. The changes that are encountered are changes that broaden the perspective you have of God, that broaden the perspective of guides in your lives, that broaden your willingness to open the heart to being receptive, to listening to others, to being committed to finding out more about another’s perspective. That commitment to reaching across the mystery, across the gap, is your response. It is your reaching outward. It is your process of change. It is your reflection of a God that encourages change, encourages growth, encourages the expression of love in whatever form is deemed appropriate.

We see your energy as colors as we have described them. Each individual has an aura of colors. The fact that you cannot necessarily see those colors does not mean that there are none present. Be willing, therefore, to reach out whenever possible. Be willing to accept your own limitations. Be willing to accept those opportunities for change as they occur. Be willing to accept the reality of a collection of guides that far exceeds what you can imagine.

You are loved because you are part of God’s creation. Find ways of acknowledging that all others deserve to be loved. They do not deserve to be agreed with all the time, but they do deserve to be loved. You hope that others will love you for who you are and not be cast aside for who you aren’t. You do not wish to be judged in terms of your value based on another’s perspective. You wish to be given value for your own perspectives.

It is the same in your relationship with all others. Disagree? Yes. Discredit? No. By disagreeing you show that you care. You show that you have a belief, and in your expression of your own perspective, always remember that an important part of perspective is that it does change.

Embrace that change. You’re embracing that mystery. You’re not crossing the chasm completely, but you are moving the unknown ever more closely to the known. You are removing fear and finding ways of grabbing that stone of comfort.

We, all of your guides, all of the guides who are constantly with you, surround you, embrace you, and illuminate you with the love of God’s Light.

Amen.