July 1, 1998

• God is!

• Value the gift of life

• Human life is necessary to achieve union with God

• Reincarnation

Your God, Father and Mother of all that is, is with each of you. The relationship that exists between God and humankind is a very direct one. There are no secrets about that relationship. There are only those who refuse to believe.

God is! God is! We shout it with the strength of our spiritual beings. If only humanity were empowered to hear those repeated statements, how much more peaceful and joyful human life would be. But if all humans recognized that God is, then much of the purpose of human life would be diminished. It is up to you who believe to proclaim that fact through your interactions with all.

By proclaiming the simple fact that God is, you are acknowledging the basic single truth that underlies everything that has been or ever will be created. Such proclamation is not necessarily to be done by standing in front of others, pounding a fist on a table, and shouting, "God is!" It is more powerfully proclaimed through your collective expression of life. It is how you live that proclaims "God is!" Words will never fully work, for there are those who will always say, "Ah, but those are only words. How do we know?" The way you know is through experience. You can have faith or belief in something, but fully knowing it is the result of experience. It may be faith that leads you toward those experiences, but it is the experience itself that affirms the reality of God.

How are others to experience God beyond the actions of human beings? There really is no concrete way. It is how you, individually, collectively respond to your fellow humans that gives the strongest evidence that God is. Forget the words; emphasize the action. That action may be what you do. It may be the attitude that you take. It may be the prayers that are offered. It may be your quiet presence. All of those are actions, but it is those actions that give evidence that God is.

If you experience God's presence through others, you are then willing to take the leap of being a part of that presence yourselves. You are empowered to act in a godly manner. You are empowered to become the hand and arm and voice of God. Once you have internalized this acceptance of God as a real entity, as a real power, as a real influence, then you are more able to accept what it is you experience in your own lives as being evidence that God is always nigh. When you are rocked by tragedy, when you are shaken by events that take place in the wider world or in your most personal world, you will experience all of those events within the context of God's presence. The events are not changed, but the terror and fear and tragedy are significantly lessened.

When one is informed of the imminence of mortality, when one is reminded of the shortness of life, that may be taken in a much more positive light than limiting oneself to a loss. Such events can be interpreted also as opportunities—opportunities for more appreciation of what is good and beautiful, what is meaningful and fulfilling and life- enriching. You do not have to have a short life to appreciate its beauty and value, but sometimes a life that is made brief is given the insight to appreciate such beauty. That person is blessed by a special insight into the value of life, not taking it for granted, avoiding anger, and relishing in the joy and energy of the experience. The value of one's life is not measured by its length but by its content.

A life lived fully is a life lived with a view of God. A life experienced through the eyes of faith, of shared human dignity, a life lived through the affirmation of all in creation is a rich life. Such a life is a full life in every measure.

The life you have been given is indeed a gift. You do not "deserve" life; you do not "merit" life. It is not something you earn. It is something you are given. Recognizing the beauty of the gift affirms the importance and appreciation and sensitivity toward the Giver. The gift is a way of connecting the receiver to the Giver. Your experience of life, therefore, is a means of connecting you to the Giver of Life. When you are so connected, when you are sensitive to the presence of the Giver, the gift grows in value.

If you find an item in the street that was left, and there is no one to claim it, the item may have interest and value to you, but its importance and significance is considerably less than if that item had been given to you by someone whom you loved and who loved you. The gift, in that case, is a reminder of the giver. It is a symbol of the giver's care for you. So it is with life. Life is a reminder of the Giver. It is a reminder of God.

Even the negative experiences in life are a reminder of God, for those negative experiences hold with them the potential for much growth as you overcome them. That is their purpose. Unfortunate events happen to all people. It isn't the event that counts, but rather your response to that event. It is the response which gives meaning to your lives and depth to your spiritual growth.

Your sense of who you are is given meaning because of and through the receipt of the gift. When you are given a gift, you feel affirmed, you feel valued, you feel loved. You feel the friendship. You are being affirmed through the gift, but you are being affirmed not because you have received something, but because you have been given something. Finding that stray item on the street that you may be interested in having might create pleasure, but it is hardly affirming as an experience. Producing joy? Perhaps. Producing wonder? Perhaps. Curiosity? Perhaps. Rekindling memories? Perhaps, but it is never affirming. It is only when that item has been given intentionally to you that affirmation takes place. It is only in the recognition that life has been given to each of you that affirmation of the value of life takes place, that affirmation of the presence of the Giver takes place. It is a gift far beyond mere acquisition.

Your lives must therefore always be considered gifts. You accept the gift, you grow with it, make the best of it that you can, but you always remember the Giver, for it is in that memory that you are affirmed. It is in that memory that your lives obtain meaning, have significance, have purpose and direction. Whenever you experience frustrations, agony, anxiety, loss, sorrow, remember that this is all part of the gift of life, the gift from God. You are given this gift because it contains within it the only opportunities you have to grow in certain ways spiritually.

We again confirm the reality of multiple lives for some souls. Not all are reincarnated, for not all need to be. If the need is there, the soul will again experience human form. If the need is not there, the soul moves on to another spiritual sphere. It is only in your living the gift from God that you are ultimately brought to a total union with God. Such union cannot be achieved without human life. So the gift, in a sense, is not offered idly. It is offered by God as a necessity, because it is through that gift that you are drawn toward the light and strength and comfort of God. You must therefore embrace the gift of life, appreciate it on a daily basis, and let your lives remind you of the presence of the Giver. Recognizing that presence, you will be more able to appreciate the beauty of the gift.

We accept your prayers with gratitude, and we offer our prayers for your continued growth and the continued deepening of your human lives. We are here, serving as messengers of God, a God for everyone, not just Christians or Jews or Muslims or any other religious belief. It is God who reaches out with the gift of life to all humankind. And because each of you has received that gift, each of you must acknowledge your shared equality, for the gift that you all receive comes from the same Giver and is given for the same purpose.

Our prayers are for your continued growth. We are constantly by your side, and we respond to your prayers—prayers of need, prayers of thanksgiving. Rejoice in the gift you have been given, and be joyful with your knowledge of the constant presence of the Giver.

We bless you in the name of the Giver through the language of the gift.

Amen.