July 8, 2014

• The soul’s evolution of insight is ongoing

• Guides serve for our growth and theirs

• Spirits experience joy

• Love is expressed through service

• Awareness of beauty affirms presence of guides

The God who creates and rules and comforts and inspires is with each of you. You grow in spirit as well as in body throughout life.

You spoke of the reality of those who are in your terms “failing,” for those who in their own way are preparing for a new kind of life. It is important to accept the truth that growth does not cease but does change in form. If you are aware of physical growth, you say you’re growing, but you must also acknowledge that when you grow in spirit, you are also growing. Even if physical strength, physical condition may decline, there i s no reason to suspect that growth ceases, for the growth that you all experience is really a growth that is continuous. The growth of spirit, even when not recognized, continues.

You learn through challenges, you learn through serving others, you learn through others who work on your behalf, but you learn most especially as you experience some form of love. That experience may not necessarily be labeled as love, but in the broader perspective, you are surrounded by a loving presence. Just as a plant grows through nourishment, each of you grows by merely being in the presence of love.

There’s no time in your lives when growth ceases, for growth really is insight, insight into the meaning of your lives, insight into what it means to receive love, insight into what it means to give love, but growth is always present in one form or another. Your lives are about growth. Our lives are about growth, yours and ours, each of you and each of us. So growth takes place whether in human form or merely in spirit, and there is always an evolution of insight by the soul.

Part of your experience in being present in these gatherings is the opportunity to learn, learn from each other, learn from us. That learning is a process that has many layers. Sometimes it is an aha moment when something is revealed that you have never before considered. Other times that learning is one of affirmation. At other times, that learning is one of being challenged because what you hear may be in dissonance with what you believe. Regardless of the exchange that takes place between you, the growth, the learning, the insight takes place.

Part of your growth is understanding that we, too, evolve in our depth, our perception, our heart vision. We serve as your guides for two purposes: your growth and ours. You evolve from what we share, but we evolve through our sharing. Even though in spirit form we do experience the emotion of joy, and it is with enormous joy that we are given the opportunity of serving you as your guides.

We use the term “serve” intentionally. We are not instructing you. We are serving you. There is a difference. If we merely instruct, we simply tell you, “This is what you must do. This is what you must believe.” But in serving you, it is our function above all to be supportive. Part of that support is instruction. Part of that support is just our presence in your lives.

You wonder how you can become more aware of our presence. Much of your awareness is connected to your need, your perceived need to be helped, helped spiritually, helped in life directions. It is in providing that help that we serve you. It’s important that you understand the primary function of service in our relationship to you because that is what you’re asked to do for one another. Instructing has a tone of superiority, of control, of dominance. Serving is the opposite. We serve you because we love you for who you are. We do not instruct you because of something you do not know. Therefore, our charge to all of you is to be of service to others, to find ways in your lives however they may be expressed to uphold, to lift, to support, to comfort, to guide, to inspire, to listen, to love. What is love if it is not an expression of service? You love and therefore serve. You do not love out of control or dominance or a sense of rightness. It is through service that you express the love that results from the connection of which we have spoken. But service is offered in several directions. You can serve others through your actions, through your prayers, through your presence. You can serve yourselves through self-acceptance, through self-patience, through a love of self, but you also can serve your guides.

How is it that you can be of service to us? It is that on which we wish to focus some of your thinking.

We have spoken of holding hands as a way of making a connection, holding hands figuratively or literally. But how do you hold hands with us? How do you take the step toward us which is similar to our taking a step toward you? Most importantly, you serve us, you reach out to us by your willingness to welcome our presence as an active participant in your lives. The recognition of guidance is not just at times like this when you are together.

The recognition of our presence in your life should belong to each day of your journey. It does not mean reserving time to remain in deep prayer on a daily basis, but it does mean opening your eyes to the beauty that exists around you, regardless of where you find yourselves. If you are in a place where there is enormous suffering physically, emotionally, there is also a beauty to be seen, and that beauty is the sacredness of all beings, the sacredness of all humans, the sacredness of all that is built by human effort, the sacredness of signs of nature, the sacredness of the air you breathe, the sacredness of the light that bathes your presence. Just as you can acknowledge the presence of God when you yourselves are suffering, so can you also acknowledge that beauty of God’s love when you are surrounded by others who are suffering in one way or another.

There is no environment that you can find yourselves in that has no beauty whatsoever. By acknowledging what is beautiful, what is evidence of God, you are serving us. You are affirming our presence. You do not have to hear our voice. You do not have to sense our voice. You do not have to see us, but by being always aware that there is beauty, you are affirming us. You are serving us. You are giving us purpose in your lives.

The person who is unaware of our presence as guides is nevertheless serving us by looking out and thinking only for a moment, “This is a creation of God.” In the middle of a fire there is evidence of God. There is light, there is heat, there is energy. All that is seen is part of what God has created. When there is illness, there is healing. When there is rain, there is light. When there is sadness, there exists also joy. Where you see what others describe as ugliness and pain, there is also beauty and redemption.

We are here to serve you, and it is only for you to welcome what is actually of beauty, and in so doing, you are connecting to us in an intentional way, for the connection we speak of is a connection that is not only operative in one direction. Connection is a kind of spiritual conversation. You cannot truly have a conversation with just yourselves. You can have your thoughts, but then you are conversing with those thoughts. There is an opportunity for you to interact with your thoughts, but there’s always a “with” that is a part of conversation. You become aware of us as you realize you are with us and we are with you.

We speak of opening the heart, of seeing with the heart. Make an effort to see us with your heart. Sometimes that vision provides a mere glimpse. At other times, the vision may seem merely overwhelming in its beauty. You look across the ocean. One person looks and sees water. Another looks and sees the sky. Another looks and concentrates on the horizon. Yet another looks and sees the nature of the waves or the motion of the current. Yet another contemplates what is beneath the surface, the life that teams with forms of existence that have yet to be discovered. All see differently, but all gaze upon the same scene.

We suggest that you gaze upon your daily lives exploring beyond what initi ally may overwhelm the senses, finding that limitless life beneath the surface of the water, the life of spirit, the life of our presence, the life of God’s light, God’s love. Find that beauty however you may define it. If it brings but a moment of joy, then there is a beauty to that vision. Seek therefore in all parts of your life each day some element that brings joy. It may be something you see with your eyes. It may be something that reminds you of a memory. But find that joy, for in doing so, you are inviting us into your lives so that we may truly serve you. Of course we work on your behalf with or without an invitation. But inviting us means that the connection between your guides and each of you is intensified, and you will be more conscious of being uplifted and supported and healed and warmed and blessed.

We bless you with joy of the heart, we bless you with joy in your vision, and we bless you in the efforts you make to invite us to serve your spirit.

Amen.