October 30, 2008

• Seeking peace or healing is seeking balance

• Take time to listen

• The upcoming election

God speaks to each of you. God speaks to each of us. God speaks to all that is part of creation. When God speaks, it is not merely through words. God speaks through the emotions, the heart, the soul. Each of you hears God as you will hear. Each feels God as you will feel. God communicates to every being, and every being is blessed with an ability to hear that voice, to feel that warmth, to know that love.

Every day you must find a moment when you can listen. You must find a moment of quiet. It does not have to be of great length, but in doing so, find that place in your awareness that is peaceful. You can be alongside many activities. You may hear lots of noise. You may hear many voices. But despite those distractions, there is a place in the lives of each of you that is the full embodiment of peace, that is your bridge, your connection to us. It is your connection to God, and as you have referred to in your gathering, it is intentional. You are not sacrificing your productivity, your goal orientation. You are not forgetting the concerns or the sense of urgency or impatience or anger that impact your awareness, but you are allowing the reality of that peaceful space to take a place at the table of life.

The natural direction of all forces is balance. Seeking peace is seeking balance. For you to achieve a level of that balance, you must constantly be reminded of its reality. Peace, the balance that is so important, is actually present for everyone. When you connect to that reality, you are more able to allow that presence to dominate your route on your own spiritual path. Bringing your awareness of that place of peace each day to the table is a reminder that that sense of peace, that condition of balance, can be achieved. That peace does not mean the absence of conflict, but it is the foundation that you can attach yourselves to that allows the distractions of life to exist without dragging you in one direction or another. It is a kind of anchor. For a ship to drop anchor, it must be clear the anchor exists, and it must be found, it must be identified.

You all seek balance in your lives, but you often do not seek evidence of that peaceful presence and you go about responding, reacting in ways that are detrimental —detrimental to the mind and the body. How do you find this space? Is it a matter of remembering a moment when all seemed right in the world and there were no conflicts in your lives? No. The place that you find the peace you seek is a momentary acknowledgment, a full commitment that recognizes the strength and guidance that is God. When you feel lost somehow, you must bring your thoughts to a recognition that you are not lost, that God does exist, that God does provide balance, that God does give hope, that God is the center of faith. Find opportunities in which you have observed that peace, that sense of balance as an affirmation of God, but most importantly when your vision is clouded by fear and anxiety or illness or any affliction, it may be difficult to bring to an awareness those moments of balance. Therefore, turn your attention to what is here, to what is now, and the reality of your faith in God’s belonging to your here and now.

You’re asked to live in faith. You’re not expected to live in knowledge, for no knowledge is complete, but you can always have faith. You can always believe there is a reality that exists beyond your knowledge of it. To find that balance, ask yourself for a moment what you choose to have faith in. Find an answer to that question, if only for that day. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Do not be concerned about next year or next week. Be occupied with what you believe now. Maybe you can only say you believe that God created the universe. That is enough, for if you believe in that creative reality, then you can proceed knowing that you are a part of what God created. That’s a faith, a belief that is not rooted in facts, in proofs, but rather is confirmed only in the heart.

You’re given life to have faith. You are not given life to know all.

You’re given life for insight. You are not given life for perfect vision.

You’re given life to grow. You are not given life to be perfect.

You’re given life to learn to be loving. You are not given life to become love.

The vision of God each day is a simple vision. You cannot seek a view that solves the questions of all that life presents you. Seek only the moment. It is all you have. The past is a memory. The past is another type of energy, but in truth you live each moment. You live each day, and if each day you can find an affirmation of your faith, then your whole life becomes the affirmation of the day.

We know your concerns about the future of your nation’s leadership. We know of your concerns about the impact of the decisions that will be made shortly on the rest of the world. You can become overwhelmed by a sense of fear and helplessness, a sense that no matter what you may want, it is possible that what happens is what you dread. These are overwhelming concerns that do not clearly address the matters of spirit, but if you go through every day seeking a connection, however simple, with God, you can then have faith that God’s will shall play itself out in the way that is intended.

No one can shape the world, but you can shape your own lives, and in shaping your own lives, you are shaping your own reality, you are creating it, you are helping it grow. That is all you can do. You are therefore very powerful because each of you has potential to create your own lives, and it is those lives collectively that become the world. You have an impact, but it is not to change the world—it is to change your own lives. The center for that change is the balance that you bring to the table of everyday life. This balance, this peace, is not merely political or economic or social. It’s peace within the body itself, for what is illness but a kind of imbalance? You pray for balance and whatever happens is a result of the balance, for balance is achieved. If you are ill and you pray for healing, you are praying for balance. You are praying for a peace that is a human, physical peace, but it’s also most importantly and most permanently a spiritual peace. The spirit does impact all. Your thoughts, your emotions impact everything. They impact your physical bodies. They impact your relationships. They impact your perception.

The physical life of every human being evolves, transforms, changes. Life is change. Life is growth, but these changes, the growth that takes place, are on many levels. When one feels an imbalance in one component of life, one is always aware of what part of life represents balance.

When you are aware of changes in the human condition, you are also given an awareness of your connection to God. You are given an awareness of what is balance. You are given an awareness of where peace resides. The presence of that peace, as we have said, does not negate the distractions, does not eliminate fears, discomfort, anxieties, depression, but it provides that bridge to God. You do not have to be dealing with human ailments of a physical nature to be reminded of God. Those distractions that are emotional, mental distractions, can also serve as a reminder. Problems with relationships provide a view if you seek that view of balance, of peace.

When you encounter challenging moments each day, first seek the peace and you will be guided on your path. You will be led where you must go. You will make appropriate decisions. You will take actions which are important for your growth. These may be actions you determine to be successful or they may be actions that are not, but each of those actions will contribute to your growth. It is that place of peace that shows you this is the path.

For some, a brief acknowledgment of that path is achieved just before awakening. For others, it is before falling asleep. This awareness need not take place at such transition points in your daily routine, but it is often easier to recognize when the distractions of the day are more distant. It is for this reason people seek meditation skills, study yoga, study other forms of focusing the mind. When such is done, the vision is illuminated, and you see for a moment God’s hand in yours. It is a moment such as those and such as you are in this moment experiencing when you are aware of your own guides. You are aware of another form of life that is loving, that is caring, that is affirmative. Your worries may not disappear, but the peace that you seek is at the table.

Enjoy the feast of peace! Enjoy the vision that you experience. Enjoy the love that you feel, the warmth of the spirit. It may be very brief, but each of you is capable of finding that place every day. Seek it, cherish it, hold it close to the heart, and you will never feel fully in the darkness. You will never feel lost. You will never feel separated from your God.

We pray for your ability to capture a glimpse of peace. We pray for your faith in the reality of balance, and we pray for your glimpse of God’s hand in yours.

Amen.