February 28, 1986

• Guides learn as well as teach

• Teach others by your example

• Perception of God as one who intercedes leads to disappointment

God continues to surround each of your souls with an abundant light of great warmth and love.

Your guides are always gathered as a group when you meet together. In so doing each of us learns much about you. It is a welcome time for us, for it is when you are gathered that our function as students is changed to being teachers. We are always your guides whether we are students or teachers, but our lot in life, as you might say, is first of all to learn because in learning we grow. That continued growth provides us with a means of being more effective guides, thereby giving your lives greater meaning and direction. We emphasize at this point our lives as students, for as you have already acknowledged, spiritual growth comes with learning. It is deepened through its application by giving, by teaching. But it is first acquired through the act of learning.

Your lives may also be characterized by such categories as either learning or teaching. When you work on projects, whether of long term duration or merely brief efforts, you are learning—you are learning about the project. When you interact with others, you are learning about others. When you meet as a group, you are learning about God. When you work within a group, you are learning what it means to work in that capacity. You are learning about that issue which occupies that group. When you care for another, you are learning about what is important to another.

Teaching is merely the application, the exercise of what is being learned. You teach others around you through your actions. So often we have said that all that you have learned is meaningless unless it is applied. We might put it another way and say all that is learned is meaningless unless it is taught, for your application of your understanding of God is a kind of teaching. You have within you the potential for reflecting God. How you reflect your knowledge of God is transmitted to others. Others may learn of God by what you do. That is in effect teaching about God.

It is not always easy to explain to another why God allows events to occur. Many events cannot be explained as being allowed by God. One can only say it is overseen by God, and an event takes place within the view, within the care, within the love and light of God. How do you teach this awareness, this understanding, this concept to another? The only way you can effectively teach another about God is through the example of how you react to life around you. If your reaction is one of confusion, bewilderment, discouragement, bitterness, anger, jealousy, defensiveness, it does not recognize the presence of God within your life. But if your reaction is one of compassion, acceptance, nonjudgment, love and inner peace, then such a response is recognized by another as going beyond the normal human reaction, and with some thought it is recognized that there is some inner strength going beyond what is expected. This is the way one teaches about God—how God is present, what God means to you.

You cannot each know the answers fully to such questions as to why there is such suffering when God is omnipotent. No human can grasp the dimensions of such an answer. Indeed even we in the next plane of development are unable in all cases to relate the presence of God to a particular action in question. That we must also learn. Such learning takes much time. Truly it takes many life times. Successive lifetimes may be in human form or spiritual form or a combination. But there is much you can learn in your stage of development. Each of you who approach concerns about God’s presence in all that you do must come to the point in your lives when you accept this reality that beyond the present you have no understanding, but that it will be made known to you in the future.

We speak to you often about faith. Faith involves an acceptance of what cannot be seen or proven. If all that you ask about God or all that is asked you about God were readily answered, there would be no need for faith. Your soul grows through the exercise of faith as much as it grows through the exercise of love. You must learn to be more willing to accept faith, just as you are growing to accept love—love offered and love received. Faith is somewhat different than love. You cannot offer faith to another. You can encourage it, but faith must be acted on individually. Faith is a large leap that you take—not what someone offers. You may be inspired by someone who exercises faith, and in turn you may be an inspiration to another to exercise faith. But ultimately faith must be exercised by the individual. It is a personal journey. It is a necessary aspect of your lives that some of what you do is done through faith, through a confidence that everything is included in the view and love and warmth of God.

If your perception of God is in one who intercedes constantly, who takes action and steps in, then your lives will be riddled with many disappointments. But if you see God as one who can provide you with the strength, the insight, and the peace to endure and move ahead and grow, you will never be disappointed. It is that perception of God which encourages you to live by faith when your vision is inadequate. Those who live by faith truly do not assume that no matter what happens, God will change it all around and make everything perfect. They live rather with the conviction that they are empowered to grow and learn from the experience, to endure, to surmount the obstacles, to become stronger. Those individuals have been given that gift by God.

The ability to endure and move forward therefore is a function of individuals because of what has been given to them. If there is any intercession within an issue, it is the individual who steps in as the hand of God. It is not the individual sitting on the sideline watching God come down to take over. Ultimately it is you as individuals who bring God’s power and influence to bear in the world. It is not God alone. It is you who act; it is God who inspires.

As you proceed through your lives, we pray that you will be sensitive to the inspiration, the gift of strength and love and compassion that God has given, and that you will have the wisdom to act with that knowledge.

We pray for the peace which you all seek. We pray for the insight and wisdom that you seek. We pray that your souls may be sensitive to God’s constant presence.

We are with you always and surround you with love and peace. Rejoice in your connectedness with God! It is indeed a blessing for all.

Amen.