Be willing to listen.

March 3, 2003

You are each comforted through your coming to God. You are given peace through your coming to God. You are given comfort through your coming to God. It is you, individually and collectively, who are open to the comfort and the peace that you seek, for God is always a source of strength and renewal, warmth, love. It is only for you, for all beings, to come to the table, to the presence, to the light, to the strength that is God. 

There is fear in the world, but in its deepest sense it is a fear of somehow being left out, left behind, forgotten, “dropped” as it were, rather than being carried forward and empowered. It is a fear of being lost. Society can often provide an environment within which you may feel lost. You may be in such a position when you see others suffer, when you feel you cannot help, when you feel powerless to reach out. You may feel lost when you experience your own suffering, for somehow you may believe that you are out from under the protective, loving umbrella of God’s caring love. You may be fearful when you are in transition from life as you know it to life as we experience it. The condition of fear is universal. The antidote, the response to fear, ultimately is the awareness of being loved. All wish to be loved; all fear being abandoned. 

When individuals wage war, it is waged because of fear. When someone who is in life transition wishes not to be alone, it is through fear. When you experience anger, it is aroused because of fear—fear of being misunderstood, fear that perhaps one may actually be wrong. Jealousy, anxiety, depression—each manifests fear. When you experience great joy, you are at that moment relieved of fearful thoughts. Even the most confident of individuals have a fear of what failure, as they define it, may mean. 

In our plane of life, there is no fear. On your plane of life, there is no one who is perpetually free of fear. Fear, then, takes many roles in life. It is through the experiencing of fear, regardless of kind, that you are given the opportunity to grow in faith, for faith leads you beyond fear. Faith transcends fear. 

Likewise, the sharing of faith transcends and overcomes the experience of fear. By sharing one’s faith, one’s love with another who is in transition between life and Life, you are giving hope, you are giving light, you are giving spiritual presence that is undeniable. Being with those in transition and sharing in a loving manner, verbally and nonverbally, is the greatest blessing you are empowered to give to another. It is a gift that transcends differences, transcends the ages, transcends fear, transcends pain. The gift of loving support gives light to the transition. It illuminates the soul. It energizes the spiritual entity that is permanent for all. 

But in being present, the individual whom you support is only one part of the benefit of the experience. The other part consists of those who give. Supporting others in need strengthens your own spirit, your own soul in equal measure. Although you do not offer your presence with the expectation or the hope of benefiting yourself, that is precisely what happens. Prayer, prayerful presence, even a presence surrounded by silence is a profound gift, a profound blessing for all. 

When a soul is ready to return to our plane, there is great strength, there is enormous love, there is a blinding radiance. It is a joyful, affirming moment, a moment never to be feared, but frequently anticipated with much concern—concern by the individual, concern by those who are supportive. It is common that many who are preparing their own transition to our life cannot fully respond to the love, the presence, the prayers of others. But you should be fully accepting of the reality that what you give is indeed received. 

The fear is cast aside and there is great joy. The veil of darkness is lifted and all who are supportive are part of that lifting. All that you can do to be supportive of those whose lives are changing in most significant ways is beneficial. When you pray for an individual, as you know, the prayer effect moves in two directions: toward the one for whom the prayer is offered and toward the one from whom the prayer is offered. 

It is the same when you approach other manifestations of fear. You’re faced with the specter of war. Your prayers, your sharing with others, your willingness to be committed to what you feel is just and godly enhances the world. It has a great effect on the end result. It also has a great effect among those who share your own beliefs. Sometimes there is a feeling that you are, as you say, “preaching to the choir” when you stand for beliefs that are shared by those in attendance. But you must understand that you are not preaching to the choir. You are sharing honestly your commitments, your concerns, yes, your fears. 

As we mentioned before, this sharing is enormously important in directing the world toward a condition of greater love, of a greater understanding of the importance of a God that is loving, compassionate and nonjudgmental. In sharing with those who believe as you do, you are giving encouragement. You are helping to remove the veil of fear from their lives as well as your own. You benefit; the world benefits. Your sense of sharing is a most effective way of responding to the many manifestations of fear that we have outlined. 

It is prayer, a prayer that brings you an awareness of God, that rolls away the effects of fear. You will never be totally fearless but you will be relieved of the burden of fear. You will be given a lightness of spirit that enables you to lessen the burden that is carried by others, and in their lightened awareness, they in turn will be empowered to remove the burden of fear from still others.

Each of you experiences the fear of loss, the pain of loss—family, friends, loss of respect, loss of health, loss of personal dignity, of national dignity, a loss of moral grounding—but these losses all share the same component of fear. When you believe that you are guided and nurtured and carried by God’s loving presence, the impact of loss is greatly lessened. 

It is important to accept that loss is a part of human life. You all have a sense of achievement. You all are aware of your own failures, as you may define them. You all know what it means to lose health. You all know what it means to lose family. You all know what it means to lose a sense of groundedness in your own lives, for you seek to become more grounded. You seek to become more focused on God’s presence in your lives. You seek because you are aware of what you may not have. There is a loss. 

Your relationship with those who are in transition to our life is not different from your relationship with those whom you see as antagonistic toward you, whether individuals or nations. You gather together to find ways of being supportive, of being comforted. Can you comfort another country, another culture? The answer is emphatically yes! You give comfort to another through your presence, being there, listening, trying to understand what is being experienced, what is being felt, indeed trying to understand what is being feared. The way you reach out to individuals in their need is a microcosm of what it means to reach out to another nation, to another culture, to people of other beliefs. Just as you do not tell one in transition all that was done that was wrong, you do not tell your neighbor, you do not tell another culture. 

You lead by listening. You give by listening. You bless and support by listening. Listening is perhaps the most active form of blessed support you can give to another. Listening is not only for words. You listen for other means of sharing. The tight hand, the furrowed brow, the position that one sits in or sleeps in, are all forms that can be “listened to.” You can know an individual is in pain by looking into his or her eyes, yet not a word may be spoken. You can know someone is fearful by the same means. Nothing has been said, but you have listened. 

Being willing to be present for another in need is being willing to be present for a group of people—a nation, a region—that is in need. You are all so wrapped up in the need to be doing that it is easy to forget the benefit of listening. 

Make efforts to hold the hand of another. 

Be willing to see life as another may see it. 

Be willing to face the world as another may face it. 

Be willing to face illness as another may face it. 

Be willing to face transition from life to Life as another may face it. 

Be willing to understand the beliefs of others as they choose those beliefs. 

With such approach, you will relate solely guided by love and respect, and it is that love and respect that has the power to move the Spirit and to change the world.

What a magnificent blessing each of you shares! Make that blessing your mantra for life. Choose to affirm, choose to share, choose to listen, choose to give. With such an approach, each of you becomes the force of God within the world. 

You are a part of that force. Use it, value it, give it away at every opportunity, and you will see the veil of fear gradually recede and the illumination of God’s light will cover the earth. 

Amen.