God is always present.
November 8, 2018
The comfort and loving support of the Spirit Center known to you as God uplifts each of you with a loving light. You are indeed all loved. You are indeed all uplifted, illuminated, and embraced, for that is the case, the reality, and the blessing that is shared by all of humanity. But it is not you alone as human beings who are loved and embraced, uplifted and illuminated. All that exists, all that has existed, and all that shall exist regardless of form is included in that universe of love.
As you know, you are given life to live. You are given life to learn as you can learn. You are given life for the spirit to grow. The soul, as you identify it, gains wings through presence in human form. Indeed, all human beings are inhabited by the spirit. All human beings have within them all that is needed in terms of capacity to be receptive to the love that is in all directions and nearby.
As you so rightly recognize, there are babies who are brought into the world who are not the recipients of the love of parents or other family, and yet they are the recipients of love, for the source of that love is God. The expression of God’s love is through others whether parents, siblings, other family members, or others in community, but no child is born into the world with no love whatsoever.
It is true there are children, just as there are adults, who are unaware of what love can fully become. There are many reasons for such difficulties, but it is enough simply to recognize that not all human beings experience the love they are surrounded with in equal measure. A child may grow up in a family and feel unloved, but such feeling does not fully describe what is felt, for even when unloved by others, there is an ability to recognize on a spirit level that indeed love is present. It may not be verbalized as such. It may not be identified with a label, but the love is always present, and there is always a recognition at some level of love.
Each of you has experienced times when you have felt in some way abandoned, maybe not physically, but emotionally, even spiritually. When there is deep personal grief, there is a lingering presence of abandonment, and that may be certainly understandable and justified, but even in the depths of some despair, when there seems no presence of love, the love remains. It is God’s love. It is our love. It is the love of all guides. No human being exists without being loved.
The issue that may seem more evident, however, is the lack of recognition for what is there. We have said on many occasions that God is an energy. God is a Spirit Center. God is a force, a vital presence, that accompanies the journey of all that is created. No human being lives outside of the reach of love, but there are many who refuse to recognize that love.
Your spirit grows because of the love you are given. Your spirit grows through how you direct the love you have been given outwards to others. Your spirit thrives through the direct nourishment of love. You may not recognize that love, but it is always there. When you feel abandoned, when you feel in some way left out or left behind, it is time to open your perspectives to other ways in which love is offered. In so doing, you will find evidence that you are not alone, that you do not live fully in the shadow. There is light. There is always light. That is the light of God. It is the light of this energy center, this Spirit Center. It is always with you.
When you feel at times there seems to be no presence of God in your lives, step back and reframe your observation so you understand that what’s missing is your vision. It is not God’s presence that is missing. That Spirit Center that we always refer to directly or indirectly is important to each of you at various times in your lives. Sometimes more important; other times less so.
You ask how you can share what you know of your guides, the nature of God, the nature of human life. You cannot share when there is resistance, for matters of faith are not won by argument. They’re won by vision. You want others to know something of how God is in your lives individually and collectively. You can never adequately share that in words. You share the presence of God with others by how you live the lives, the paths upon which you travel. No two lives are the same. No two paths are the same, and yet whatever your paths may be, if you approach your lives with a sense of peace and a firm commitment to the sacredness of all whom you know, then you will be radiating your own lights. Those lights will be seen, and when they are visible, then the Spirit Center that belongs to all others will be drawn to the light, for God’s light is not a blinding light that calls for others to pull away in self-defense. The light of the spirit is always an inviting light.
Others learn of God not by what they hear but what they observe. So you provide for what is observed, and that which is from God is a magnet for the spirits that are part of the lives of all others. For them to understand your perspective, it will be through the light that emanates from within you and not specifically the words you utter. It is the wish of all souls that there be an acknowledgment of God, but that is a wish. It is not a command, for there are those whose paths are appropriate for them on which their encounter with living evidence of God is scant. That is okay, for that is the path they are on, and for them, that is their most valuable journey.
The paths of the spirit are not at a single level or a single direction. There are many dimensions to your path. There are many dimensions to the paths of everyone. As you travel on your path, you change levels and directions. Sometimes your path is uphill against the wind. Sometimes it is downhill with the wind at your back. Sometimes the path seems totally illuminated by the presence of the spirit. Sometimes the path becomes dark and concerning. On your own paths, there have been moments when you feel most strongly a certainty of God’s presence, and there are moments when your vision is clouded.
So it is with all others. Because the path of one individual is moving in a direction that does not appear to reflect an awareness of God, there are no grounds for judgment, for it may be that some must go through that door of limited awareness in order to see more clearly the brilliance with which they are surrounded. The path they are on is the path they are on, and it is the most appropriate path for them. Not being aware of spirit does not mean there will never be awareness of spirit. No human being can predict the terms and levels of another’s pathway. You can only observe what it is you observe.
Therefore, find ways of being open to others. Find ways of avoiding judgment on paths that are occupied. No human being is fully evil. There are no paths that are traversed that lack any light. You can travel a path that is most appropriate for you and yet walk with the eyes closed, with the heart closed, and it may be that at some point in your journey you encounter something which opens the eyes and expands the heart.
How to share your understandings of God? First of all, be silent and simply listen, and if you listen beyond the words of another and begin to hear what another means rather than what another says, you will be a light of God, and your understanding of God will be a beacon, and others will see evidence of that Spirit Center through your presence.
No one has been convinced of the meaning of God by way of argument, for that Spirit Center cannot be justified through normal, rational thought. Each of you comes to understand God through your experience, not from someone telling you God exists and you must believe. You hear that so frequently, and it is often expressed in similar terms with the best of intentions. When you are enthusiastic about your beliefs, it is natural to want to share them in order that others may experience that same joy, that same illumination. You must remember always the most powerful expression of God’s reality is by listening, and in listening, you also learn, for you learn something of what another is trying to say through the inadequacy of spoken language.
Understanding God is a nonverbal endeavor. It is through reflection, observation, and vulnerability that you receive God’s love through the actions, not the words, but the actions of others. You seek meaning in your lives, but that meaning is found by how you live, not by what you say. You live through your experience, and as your vision expands, that experience deepens, and you become more sensitive to the love that is being offered by others. This is the vulnerability that we speak of.
We say you are loved by God, and that is a statement of truth, but our saying so does not necessarily lead to your full acceptance of it unless you are willing to be vulnerable to experiencing that love of God. You are loved at all times. You are guided at all times. You are embraced at all times. You are lifted up at all times. Your lives are illuminated by God’s presence at all times.
Be at peace with that embrace. Be at peace with the vision of the heart. Be at peace with the expression of love that you experience, and be at peace as you listen always with an open heart.
Amen.