Without love life loses meaning.

December 15, 1989

My dear children of God, we are all joined in your spiritual union as one body. There is much that you have expressed tonight, that you have shared—your emotions, concerns—and there is a closeness which results from such meaningful sharing. Life presents few opportunities for discussing some of the more meaningful aspects of your lives as individuals, for you are all so busy with areas of immediate concern and have little opportunity for learning of the concerns of others. It is for that reason that your being together is so important, for although it is not with great frequency, it holds with it the potential for great depth. 

Your lives touch one another in various ways. It is not important that you all see each other on a daily basis, nor is it possible. It is the nature of the times that you are together which is important and not the frequency. You have shared what's important in your lives—a portion of what is important in your lives—and you have opened your souls to the outpourings of one another offered with faith, offered with love and concern, humor and seriousness. You are indeed intertwined spiritually with one another. Because of this relationship you have many opportunities for helping one another. 

Many of your relationships outside this circle are governed by conversations and experiences far different from what you share together, but you should recognize nevertheless the potential for giving to others and the potential for growing from your contact with others. It is an interdependence of which we speak, this interdependence that is nurturing and supportive. You do not exist alone. 

You are active within a society that frequently recognizes and prizes apparent independence. There is little in society that recognizes and values interdependence. But just as your spiritual lives are related with all humankind, so are your more visible lives interrelated. It is too easy to isolate oneself from many others in the pursuit of chosen goals. It is much more difficult to choose those goals with the recognition of the importance of interdependence with others. 

What we are saying in effect is that lives are to be lived working with others, not opposed to others. Your relationships with others are more important than the development of yourselves in a vacuum. In a way it is the team effort, not the individual effort, that wins the day. It is the willingness to lighten the burden of another which gives meaning to your own life rather than the enhancement of your own ability to bear burdens alone. 

This interdependence is not only a giving but a receiving. You must not only be willing to give help to others but be more accepting of the help offered by others. Two people working together are stronger than twice one person. The dynamic of interdependence far exceeds the potential of activity pursued independently. 

As your souls are joined, one affecting the other, so must your perception of life be governed. This interdependence requires first of all love, for without love there is no trust, and without trust there is no cooperation. Without cooperation there is no growth, and without growth life loses meaning. It is your loving relationship with others which is crucial to your development as human beings and your growth as spiritual entities. You must seek out opportunities where such loving relationships can be nurtured, where they can be confirmed and recognized and openly acknowledged. It is from such acknowledgment that confidence is gained allowing you to expand to ever wider circles your capacity to give and receive love. 

When others are in agony, it is natural to want to reach out and help, but for many, when one is in agony one often rejects help. You all go through moments in life where you give, but you must always be willing to receive. Giving requires less faith than receiving. When you receive the help of another, you have faith that it is given willingly, supportively—not selfishly or with ulterior motives. Receiving the love of others requires a sense of personal worth. 

There are many to whom love and help are offered who reject it out of guilt, out of anger or a sense of unworthiness. It is more difficult to receive than to give because receiving requires an acceptance of one's value as a human being. It is not difficult to consider oneself valuable when one is giving to another. It requires greater faith and understanding of self however to receive that help. 

We pray for your strength to be recipients of the love of others because in so doing we are praying for the development of a sense of self-worth, of respectability, of value spiritually and within a society. All of you have been the recipients of the love and support of others. When it is your time to give to others, you should pray for their receptivity, for their acceptance, for their sense of self-worth. 

Defensiveness in your relationships always indicates a lack or insufficiency. What is lacking or what is insufficient is the sense of self-worth. You are all divine. You all have that spark of divinity of which we have so often spoken. When you accept the recognition of that divinity, that essence of God which permeates each soul, then you should have no trouble recognizing your value spiritually within the world. Do not lose sight of that divine spark. 

At times your soul may be ignited with great fire. At other times the soul may feel cold and unresponsive, but the spark is there. It never diminishes. All that changes is your response to its presence. We pray therefore that your souls will be set on fire by the divine spark within you. 

Our presence is constant whether we are recognized or not. We serve out of love, not out of duty. Your relationship to us must be one of loving acceptance of what we have to offer you, but never one of duty, of obligation. No one is forced to accept our presence in their lives. We are here always. All one must do is to open oneself to the healing, comfort, and guidance that we are empowered through God's light to focus upon your souls. 

The souls of all for whom you pray do indeed benefit by those prayers in a real, tangible, powerful, direct way. They benefit by your prayers as you benefit by your nourishment, for prayer is the food of the spirit. It is the nourishment of the soul. It is the power that enables the soul to increase its sensitivity and awareness and response to the brilliance and warmth of God's light. 

We pray for your receptivity of God’s light and for a growing sense of meaning in life that you all seek. We bless you with God's light and love. 

Amen.