Growth depends on service.

You cannot serve another without feeling in some way whole in yourself. If the charge in the battery is low, it cannot provide a bright light to illuminate a path. There are times in your life when you must recharge yourself. The purpose for such fulfillment is to enable you to meet the needs of others. That is its goal. Self-fulfillment is a means; enhancing the lives of others is the goal. Your spiritual growth is more dependent upon your response to others than upon your service to yourself, and yet that development cannot take place without the secure realization that you and God are indeed one. It is through prayer that such a realization is finally actualized.

You can think all you wish about what it means to have inner peace, but unless you have it, you are unable to provide the maximum help to others. This sense of inner peace is cyclic in nature. There are times when you feel great peace, and there are others when you feel tremendous turmoil and upheaval. That is normal. Without experiencing such inner frustration, you cannot appreciate the ecstasy of peace. Without the presence of noise, you cannot appreciate the beauty of silence. Without experiencing silence, you cannot appreciate the grace of another human voice. One needs another. The contrast is essential. Without suffering, you cannot appreciate the joy of health. Without health, you cannot appreciate the hope of what may come after the suffering. This is a vital balance in life which you must be aware of.