Growth

Every one in time shall be conscious of a blessing; a blessing which as the days go on shall grow in strength and in power. You shall see for yourself the Love, the Divine Love, which is even now enveloping and sheltering your life in a way impossible for you to understand.

Do not worry over your task; leave it in God's Hands and be certain that the help provided will be sufficient to carry you through into happiness because you work for God.

Beauty and gladness and light and holiness are all around. You, by your thoughts and by your efforts to keep the harmony intact, have brought into your midst that which no human being, while still bound by the physical, could bear to look upon. Here you are, banded together in aim, in thought, and in wish. What is it all about? It is that innermost craving which comes from the recesses of that bigger, greater, nobler you within. It is that longing to be used by the Most High; to be a suitable weapon for carrying on His work, and to add your part towards the enlightenment of those who still sit in darkness, who because they love darkness have no power to raise their eyes to God’s countenance, when darkness would be no more.

It is a great calling, a grand calling. You shall find within yourself the strength and the courage to go on.

You are growing daily more in the likeness of that bigger, nobler you within, which represents, in miniature, the greatest Example of all. It is all a question of Growth when the heart is in tune with God; a question of expansion, of development, of unfoldment. Even now you, whether you realise it or not, are putting forth extra petals which shall, in time to come, be shown to have added beauty and holiness to your soul.

You must understand how this and that provides a most valuable material for that time when the physical body shall be laid aside and you will stand clothed in robes of Immortality, an acknowledged servant and disciple of the One who went before.

Growth can be of two kinds, many more in detail, but two kinds which stand out in your mind as typifying growth itself. Take first of all that which is the least pleasant to think about.

Many of God’s children have often seen the physical body of this one or that marred by a hidden disease, a poison in the blood, which produces in an outward, and sometimes visible way for all to see, that which is abnormal, perhaps grotesque, and always most distressing to gaze upon. Many wince as they pass those so afflicted, and sometimes the thought comes as to the reason for their physical disability, which in some cases reflects their spiritual disability. They wonder why it should be allowed to announce itself for all to see.

Consider this rather exaggerated example of growth first because of the repulsion which the average, sensitive person experiences when they gaze upon such a distortion of what was meant to be a beautiful covering for the spirit within. Of course you know that the Spirits, looking at you from the spiritual side, are not affected in the same way by physical blemishes. But understand that because they do not affect the Spirits in an unpleasant sense, it does not mean that they do not understand the pain of mind, in addition to, very often, the agony of the flesh as well. They do understand what this means to the one concerned.

Pass on from that to the growth that you and the Spirits do see in a very definite way indeed. You have been told before that the soul is the outer covering of the Divine, which is all-pure, all-great, all-holy. Sometimes the soul bears those same disfiguring marks as the physical body. The malformation of the body is a trivial affair compared to the malformation of the soul! The Spirits do see these in a way that you could not understand until you yourself pass into the Spirit World. But there is this difference; they do not cause that sense of disgust and shrinking which such offences of nature so often bring to you. One point of view is quite different because the Spirits know that there is no growth; there is nothing too loathsome for the Father to cleanse, and, finally, to obliterate.

In learning of growth it is a one-sided affair to treat that word merely as the evolution of the child-soul to maturity. There is the other side of the shield; that bringing into being of what, to you, represents horror itself. But you know quite well that with the physical body sometimes, by the skill of the physician, it is possible to get rid of the trouble. If not, you have the certain assurance that when the outer garment of the body is laid aside the soul is glorious indeed.

The same applies exactly, although in a different sense, to those growths which, in some cases, are so firmly embedded in the soul that to the uninitiated it seems that nothing could make them whole again. Those who have set their wills and their love and their efforts on restoring and bringing back to loveliness that which is of God are doing a work of such value and treasure to the Master that no words can express it. But all are not called to this in a definite sense. By your thoughts and by your prayers you can, in a large measure, act even as a physician for those who have so sorely afflicted themselves. In time to come the patient, so far renewed in strength, will rise up and continue the work themself.

Hope, hope is everywhere, and the word despair does not exist once spiritual sight is your own!

Get away from the sad side, and it is not only sad to you but is very sad indeed to those in the Spirit World. Get away from that to the growth which, even in its earliest stages, is so exquisite to witness. Take a much broader view of this subject than you do at present. Even after the continual reiteration of the truth so often your troubles and your pains are regarded as a penance imposed upon you by the Creator. You say, or you think, that you have done that and this is your punishment; the implication being that God, seeing your misdeeds, lays the hand of criticism upon you and the punishment as well. The Father does not act like that! It is growth, it is you, the real you, tightening the reins, trying to keep the physical self from roaming too far to the left or to the right.

Consider it in all its magnitude of possibilities; that Examiner of self! You are not going to escape lightly, either now or then, because the you within, being strong and valiant, has very little sympathy with the weaknesses and the evasions to which the physical mind is so prone. Yet the physical you is not an enemy, a truant, or the culprit. When you see things as they are, you will know that the physical body has brought you treasure of such great worth which it would be almost impossible to acquire by other means.

The Christ and "Examiner" are very different personalities. You are protected by His Love and His understanding and His Fatherhood. But with that great Examiner of Self, there is nothing to stand between your judgment and condemnation. It is a great responsibility; this duality, this combination of the spiritual with the physical. It is a great responsibility in the sense that you are answerable to yourself for what has taken place.

How often is it to you illustrated even now? More and more do God’s children flinch from their consciousness of having failed the best within; more and more do those stabs of self-reproach make themselves felt when, heedlessly, they have hurt another! This is but a faint representation of what is going on in reality and that is why, when people pass over, those who have eyes to see are anguished for the time being over their shortcomings and over the betrayal of the Light within. They were "anguished" and so they are until the Christ has healed the wound. The Christ stands aside from the blows, from that anguish of mind and spirit; stands aside in the sense that He is unconnected with it, except to soothe and heal the torture which the knowledge and the realisation of His love brings to all.

Try to make this thought the foundation of your daily life and when, as must happen at times, little or big things go wrong, place the source in the right direction. You know you have done wrong, or that you have been foolish, but the Christ is trying to comfort you all the same!

You are growing fast in many ways. It is, perhaps, with tears that the growth is being brought on. But those tears shall be turned into joy unimaginable, because the period of suffering is so short, so light, in comparison with that which it produces and those good gifts which it gathers to the soul.

In thinking of growth, treat the subject from a somewhat different angle; and yet each point of view is in harmony with the other. You are out for big things, and the greater, nobler you within intends to do its part thoroughly and to see that its physical counterpart shall do the same as well.

That is the whole thing in a nutshell; you are out for big things! Then comes that wonderful, compensating thought. Because you are out for big things you attract to yourself, whether in the Spirit World or during your daily life, not only beauty and brightness, but power and support. There are those around you from the bright spheres who have travelled far and know what it is all about. They have thrown in their lot with you, and whatever happens, be the day calm or the night dark and stormy, they are there, immovable, and will see that right is done; that right which the stronger you has suffered so much to make its own.

You are bound for a far shore, so it seems to you. But, by the miracle of God's love, that far shore can be brought to you and the waters in between dried up, even as the river of old. Do not be despondent of time, of method or of waiting! The waiting is not as you think and God is overseeing all those details of your physical life which, remember, were framed and chosen by you in order to fit in with the great pattern. God is overseeing all and you shall find that the golden shore, the Land of Promise, shall, by the miracle of His love, be forced towards you. Safe and secure, you shall step on to its permanency and know that faith has brought you through.

God can carry you with Him as you stand in His presence, but you ask yourself whether it will be possible to keep the same attitude of mind when you are separated by physical sight and understanding.

The growing stages have reached the point when, if you use just one more effort of will, you shall find yourself secure in faith for evermore. Be watchful of the straying thoughts; that is your only enemy now. If you bar the gate of your soul to those intruders you shall find yourself established in a faith so strong, so all-enveloping, that God's work will be carried out in a way previously undreamt of by all. In like proportion so will the happiness come! You are only safe when tied to service, because you have reached that state of development when the desires of the flesh are surpassed by the longings of the soul within to find expression and expansion. Your need during the past has been great; and the succour at hand on every occasion has been great as well. Your desire to rise and to contact with Heavenly things in the days to come will be great; and your opportunities shall also be great, because God has said: "Seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you."

That is the message from the Most High, the Tender Father, the Loving Shepherd, and the Understanding Christ. Take it and make it your own possession and cling to it with all your might!

There is so much peace on either side. From the Spirits point of view good work has been done. God is going to strengthen the cords of His control more and more so that His child and Him may be able to work together in perfect unity, when good results will come as a matter of course.

Instead of that word "Milestones" on the journey of the soul, try and substitute the word "birthdays", because you will see at once it changes the whole complexion of the thing.

"Milestones," a very good word itself, brings to the mind weariness, effort, strain, and the knowledge that when one is passed the road goes winding on and on until innumerable milestones lie behind. It takes the heart out of one to contemplate those which you have already passed.

Birthdays has a more joyful sound altogether, because they are little birthdays which lead on to the greatest birthday of all. Regard each experience, both mental, physical and spiritual, as a birthday of the soul which will enable it to gain the necessary strength, and also to gather to itself the inevitable happiness of going on and on until the glorious end of physical life, when you are born into the Life of Joy, of perfect harmony, and of unity with your Father.

Reconstruct your thinking so that it will indeed seem to you, and to others, that each experience passed through has been a re-birth; renewing and adding holiness and power to the soul, which shall equip you and make you ready for all that which awaits you in the Land where the Light does not fade.

Have courage and gladness because you are getting on so fast! Have joy in the knowledge that each step nearer to the Christ leaves sorrow farther behind and contentment takes its place; contentment in the realisation of all those countless millions who have trod the path before you, of those who are treading it with you. Have an added comfort to recollect that even you, by so going forward, are making it easier for those who, as yet, are far behind.

Look at the thing how you may, but there is joy on every side and even greater joy to come.

Bless you in the Name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, bless you in the Name of One who is Love Divine, unlimited and for ever! Under His blessing you will rest secure, preserved from all that which would offend and heartened and strengthened to go on. On towards the Light, the Light which cannot be dimmed; the Light of revelation which illumines all the by-paths of physical experience, and makes you realise your togetherness with the Master.

This message was first given in 1924 through Winifred Moyes.

© The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association 2026

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