When the physical and mental has taken more than its share, a little replenishing is needed before the spiritual side is ready to take on a task of any kind.
That may not seem quite right to you, but in reality the physical, mental, and spiritual are very closely interwoven. In the Spirit World those free from the flesh never make the mistake of concentrating more on one than the other. If you do the time comes when you have to wait for those behind to catch up, and that is waste of time. Far better to hold the three strings in your hands and see that the pull is not to breaking point upon either. It is important also to see that each one is not allowed to wear too thin, but is kept of equal thickness and strength with the others as much as possible.
As a rough illustration, their appearance can be seen as copper, silver, and gold. Though you must not concentrate on one more than the other, do not get the impression that the physical was as valuable as the spiritual, or even that the mental came into the line of comparison with the highest. Each has its place. In your world you find copper very useful indeed, and silver has in some cases a great value, while gold is regarded as both rare and precious. It is not easy on earth to keep the balance between the three. In money for instance, the coppers largely dominate; they are for the common use and are only despised when the silver or the gold is at hand to take their place.
It is very much the same with you, and with those in Spirit when they were in the physical body as well. In starting on the journey of the spirit the body, the physical side, as represented by the copper, is regarded as very valuable indeed, because the silver and the gold at that time lie beyond the horizon. It is not in the way of condemnation that the physical seems of supreme value, the copper had its use and a very great use as well. But in a little while growth commences and the possessor of much copper would like to exchange those rather clumsy pieces for the smaller, brighter silver. That is the bringing into use of the mental!
A great many people on earth today are so satisfied with the silver aspect that they do not seek the finer, rarer, strands of gold. But masses of copper would not turn into silver, and again, however much silver you had, it would not be gold. The ordinary people at the present moment are obsessed by the copper-stage. A smaller number have found the things of the physical unsatisfactory; the soul has come into being and they seek for expressions of beauty in art, in nature, and in the world at large. This brings them a very definite happiness for the time, but you cannot study nature without the soul crying out for God, not for long. At first the senses are attracted, but the true lover of nature soon frees themself from that, and then the God mind comes into its own. The gold in the setting sun finds a habitation in the mind and heart of humanity, and the copper and silver are forgotten in the new wonder of it all; in the unlimited resources, in the bountiful supply, and in the love and creative force which God has illustrated in nature! In a limited form it is true, but it is as much as the average man or woman can take in during the earth stage.
You have left behind both the copper and the silver, the physical and the purely mental, and have got under the direct ray of the gold. This is what you are out not only to do yourself, but to show others the beauty of doing. Still, in order to approach the gold in the most favourable way, then the physical and mental must be looked after as well. One is the preparation for the other, and in the plans of God there should be no weakness anywhere. The physical body sometimes is weak and causes much suffering, but when God's work has to be done you will find that the spiritual power which comes direct from God is strong enough to rule that out of existence.
More and more God finds with gladness that His children are concentrating on the work. They think about it, they dream about it. The work of such spiritual character as this playing on the mind is very constructive, especially when you try, as most do, to put self, as self, on one side. When in your imagination you build castles in the air regarding the unveiling of this Truth, then you are lending those in the Spirit World power. You are creating confidence in the vibrations around you. You are creating something that is both beautiful and permanent, and hereafter you shall see that you were building for the Christ, far more than you gathered at the time. Think on these lines as much as possible. Put yourself in the place of a soldier or a sailor standing and waiting for the next order to come. "Ready!" is the sailor's cry, and happy is the man or woman who, when God speaks, can answer “Ready!” These points must be emphasised many times because in the future they must be a natural habit of thought. You do certain things automatically because you have been accustomed to do them in a certain way at a stated time. That is what must happen in regard to this work and your response to the calls made upon you in connection with it.
It is not easy for some to bring the physical will into harmony with the spiritual. It is not that you avoid doing your part, but all sorts of things cause reluctance. It is against your nature to do this or that; you prefer the obscurity of a quiet and unobtrusive life. Had you not been like this, then God could not have used you in the way intended. Those that love the glare and the popularity, the public eye and the limelight, are not the servants of the Christ. Where God should be, self shows up instead, and so the Father has to look elsewhere to find those who can so lay their personal feelings aside and answer to His call! Were it easy to so answer at all times, there would be very little merit in it. It is the hard things that are so constructive; the things that are done in spite of reluctance, the handing over to the Christ of that same self which would intervene between you and the Saviour.
There are tests coming, particularly to the most reluctant ones. But if you only do your best to give your will into God's own keeping happiness shall always be the reaping of the sowing. Nothing is half as bad in reality as in contemplation. Most have found this. So when the test comes all you have to do is to say in sincerity "Into Thy Hands I commend myself", and then strength will come. In place of reluctance, which is disharmony with the spirit within, will be the joy which is of God.
In the future you are going to find that much depends upon you and upon your attitude in regard to life. When those responsibilities approach, submit your actions under the microscope of the spirit, because it will need then a very keen eye to detect the flaws that remain. If you were to be patted on the back, or told that you were doing very well indeed, then you would be being failed. An expression of that sort would convey to you that the necessity for pushing on was lessened, or even done away with altogether.
At no stage of spiritual evolution can that attitude be adopted. As a matter of fact, once the soul is passed the elementary stages no praise would have any effect upon it at all, except to bring humiliation. You cannot deceive the spiritually alert! As the consciousness of God grows in the mind, so the realisation comes of the great and glorious possibilities which lie before the soul. Great and glorious indeed are these. The journey, upward and steep though it may be, brings fresh gifts, new joys, and larger wonders with each step. There is no limitation to these and no end for all Eternity!
Beware of one thing and one thing only; the physical will. Get into the habit of submitting that will and comparing it with God's will, and then all will be well. It is the only way. The only way not to make mistakes, not to turn off into the wood when all the while the bright path is beckoning you on. Those in the Spirit World have found that out long since. In God's Hands everyone is secure. Your desires, your hopes, your fears are not only known to Him, but have also been studied again and again; studied with a sympathy and an interest which you could not understand. Many wishes will be granted. But not all. In time to come those that are not granted will have fallen behind you, like dead leaves, and when the breezes come from the realms of the spirit away they go forgotten, unwanted and unheeded. There is a lot in the World of Spirit and in the growth of the spirit that would remind you of an autumn day. Even as the young tree in springtime puts forth leaf and blossom and, perhaps fruit, so is the young soul in its early stages. Each autumn that sees the fall of the leaves it put forth so proudly means one stage further on; one year older, one year stronger. The beauty of the autumn too is reproduced in a very wonderful way with the Spirits but leaves no sadness behind; because on their side beauty is permanent in the sense that it never ceases to be beauty, only "changing" in the sense that its glory is forever being added to.
There are a dozen ways and more in which an autumn day, just one of your days at that time of the year, is reproduced in the Spirit World. What it all means, symbolically to you but the real thing to the Spirits, is also reproduced. Remember the dead leaves and the sweet, strong, breeze from the spiritual realms that scatter them right back into that which lies behind.
There is much in the way of gladness to come. But too much cannot be revealed at this stage, for it would be hindering its coming in the degree that certainty is put in place of faith. Faith makes the certainty, light rules darkness out of existence for ever more, and joy has burnt up sorrow, because it is the joy which is of God.
Be of good cheer, for the dawn is nearer than you think. You and God so belong to each other. What is your sorrow is His sorrow and what is going to be your joy is going to be His very great joy too.
The winter time of life's experience is not pleasant to live through, but people even in your world recognise that spring must follow. Spring and summer and the beauty of the autumn but never the barrenness of winter again. God's will is being worked out. Although you went forward, some hesitating more than others and not knowing the treasure in store, so will that very great treasure be enhanced by the not knowing.
With the things of God it is always like this. Faith shall be justified. The golden shore shall prove golden indeed. The white cross lies before you, the cross which should be turned into a crown of glory. God has found that for which He sought in the hearts and minds of a few. He is daily finding the right material for His use, and as time advances these will grow in number. Not so very far ahead quite a respectable army will be on view for all to see. Picked soldiers; the soldier that does not turn back when the odds appear against them; the soldier who keeps their nerve and goes on, on to defeat they think. But indeed the picked soldiers of the Christ shall find that it leads them straight on to the field of victory, because the Christ went in front. All the unconscious guidance goes on in such a gigantic way; the tiniest wish for better things gives an entry to the Master. The guidance goes on leading them at last into the Land of Promise, into the great Hereafter. The struggles of earthly life are only able to turn that Hereafter into the realisation of their heart's desire.
Keep in the brightness which is Truth and Faith, and in His Love encircled for evermore. Light on the horizon, light in your mind and joy in your heart; that is the forecast for tomorrow and all the many tomorrows to come!
Comments