Today and Tomorrow

Once more you must give your aid and lend yourself entirely to the Spirit, so that those little gaps which might cause trouble may be filled in quickly and you shall be quite sure that God only waits to do that which you desire.

It must seem to you sometimes that life, physical life, is a very complicated thing, and so it is! The children of the earth cannot work on simple, straight lines, and, for the most part, they cannot keep their eyes on the Christ and allow everything else to go by.

Life in your world today is very different from what God intended in the days of creation. God did not mean that there should be so much unnecessary suffering; unnecessary because the same progress and the same development could be brought about in a different way altogether. It could be brought about by the gentle agreeing to the Divine Will; just that taking up of the burden and handing it over to the Saviour. Then joy would be your companion instead of sorrow and all those many stages of grief which some of His children have come to understand far too well.

You wish you could do more. But that does not mean that God will not allow you to do more. Many think that, but recognise the truth over this great matter, now and forever. God does not stand between anyone and joy and peace and happiness! But the evil has been given such licence by the disregarding of His laws during the many centuries of time which have elapsed that the plans of Love are seriously mistreated before His will is done.

To the majority it sounds curious that evil should have this power, and yet take the average person, the ordinary so-called "good" person, and you will find that even they contribute something to the side of weakness; something which has to be fought against and overcome not only by themselves but by others as well.

It is by thought that so much damage is done. It is as if a tiny stone obstructed the path of the pilgrims on their way to the Better Land. Each one, or nearly each one, in passing leaves a thought of regret, of rebellion, or perhaps, of sadness, and on that site is added many other small stones; some so tiny that you would think they were of no importance at all. But collectively they hang together and, in time to come, instead of a small hillock which can be stepped over without a second's hesitation there is a column of immovable stone which has to be passed one way or another. The path then is narrow, as you have been told before!

You see how it all happens. You cannot lay the blame on this or that generation, far less on this or that person. Unconsciously, influenced by what they see with their physical eyes, thoughts are put into action. These thoughts have such power that they become tangible, definite, that which have to be reckoned with by all who wish to climb.

Try and understand that it is all "cause and effect"; stretching way back over the centuries. You, individually, have not only your own thoughts to fight but in reality are up against the countless thousands which have been left behind by others.

Here you get the dangerous element with those who are what you call "highly strung" or "over sensitive." You get the signal of danger here because, of necessity, no individual can be sensitive to one set of vibrations without responding equally to others of a less favourable kind. It can be done, of course. When they get a little further on they are able to shut themselves up in the cabin of the Spirit, inside which nothing of the material world can penetrate. But it all takes time!

Try and look at things in an unbiased way. You have got to reckon not only with present conditions, with the power of the shadows which is enhanced by your own thoughts, but also with all that has gone before. To the uninitiated it sounds so hopeless a task; so stupendous, so utterly beyond human effort, that hope sinks very low indeed!

You have got away from the simple into the complicated, and the complicated is not only difficult to understand but very hard to grapple with, in a physical sense as well. It is easy to get off the straight and sunlit path into the mazes of the wood which lies on either side. The path to God is like a long ribbon stretching away out into Eternity Itself. All who are able to keep their feet on that, which at once is so definite and so lovely, are protected from the sorrow in every form there could be. Protected not from the experiences of physical life, but from the grief they bring to the not understanding mind. Many times you have been warned of the wood on either side. Although conditions may tempt you into its shade yet the Voice of the Spirit will call you back again and yet again because you belong to God and God knows how to look after His own!

The straight and simple path is the only safe one for the pilgrims of the Light. The mazes into which the physical mind leads you so often brings far too much bitterness to justify their exploration.

Remember that the Christ is on the "high road," and although His love is able to reach into the densest thicket of physical experience and lift His children out it is only when they are treading the high road that they can see Him. You see the difference? You are never out of sight of your Heavenly Father, but you, being limited by physical restrictions of mind and faculty, you cannot see the Christ unless you are on the straight and narrow path which He has laid down for you.

The Spirits wish they could comfort you more; they would link your arm in that of joy and see you happy in mind and in Spirit. But only God can do that. As much as the Spirits love you, in a way you cannot understand even in the dimmest way, their powers are limited because you have yet to learn what Love is like yourself.

There is no reproach in these words, only deep, deep understanding of the trials which affect your path at this stage. Although the Spirits cannot do what they desire so much, the Christ can do it now or at any moment when you can find within yourself the faith and the confidence to ask it. It is your right, and the Christ is the first to recognise this with joy!

Today is always with you in an unpleasant sense, and tomorrow; that glorious tomorrow when gladness will take the place of sorrow, seems for ever beyond your reach! Yet if you agreed with this then you would be denying everything that you have been told during the year. You think you have very good grounds for viewing today with disgust and tomorrow as a beautiful dread which will only be realised when your physical body is laid aside.

It is often so during the earthly pilgrimage. The majority start off with high hopes; they draw out from their hidden resources so much power and effort that it seems to the looker-on, and sometimes to themselves, that they are going to take the hill at a run! That stage is a very lovely one, both for them and for the Spirits. They cherish the remembrance of their enthusiasm, of their selflessness, of their desire to do the best they can. They love the remembrance of this, and during the stage they collect each little golden thread and put it into the safe keeping of their heart, for it is a gift of worth indeed.

But the Spirits know that the tests will come; they know that the first shot of energy cannot last if the hill is to be climbed to the top, and so they start preparing them for the inevitable disappointment in themselves that follows.

There is nothing in the nature of a spiritual tragedy about this, it is just common-sense; so natural, so entirely to be expected. You see a beautiful high hill and there is a long way to go before the top is reached. The young ones, spiritually as well as physically, say that it is no use thinking about it and to just get on! Up they go, taking big strides, entirely disregarding the strain on muscle and sinew. Soon, very soon they have to pause and rest!

The old campaigner, who has climbed many hills and has always found it well worthwhile when they have reached the top, goes to work in a systematic way. First they see that they travel light, and then that they have a strong staff in their hand. They are practical, they know they have a long way to go, but they are going to get there in the end! The youthful ones, breathless with their exertions, are passed by the more experienced. But in passing them do they criticise or condemn? No! They are full of understanding over their enthusiasm, it takes them back to their own early experience and they thrill with sympathy over their courage and the wish to do so much in a short space of time.

Then, leaving the hardy traveller, go back in thought to the younger ones. Mind you, they intend to get there in their own way in the end, and they do! There is something to be said for their method of tackling the obstacles in their path. Heedless of tumbles, of physical damage, even of danger, they scramble up. Even if they have to rest awhile there is plenty to be seen on either side if they keep their eyes off the valley. But notwithstanding that, soon, very soon, again they turn their back on it all and grapple with the hill once more.

Very often the experienced climber is found resting on the top, drinking in the revelation which they have purchased. Then it is with greater sympathy still that they make room for the exhausted younger ones, bidding them stay awhile. In the comparison of experiences, which differed only in the way in which they were taken, they are happy together. Perhaps they gave them a little advice as to the easiest way to tackle the next hill which they are ambitious to scale.

That is a simple illustration of your position and that of the Spirits. Try and look at it in that way and do not feel any criticism towards your big rushes and little rests and the exhaustion which you feel over the steepness and the difficulty of the climb. The Spirits are more experienced travellers, that is all. But you know that if the Spirits have gone up a hill or two in front of you, God has allowed them to retrace their steps to give you a helping hand over the rough parts. They will tell you that, after all, it isn't so bad because they have been all the way and know it for themselves!

That view does place you and the Spirits on a different footing altogether. It is such a natural attitude between you; there is so much understanding, so much sympathy; the sympathy of remembrance between you. Just as you would pity someone in difficulties and wish to give them a helping hand, so do the Spirits feel towards you. They wish you could regard them in this way, and not as one who, standing safe and secure above the boulders, hurls them down so that you may lose the little advantage that you have gained! It sounds a cruel picture to you, but even so the shadows have represented things on many occasions. They have, in so many words, cried to each one of God’s children in their hour of need: "Where is your companion now?" Your companion is in the only place where a companion could be; by your side!

There is pain in this for you and pain for the Spirits as well. But their pain is only because you suffer so in your isolation. The shadows cannot cause the Spirits any pain direct; but through the torture of God’s children indeed they torture Him!

There you have in outline "today and tomorrow". Although you may think that the beauty of tomorrow is held over until you have reached the summit remember that in the climb to God there is beauty all around. There is a revelation of the Spirit which nothing can surpass; because during the training stages you are allowed to look upon much which is denied to those who are at the top. Denied in the sense that the whole vista is laid out before them; so much to look at, so much to make their own. The exquisite details of this or of that bit of beauty from the Divine Mind are therefore lost in the whole.

There is another point on which you should touch upon, and that is in regard to the encroachment of pain on the physical body.

It is like the incoming tide; there is no better simile than that! The tide of pain comes in sometimes very fast. As you stand and watch the ocean, wave after wave comes creeping up the shore. Even in regard to nature's sea the thought comes as to the pitilessness of its power and the remorselessness of its approach.

In some cases pain is like that to the physical mind and physical sight. But what so many forget, and it is hard to remember when the waters roll so close, is that when the tide is full then the retreat sets in. Take your own character as a broad stretch of sand which in time will be covered by the sea. Before the sea approaches much has been done with the sand. Foundations of all sorts have been hastily put together; many footsteps have left their mark, and sometimes untidiness is evident as well. Not only due to your own thoughtlessness but very often to the carelessness of others. That is what the sand looks like when the tide is out; rather a disorderly appearance which even you yourself are glad to think will be obliterated by the cleansing tide which is fast coming in.

Remember that in due course the waters recede leaving such a clean smooth surface. Beautiful and glittering in the morning sun are many precious stones; precious to you because it was only the force of the water that washed them free from the sand and made them apparent to your eyes. There are other treasures as well. Nature is very plentiful and God, with the things of the Spirit, is more generous still!

Leave that picture in your mind. The cleansed shore and the sun shining on that which might seem to you as tears, finally drying it all up and giving you space on which, if you will, you can build again.

Don't forget these simple little illustrations. Turn them over in your mind and see for yourself if they don't ring true; true to your physical and spiritual experience and true to the love of God as well.

As you have prayed that joy and peace should be near know now with a full heart, and with absolute certainty of mind, that love and peace reign supreme and sorrow is banished beyond your walls. Happiness, happiness, should fill your heart and mind. You are a child of the King, why then are you sorrowful. You are a children of the King, why then are you sad!

Everyone loves that word Peace so much because it expresses relief from physical conditions. Release from the tyranny of the physical mind, and harmony with the things of the Spirit. Let it sink into your very being; will yourself to grasp it. Ask in faith that you may be strong enough to hold it, and be certain that the Peace of God is not up there, held just beyond your reach, but is here to be grasped, to be made your own possession, because it is God's gift to His beloved!

Do not say to yourself ever again that the way is too hard, too dark, and too long. Say to yourself instead that though the darkness seems to surround you yet you know that you are treading ever further towards the Light. The Light of full revelation; of the realisation of God's love; the recognition of the quest of the Spirit; the unfoldment of Divinity within; the recharging with the power and the love and the joy which comes from God. The sanctification and the dedication of life, physical, spiritual and eternal, to the Maker, the Creator, the Giver of all.

Never despair if your prayers appear to remain unanswered. Remember that this is only because God has chosen the best for you, and that little trying of patience, the further preparation, is making that not only possible but certain to be worked out in fact.

Remember that you are not crying to a Deity above and beyond you. You are asking as a child of the Father, whose very greatness is shown by His capacity to walk with you by your side. You are not acting for the happiness and the liberty of those you love, you are as one. A child of the Father, the Great Heart, Who is seeking always and for ever to bring you on, to give you of those gifts of the Spirit as soon as you can hold them, and finally to establish you in homes of your own exceeding anything that you could conjure up. In that happy time this little period of earthly experience will seem as a cloud passing over the horizon, leaving only light and sunshine all around.

This is the Great Hereafter, and such is the will of God, that something of this radiance shall be thrown across your physical life, and you shall indeed say with all your heart that your trust in God has been justified completely!

God is with you in a far more definite way in the Spirit, where the physical is powerless to make any barriers at all.

Turn your heart, turn your gaze, back to the Christ and know that there is security, comfort, joy and protection. In His sheltering Arms you are safe from all adversity for ever and ever!

This message was first given in 1924 through Winifred Moyes.

© The Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association 2026

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