Let us today be neither arrogant
nor falsely humble. We have gone beyond
such foolishness. We cannot judge ourselves,
nor need we do so. These are but attempts
to hold decision off, and to delay
commitment to our function. It is not
our part to judge our worth, nor can we know
what role is best for us; what we can do
within a larger plan we cannot see
in its entirety. Our part is cast
in Heaven, not in hell. And what we think
is weakness can be strength; what we believe
to be our strength is often arrogance.
Whatever your appointed role may be
it was selected by the Voice for God,
Whose function is to speak for you as well.
Seeing your strengths exactly as they are,
and equally aware of where they can
be best applied, for what, to whom and when,
He chooses and accepts your part for you.
He does not work without your own consent,
but He is not deceived in what you are,
and listens only to His Voice in you.
It is through His ability to hear
One Voice Which is His own that you become
aware at last there is One Voice in you.
And that One Voice appoints your function, and
relays it to you, giving you the strength
to understand it, do what it entails,
and to succeed in everything you do
that is related to it. God has joined
His Son in this, and thus His Son becomes
His messenger of unity with Him.
It is this joining, through the Voice of God,
of Father and of Son that sets apart
salvation from the world. It is this Voice
Which speaks of laws the world does not obey,
Which promises salvation from all sin
with guilt abolished in the mind which God
created sinless. Now this mind becomes
aware again of Who created it,
and of His lasting union with itself.
So is its Self the one Reality
in Which its will and That of God are joined.
A messenger does not elect to make
the message he delivers. Nor does he
question the right of him who does, nor ask
why he has chosen those who will receive
the message that he brings. It is enough
that he accept it, give it to the ones
for whom it is appointed, and fulfill
his role in its delivery. If he
determines what the messages should be,
or what their purpose is, or where they should
be carried, he is failing to perform
his proper part as bringer of the Word.
There is one major difference in the role
of Heaven's messengers, which sets them off
from those the world appoints. The messages
which they deliver are intended first
for them. And it is only as they can
accept them for themselves that they become
able to bring them further, and to give
them everywhere that they were meant to be.
Like earthly messengers, they did not write
the messages they bear, but they become
their first receivers in the truest sense,
receiving to prepare themselves to give.
An earthly messenger fulfills his role
by giving all the messages away.
The messengers of God perform their part
by their acceptance of His messages
as for themselves, and show they understand
the messages by giving them away.
They choose no roles that are not given them
by His authority. And so they gain
by every message which they give away.
Would you receive the messages of God?
For thus do you become His messengers.
You are appointed now. And yet you wait
to give the messages you have received,
and so you do not know that they are yours,
and do not recognize them. No-one can
receive and understand he has received
until he gives. For in the giving is
his own acceptance of what he received.
You who are now the messengers of God
receive His messages, for that is part
of your appointed role. He has not failed
to offer what you need, nor has it been
left unaccepted. Yet another part
of your appointed task is yet to be
accomplished. He Who has received for you
the messages of God would have them be
received by you as well. For thus do you
identify with Him, and claim your own.|
It is this joining that we undertake
to recognize today. We will not seek
to keep our minds apart from Him Who speaks
for us, for it is but our voice we hear
as we attend Him. He alone can speak
to us and for us, joining in One Voice
the getting and the giving of God's Word;
the giving and receiving of His Will.|
We practice giving Him what He would have
that we may recognize His gifts to us.
He needs our voice that He may speak through us,
He needs our hands to hold His messages
and carry them to those whom He appoints.
He needs our feet to bring us where He wills,
that those who wait in misery may be
at last delivered. And He needs our will
united with His Own, that we may be
the true receivers of the gifts He gives.|
Let us learn but this lesson for today:
we will not recognize what we receive
until we give it. You have heard this said
a hundred ways, a hundred times, and yet
belief is lacking still. But this is sure;
until belief is given it, you will
receive a thousand miracles and then
receive a thousand more, but will not know
that God Himself has left no gift beyond
what you already have; nor has denied
the tiniest of blessings to His Son.
What can this mean to you until you have
identified with him and with his own?|
Our lesson for today is stated thus:
"I am among the ministers of God,
and I am grateful that I have the means
by which to recognize that I am free
."|
The world recedes as we light up our minds,
and realize these holy words are true.
They are the message sent to us today
from our Creator. Now we demonstrate
how they have changed our minds about ourselves
and what our function is. For as we prove
that we accept no will we do not share,
our many gifts from our Creator will
spring to our sight and leap into our hands,
and we will understand what we received.
