Cultivate the Realm of the Spirit

Meditation thought: “For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence to the end.” (Hebrews 3:14)

Stand firm against anyone and anything which would rob you of your first enthusiasm,, your first commitment, your first enlightenment.

You know that new enthusiasms are exciting, new commitments are easy, new enlightenment a delight. If these take place in ordinary affairs of life, how much more true they take place when they relate to God’s call upon you, and your response to God.

Do not allow your enthusiasm to wane, do not yield to pressure, do not return to old ways of living in darkness.

When fear, feelings, lassitude, and contrariness of your will would bind you from your high calling and purpose – kneel in prayer, shout out in praise, do good works, search the Word! If you desire the fruits of the Spirit, you must cultivate the realm of the Spirit.

Do not sit in your worldly place, expecting great Spiritual manifestations to seek you out – but seek the place the Spirit waits for you – is it the lonely one, the bereaved one, the hurt one, the frightened one, the sad one, the unloved one?

Look into the eyes of those you meet – and let your sight go right down into their heart: their hopes, their dreams, their feelings, their needs.

You have seen the x-ray of their heart: now consult the Great Physician who dwells with you that you may carry out His instructions to heal the patient before you.

Illness is intended to be but a vehicle to give glory to the Father as he heals, revealing Himself in the process. Illness is not intended as a permanent state. It is an opportunity for growth of knowledge, wisdom, of meaning – of the closeness of Created to Creator. It is to be an interlude – an interruption of the normal pressures that attention focused on something new – seek new insights, new paths, new places.

The process of seeking healing, whether by the ill or the ones trying to effect a cure, is the process that facilitates the Father’s work in all involved.

Be a good patient, be a good nurse. Both situations will teach you much about who you are, who your father is, and who all creatures are.

Waste not a moment in fretting, regretting, and balking.

There is much to do, much to learn – and much in which to rejoice.

Open wide your eyes,
Even wider your heart
To see Truth clearly,
And minister lovingly.
What seemed small and dull
Will be revealed as grand and radiant:
The tiniest portion of life
Will capture your imagination,
And reveal a new world never suspected.
Glory shall reveal new glory
Delight new delight,
Through the tiny hole of your broken pride
You shall see into a vista –
Shining, beautiful, magnificent.
Just to know it is there
Changes all you knew before,
Others cannot see through your opening,
For you block the way;
it is yours alone to use.
Let this glimpse work in you,
Conforming you to He who showed you that view:
And so shall your thoughts, your words, your deeds,
Inspire a search by those who wish to find
The vista that has reformed the clay,
Shaping it anew
Into a vessel pleasing to them, serving them well.
They seek to know the miracle: life born anew – not a new birth,
But a matured creature
Infused with new Blood,
Which nourishes and enhances all that was before.