A New Century Assessment

FRI., MAR. 3, 2000, 7:43 AM
FARM, STUDY

Of what? Of your life… how it has been and how it is now. This could have been received and written just as this new century began… but… better now than on into the Summer. And… it still is early in the century, certainly.

You assess quite well and accurately when you say that this three quarters of a century in which you have lived has been a fine one. You’ll even assert that it is better than previous centuries (maybe “eras” is a better term) and will be seen as superior to ones to come.

Your growing up place was Long Beach, California, and though you counted, in your muse yesterday, 22 dwelling places that you can remember, in your life, most of your school life was lived in three houses on San Francisco Ave. It was a time of economic depression, so say historians, but you felt no deprivation. You went to three schools – one elementary, one junior high, and one high school – and you were above average in each.

You went with your small family to the big, downtown Methodist Church, and you were an active participant, as were your parents. I, Holy Spirit, was aware of you during these growing up years, but when you knelt and prayed to “Us” for help on the hike to the Methodist camp I responded, as you recall, and I then decided to lead you in more particular ways.

One of My most often repeated descriptions of Me is that “I love diversity.” Let Me digress a bit from your assessment and clarify this, in relation to “servants of Mine.” As Jesus, I called disciples, 12 in number who were named, as those most special to Me. Today, in this modern age I, as Almighty God call some to Me, some in miraculous ways, some less so. As Jesus, I call others, and as Holy Spirit, still others. This makes for diversity, because, although We are ultimately One, We each have our Ways and Approaches.

The Church, formed after My sacrificial death on the cross, is rightly called My Body, and it represents diverse humans who worship and serve Me in quite diverse ways. Some grow up in the Church, as your parents did, and they remain solid, helpful servants for a life time, but with no special relationship with Me.

You grew up in the Church, and though your participation therein didn’t quite mesh with other “elements” of your life, you didn’t reject Me or My Body. And then, in the midst of your being a loyal, middle class Presbyterian elder/servant, I called you, just before you were 50, to be one in the mystic tradition and heritage – to hear Me in this special way. And, remember, the young woman you were to marry, Lenore, had a Mother who I had called earlier in her life to serve Me in another unusual way. Yet, in My sometimes perverse love of diversity, you and Mabel would never truly “come together,” spiritually, for your calls were just “different.”

She still hears Me, and I still minister to a few though her, but her mind has less capacity in its natural aging… and so will yours, even at an earlier age.

So you have remained a quite active Presbyterian, having this as your “normal” Christian life… but, for these past 20 years, also being what you might call a “closet mystic.” This has not been a comfortable “combination,” but I have appreciated you in both “roles.”

You had a fine career as an educator, one We jointly selected for you “before.” You were a father to five sons, and you don’t feel as though you did that well. Yet son John Patrick “arises” as the son (an active Catholic layman) who is most attuned to you as a mystic and to these Teachings as truth for you and for “today.”