A Story With Meaning?

MON., OCT. 25, 1993, 9:40 AM
VILLA FLORENCE, SAN FRANC’O

Last evening was one of greeting old friends, former students, and colleagues, mostly in superficial ways. Now, over these next few days you have the pleasant task of talking at length with some of them, exploring spiritual themes and, with a few, their unique relationship with Me. You know this is the main reason you’re here.

And yet it seemed right for you to return rather early, after the gathering, and finish this story that you couldn’t seem to conclude at home. (It is appropriate for you to look ahead toward retirement as a time to read, including stories such as this one, that shall tell you of life lived in ways not like that of yours.) Yours has been a busy life of teaching, professional work, family life, and some physical work on a place unlike the living scene for most Americans. When some of these responsibilities wane you shall have time to read and ponder a wider variety of thoughts, concepts, and experiences.

You’re not sure why this story was one you even started, let alone finished. Jean was a student with a blotched past that she shared with you, somewhat. She loaned you the book, and you read it, even in spurts with much distraction in between. The characters were complex, but you have the story fairly well in mind, even as it seems somewhat overdrawn and improbable. Just know that you needn’t pay much attention to such a feeling or analysis. Any story this different from your own is likely to seem improbable. Consider it just another story in this earth that I created and sustain.

It was a story with Me as merely a background and peripheral element. Guy’s mother was a strong Christian of the extreme type… honest, but as likely to be a harmful influence as a good, positive one. His father, Tom, was a strangely spiritual man. He knew Me, but he rejected Me often because of what he assumed I supported unequivocally. Perhaps he was honest in his life… and perhaps not. This is a judgment that many people consider about themselves as they reach middle age and beyond.

You were pulled both ways by the affirmations of the various men in the story. You admire strength, and you sometimes think of yourself as strong and independent. Yet you also have wanted to be a good husband to a sometimes strong woman… and a father to sons, helping them become good, strong men. Yet you can’t be sure what the best balance should be nor how close you have come to it.

Another equally strong motive (perhaps even stronger?!) is that of being a rather humble servant of Mine. In this framework you want to help the weak, the suffering, and the faint-hearted. Your feelings for these “unfortunates” on the streets of this City are certainly mixed – some compassion, some revulsion, and a lot of “I just can’t empathize.”

Guy had tried suicide. You have not considered this. Guy had a wife he hated… and children the same. You have a loving and loved wife, with sons of which you are proud, each uniquely. She is a wife much more like the mistresses, so the conflict he had was not one you share.

He became rich and powerful, and this has never been one of your goals, let alone a driving one. Oh, you have fantasized having money, but not to exert power. All of these conflicts – with disparate parents, a family he didn’t want, and money and influence – drove him mad, and only the patience of an old friend helped him regain his life. You have some conflicts, but none so life threatening as these.