A Sunday “Excoriation”

SUN., MAY 31, 1998, 11:45 AM
FARM, STUDY

It is Sunday morning, and you are feeling rather good… and the healing seems to be going well. Yet it is Sunday morning, and you missed the worship service, the installation of you and Lenore as Elders/Deacons, and the last of these Forums on the Ecclesiastical Complements. At 8 o’clock last evening you were ready for all of these, but then came the “dangerous combination” for which you were not prepared.

This is an infection your body is overcoming, and infections have a certain “spirit” that works against being “conquered”. In other words, you were not as strong and healthy as you thought you were. (And, hear, I am not against positive actions that are part of your nature. Don’t be “sick” any longer than you have to!) You have not been drinking much in the way of alcohol during this “illness experience”. You just came back too soon with too much (with some similarity to that lonely/awful night at a beach house on Maui; at least you feel better this morning than you did then, facing a full day of teaching!) You were pacing yourself, but you lost control when the rum “took its place.”

It made for a strange night, pain-free, but only partly memorable. It resulted in these “losses” this morning, and I wanted to participate with you in these Sunday morning happenings that you do enjoy and from which you profit. You know I am no slave-driving taskmaster, but part of My History as Almighty God is in demanding sacrifices for sins committed. So I’ll take on this role now and say that you shall imbibe no alcoholic drink or beverage for 2 weeks… till 2 weeks from today. Be just a bit more cautious in working outside in this hot weather, but work is still part of the healing process. Get this desk clean and do not let it get in this condition again. Organize the materials on this table. Let it not be just a “dumping place”. Then, in the rest of this study, decide what to keep and what to cast away… and follow through. You have given Me reason to be demanding, and I’m showing you that, while this isn’t My best “nature” I can require… and I am.

One more demand: write those Session minutes before your notes no longer bring back the truth of that evening’s happenings. You look around. It is a mess! Must it ever be so?

The summer season is almost upon this fine part of your country. The first cutting of hay was a disappointment in numbers of round bales, but hope that the second will be better. Your herd is small now… more a proper size for this pasture… and you now have a livestock fund, once again.

You’re into your 73rd year, hoping that this could be the year that you establish your role as a semi-monk. You have the basic idea, but you haven’t yet internalized and “lived out” this final “assignment”. It is related to some of these other tasks given… contemplation is better when mess is less. Perhaps this will be your last year with an office in the Department. When is it a time to seek… and a time to lose? Perhaps the time approaches when the “divisions” in your life will dwindle and there will be more integration, toward Me, of course.

You still have some notes and letters to write, all of which you should have done as you did with Gabe, this morning. You can use your “illness” as an excuse, but each is an important call for response. You have the time now to do these much closer to the time that they come to you.

Since I’m in an almost demanding mood today I’ll remind you that you have plenty of Teachings for Our next Ruminations. That should be started soon. There’s no present excuse for it being “late” again.

Remember also this Encyclopedia task. Don’t wait too long to get to that. It might be better to do that before the Ruminations, since the theme is similar. Both could be done during this “dry time”, a nice symbolic “meshing”.