Commitment, Yet Again

MON., APR. 18, 1988, 6:12 AM
FARM, STUDY

In a time of much busyness you awoke as you intended and are here with pen in hand. What is it that motivates you to do this, even as you have Teachings galore, and many seldom read? Your organization has broken down, and so what you have is in relative disarray. Why, then, do you come? Why were you concerned that no more green shaded paper would be available? This answer is simple. Commitment.

The first volumes of Teachings received nearly nine years ago, show that you came each morning for two months. Can you imagine yourself coming every single morning to carry out a process about which you were not at all sure and that was usually difficult? I asked for commitment, and you responded well. Could you have done other? You know that answer as both Yes and No. You had a choice then, and you have a choice this day. And yet I press you for what I want, and you respond. This is good mutual relationship.

For you it is good that I do not urge you to make this relationship known beyond the regular writing and sending of your Ruminations and your Sunday morning class. All of these pages may have no utility beyond these puny displays, and you still feel your commitment, as you should. You have a chance to learn in a unique way, and you are a pretty good spiritual learner. Yet you are part of a culture that overstresses the value of utility. So I offer you the morsel that perhaps all of these pages will someday be “discovered” and become helpful to many rather than a handful. Perhaps you are doing something that future generations will enjoy and use. You see that there would be no chance for this if you do not maintain this commitment.

I ask you for other commitments, and you still have many small tasks that gobble up that earth commodity of time. Continue to use judgment in which you accept and which you reject. This, and all that it leads to, has priority. I reaffirm this. Give yourself fully to the Survival opportunity this week. Small, but important, particularly when you tell them how spirit is involved in how you think and act in relation to the earth’s ecosystem.

You can envision a number of ways in which your future will develop. You even can consider that you could die prematurely, and therefore life after retirement would be different than these earth-based scenarios. Mostly you compare various ways the future could be, and economic collapse is certainly one future that must be considered. I call for you to be committed to relative simplicity, even as you recognize your rather sizeable financial obligations.

I offer you no magic potion, nor no divine protection. I just tell you that if you remain committed to Me in this meditative way your life will be as full and as exciting and as secure as you most desire. You are not committed in order to receive this “bounty” from Me. You are simply committed to spiritual growth in this way, even without extra benefits. Then I share, not because of what you did, but because of relationship.

Faith is the essential ingredient. As a teacher most of your real rewards come as former students become responsible, productive professionals and caring, committed people. You can’t determine that you are helping with this in day-to-day classwork. You must have faith that what you do in teaching is the best that could be. You must have faith that what I offer, what you hear, and what you write down are of some ultimate value. No guarantees. Just opportunities.