Did, Took, Are

FRI., NOV. 1, 1985, 6:48 AM
FARM, STUDY

Yes, this shall appear as a strange title in an index, o son, but what’s wrong with an occasional strange title? You know the referent action, but you’re not sure what the Teaching will include. Ready to begin?

The referent event was your blood pressure reading yesterday at the Blood Drive. It was nicely normal, and you were properly pleased. To what could you attribute these nice numbers? Your conclusion: something you did, something you took, and something you are. You practiced the simple relaxation techniques, and you did these before and during the examination. Perhaps relaxation helped keep your blood pressure normal. You took garlic pills for some time before the time for the Bank, and took several on the day. Perhaps garlic was a help. You prayed to Me, as Almighty God, asking for some moderating effect, evidence that you are a Christian who believes that I have power that I may use to change life events. Perhaps being a believing servant of Mine helped.

That was one incident. You shall have to test the combination several more times before you can attest to its being more than a coincidence. The wider lesson, however, is worth considering. Many important Scriptural truths come forth from stories or events as trivial as a blood pressure reading at a Blood Bank. So I am just doing what I have done before.

You did something. You took an action. You know about relaxation techniques, but you rarely utilize them. But you received a handy reminder, and you decided to act on what you knew. You used your mind, and you acted according to what you knew. You felt more relaxed, and you had done something simple, but systematic, to affect a change. Acting… doing… this is evidence that you appreciate your completeness as a human person. Believing that intelligent actions may bring desired results.

You took something. The action involved an ingestion that presumably affected your internal functioning. It is impossible for any person to know the effects of all the substances that are taken into a body – by ingestion, by breathing, or other ways. Yet it is always possible that a substance that produced good results in others might be helpful to you. Would it do harm? Unlikely. Therefore you took the unlikely substance for the internal change it could cause. You live in a world of substances. Some can be of much value. There is much in the earth that can be very helpful to human functioning.

The third action you took was prayer, which represented clearly who you are… one who believes, trusts, and rests in Me. You prayed that I might intervene, might moderate, might help this process. You are a person who believes in My power, even as you know (for I have told you repeatedly) that I do not often exert it is such ways. I do not often change the course of natural events, for there is some value in any event, for some persons… and changing would take away that value. Yet I also said, “Ask, and you shall receive…” Expect Me to be of help. Show that you are one who trusts and knows of My capacities for influence.