Faithfulness

FRI., OCT. 22, 1982, 6:02 AM
FARM, FRONT OF FIRE

You show your faithfulness, o son, in coming this cool morning. You see what it will be like when winter truly comes, and you shall have to tend to these fires before you commence writing. You must be faithful to Me, but also faithful to the processes that heat your home. You do forget that during the warm months.

Faithfulness is a vital part of any relationship. You are no paragon of faithfulness now, but you feel this necessity in your spirit and this attitude should continue to develop as you do with Me. You took the incident of the lost manuscript in stride, you made your commitment to Me, and you kept it, with one small slip. You worried little about the Ruminations, leaving that to Me, and you see that I was faithful in return. Begin to mail them out in small quantities, but daily. Don’t wait till you have some great block of time. (You knew I would wish to comment on this little exchange We had. Those are fun.)

You realize, of course, that being faithful to one commitment may cause you to be unfaithful to another. With time as a factor and a busy life as a reality there are inevitable clashes… one gain causes another loss. You anticipated having a relatively stressless time after your convention, but you see that your responsibilities and commitments have increased, and faithfulness shall become a real issue for the next month. To what shall you be faithful? What shall be shorted? What shall lose out completely? You shall have some hard choices to make, so make them with awareness and with concern for Me… but, also, do not waste time pondering alternatives. Decide and act.

Faithfulness is a satisfying part of life. When students are faithful in coming to a class and participating with preparation it gives you a feeling of satisfaction and urges you to be giving to them… to prepare well and give of yourself. I realize, of course, that when you do this other matters are not accomplished… but the choice you made yesterday was a good one.

Your wife and your children are an important focus of faithfulness. Relationships, in your culture, must be continuously renewed and faithfulness reaffirmed. Your children are grown and relatively independent, but they need to feel that you are faithful to them as a parent… and this needs to be reaffirmed from time to time. This is certainly true for Lenore. You could do it a bit more tangibly from time to time.

Your faithfulness to your Sunday morning class is no great burden, for I certainly have supplied you with lessons galore, but choose carefully and be just a bit more diligent in knowing the teaching yourself… and be ever aware of the dynamics of each class, which change with the makeup. Be aware when you should intervene and restore a better balance.