Life Is Not Always As It Seems

SUN., JAN. 23, 1994, 5:56 AM
FARM, STUDY

First, you can feel somewhat vindicated in your waiting for your running water to return. The two problems that remain are other than those caused by the cold, and do not involve the pump. You were right, of course, in thanking Me, for your basic hardship was relieved, and your prayer was answered. Was it answered by Me in a supernatural way or by nature herself? Perhaps sometime, after this earth life has spent its course, you will know. For now, just assume that I was the “deicer.” If I can rescue Israel from its enemies, as the Psalm of the morning asserts then I surely can perform other protective services for My servants. You needn’t affirm this to others, but you did have an earnest prayer answered, even if not perfectly.

My comment on the possibility of your knowing for sure about answers to prayer (going back even to your mountainside plea for guidance to your church camp) leads to some thoughts about the video that just “seemed to appear.” You know that one of your students gave it to you, but who? when?

The story is one of the continuation of life after bodily death, in a modern format. There are modern buildings, services that are immediate and courteous, and even elegant luxury… the modern equivalents of streets of gold… a contemporary alabaster city. Those who have died must be processed, and the single article of clothing implies that there is not “favoritism” in such a process. Yet the days of defense seem to be varied with progress toward enlightenment

These picturizations could be criticized, but I see them as an interesting, imaginative translation of a few passages of rather “far-out” Scripture. The fundamental portrayal is of a need to review the life just lived and evaluate it in terms of fear. Now this ties in well with the simplistic truth that love and fear are the basic opposite spiritual responses. Fear prevents the fullness of love, and love is the means for letting go of fear. But life is certainly more complex than this, isn’t it? Well, yes… and no.

In this experience out of which you now are coming you had fears. The practical fears were about the destructiveness of frozen water, that necessity of life, now transformed by cold into a danger. You also had fears about your adequacies as a keeper of the place, even fears that began to erode your sense of self-worth.

Still, you also had love. Foremost, you had a love for Me that brought you to these times of Teaching. You had a love and a trust that motivated your prayers. And you felt more love for Lenore, with whom you share this place, and a desire to have it suitable for her on her return. Was love a factor in what has happened? I tell you it was. And this is not the way life events in your culture are perceived, generally.

The evaluation, as portrayed in the story, was more democratic and legal than a picture of Me, as God or as Jesus, acting as sole arbiter. There is no reason why I couldn’t seek help from some who are spiritually advanced. The story portrayed the differences in terms of mind… even capacity to use more of the brain. Naturally I would be quite comfortable in calling it a maturity of spirit that allows you to know more than you did with less spiritual power. I have told you often that after death you shall know much more than you now do. Isn’t that quite different than the way life seems to be?