Rise Above

FRI., SEPT. 4, 1992, 6:53 AM
FARM, STUDY

When spirit is strong, and difficulties of any sort arise you have to power to rise above that hindrance. This is somewhat mystical, but it is, finally a real capacity. You are close to realizing it, but mostly in retrospect. You still often get too caught up in the apparent reality of the difficulty.

Yet there is an important balance in such situations. You do need to acknowledge the feelings that you truly are having rather than suppressing them. For example, on Wednesday of this week you felt stressed, and as you came home you expressed this feeling to Lenore, and she became concerned for you. Yesterday had some tensions, but you got through it fine. You actually were rising above the stress and moving through the day on strength that was largely spiritual. You could have realized this as it was happening, rather than needing Me to make you aware. But you are getting closer.

The bout with itching that was yours to suffer through last night is another example. This was something physical, which was strong enough to interrupt your sleep. You considered getting up and having this Teaching, there in the darkness of truly early morn. That was your spirit calling on you to rise above that physical irritation. You didn’t follow that leading of your spirit, but your consideration of it was sufficient. You rose above the itching, and returned to sleep.

A major professional concern is and is potentially happening in your Department and in your University… even in your State. Financial difficulties bring forth radical solutions, and it appears that some of these will affect your program rather drastically. In the spirit of this Teaching I call on you to rise above these machinations. You are a good teacher of undergraduates, and hence moves to emphasize this aspect of the university’s many objectives should not be bothersome. Your classes are popular partly because you do teach them with spirit… with a spirit that does not focus on problems but on the dance of life. Life is not problems to solve. You present this as an ecological perspective, and, in secular garb, it is.

It also is a spiritual perspective, particularly the one I’ve helped you develop. Life is a string of problems only if you see it in a non-spiritual way. My servant Paul, of Scriptural times, often expressed that to die would be a blessing, but as long as he lived he would serve Me. Trial and imprisonment were aspects of life to rise above. There was much to do, and he lived with zeal because death was to be an entrance rather than an end.

I did digress from your university situation. Whatever happens the chances are quite good that you will continue teaching as you have been, rising above the administrative hassles that are certain to arise and continue. If your summer teaching opportunities dwindle you might have to retire earlier than you now plan, but you already see the transition with lessened or no summer responsibilities as good… more for your spirit than for your finances, but good. So continue to rise above these struggles. Your career has been a good one, and it improves as you let your spirit lead you, rising above the concerns that many of your colleagues have.