Stories… Again

SAT., JULY 30, 1994, 12:12 AM
FARM, STUDY

A few fragments of the story of one of My kings in the early days of My chosen people are the Scripture reading for tomorrow. You will not be here for that service. Instead you will be on the road toward another chapter of one of your life’s sub-stories… the ARIS Board on your continuing link with the alcohol and drug field. Some of those you will meet with on Monday are long-time friends. A few are “newcomers” to you, and this has been your experience since the early 1960’s with this sub-field that once was your specialty. That was a good starting professional association, and you should be proud of what you accomplished. Yet your present path is more one onto which I have guided you.

So your life story is one of being guided by Me, the Holy Spirit, just enough so that you were in right places at right times, making choices that fit well into My plan for you. Do I do this with every one of the more than 5 billion humans now alive on this earth? No. This means you were chosen. You had certain “qualifications” that made My job easier, but you are not as outstanding in life as many others I did not particularly choose. I just chose you, and I don’t have to tender a reason to you or to any others. I just am an active part of your life story, and a few people can accept this. When you include it as part of your story do so with real humility.

This continue association with Bob, Phyllis, and John, at least, is a positive one, and I approve. You shall take on a familiar responsibility, just as you are giving up a comparable one with your Session. This is a task you do well, even as it is not stress free. Do it cheerily and with gusto.

Yes, I’d say it is time for another Ruminations on stories, with particular focus on Teachings since the last one on this theme. Each of these Letters is a kind of story, with both of Us telling Our parts. All along I have urged you to use stories in your teaching, and you’re now doing it easily… even close to superbly. Life is a story, made up of shorter stories. Continue to emphasize this whenever you can.

Are all Bible stories relevant to life in your culture at this time? Well, let’s say that every one is relevant to some people, in some ways… and some are not relevant to you… and you have to deal with circumstances and situations about which there are no pertinent stories. For example, as Jesus I told a man who was crippled and couldn’t walk that his sins were forgiven and therefore he could walk… and he did. I tell you that your sins are forgiven, but this doesn’t magically make you walk perfectly. Even forgiven sinners function imperfectly, and eventually die, some clearly prematurely.

An important part of this life-in-the-earth story is pain, suffering, and malfunctioning. You have less of this than most, but more than some others. But with anyone it is not a matter of “how healthy you are,” but in how you handle such situations and conditions. Again I say you are adapting well to your present discomfort, spending this time with Me. It shall not be a complete change for you, but you are now experiencing the normality of Andy’s Teachings from Me… late at night, or the last waking hour or so, rather than the first. You see that it “works” well, at “either end.”