Upbringing

NOV. 22, 1980, 5:46 AM
W. WILLOW, STUDY

You are slow to hear and react this morning, o son. This does not seem to be a majestic theme, and you would rather have such after being away from this teaching/learning situation for several days. Instead, hear what I have to offer about upbringing.

As you wrote your Spiritual Story you considered your upbringing. You acknowledged it as being good, but not very directly related to your present state of spiritual being and becoming. That is a fair analysis. You selected that situation as one in which to be “brought up”, because it offered good possibilities for learning to live creatively with potential conflicts… to treat such as complements rather than as conflicts. Your Sunday School and youth group “life” was, thus, an important medium for the growth that you are utilizing now. It had its purpose, which was familiarization with the Christian faith. It did not lead directly to your born again state, that which you enjoy now, but it was important in indirect ways.

You have been involved in the upbringing of some individuals who chose you and Lenore as parents and your home as the environment for movement toward adulthood. Each reason is different, and therefore the reaction of each to the home environment has been and is different. Only John Patrick, who is the most resistant to the Christian faith, has a sense, comparable to yours, of the choice involved in this upbringing. You think, “Wouldn’t it be nice… and simpler… if each was aware of this aspect of life during the growing up period and therefore could appreciate it, the home environment, more fully?” My basic premise is that it reduces that challenge which stimulates the most growth. However, you see that you shall be part of another pair of upbringings, in which they will be encouraged to know this aspect of themselves. You, of course, will not be able to observe their total lives from this earth plane, but you will be able to evaluate now… and make occasional observations even from other realms.

You can know while it is My principle that you in the earth should have the impression that this is your first experience here and that every part of your upbringing has a direct purpose, there is great variety in the way I function with individuals and families. I allow “leaks”, so that a few people are aware of the ongoing nature of life… and an even fewer number actually know this to be truth. At the other end, there are some who are reasonably receptive to the idea, but for whom it never becomes reality. Others simply don’t hear the message; it just doesn’t register. And still others hear it, are turned off by it, and may even strongly oppose it… because it seems to conflict with other truths they hold dear. So just know that in relation to this aspect of the reality of upbringing the teaching of what you know will fall mostly on infertile “soil”. Expect this. Share anyway.