Yes, There Are “Balances”…

THURS., MAR. 2, 2000, 7:10 AM
FARM, STUDY

Well, you began this time with Me today with a re-reading of Tuesday’s Teaching, which featured “accentuate the positive” in your life. Yesterday was somewhat of a “balance” to that, with leaks in your home water system and minor flooding. You went down earlier and found that the carpet is still “soaking wet,” and for some reason the hot water heater doesn’t want to function. This study is still a mess… but you did enjoy an afternoon in the sun, basking in the warmth of early Spring.

You admit, of course, that the general balance of your life has been quite positive. You mused on the events and places where you have lived, and the negatives (and there were a few) were “swallowed up” by the positives. Your quite correct perception is that I have been with you and guided you in the ways best for you, some of which were decided on before you became Bob Russell.

Should you be bothered by the assertion (put another way) that you have not independently and freely made all of the decisions of your life? If you were a staunch middle-class American, even nominal Christian, you would not be comfortable with such “interference.” So you don’t often assert that you are in close, regular “contact” with Holy Spirit, Who has guided you, when necessary and helpful, in this good life you’ve enjoyed.

But it is an “earth life,” and this requires some “balancing,” some events and conditions that you must “conquer” or live through, with some stress, anger, sadness. And yes, this room kinda symbolizes this reality. You envision it neat… and continued neat… but it never quite gets there. You push papers and “stuff” aside in order to put down this pad and write what you hear from Me. It seems not to be ideal, for Me and for you, but… just perhaps… it is a symbol of the difficulty of balancing the “desirable” and the “undesirable” in your life, as all of you humans must.

You are asserting now, with some comfort, that, in contrast to the lives of two sons and your Dad, yours seems to be ideal. Son Peter died “prematurely” (or so it seemed), missing many of the joys of earth life. Son Michael had some of those pleasures – wife, children, a successful business/craft, and a fine relationship with Me, through his and My, Orthodox Church. Yet he missed these years that you’ve had… nearly 30… and these could have been wonderful. Your Dad, in contrast, lived on beyond enjoyment, an overbalance of physical, earth life.

You have the opportunity for a more ideal balance, enjoying retirement, recalling this good, long life, and preparing for the transition back to life solely in the spirit. Maybe when you “come cross” this desk and this room will be neat and clean… or maybe you’ll leave it about as it is now.

You are doing well in balancing your departure from the University in a slow, even way. There eventually will be a time to leave it, but not quite yet. Knowing fewer and fewer students will be a factor, of course. Your departure from responsibilities in the church also is “just about right.” Seek some involvement, but leave the major responsibilities to the younger folk.

Though you are fairly responsible in creating and mailing out Our Ruminations you have not been good in responding to notes from friends and family… in this kind of correspondence. That aspect of life needs some re-balancing. You need not go to e-mail, but contribute to lives through “snail mail,” as some contribute to yours, in this mode.