2003-08-03-Difficulties, Gifts

Session

Opening

Music: "'Tis Midnight" - piano solo by Dorenda Prayer: (Matthew) Let's place ourselves in the presence of Jesus, the Christ.

Master Teacher, we welcome you to our presence - as we are always in your presence, but we may not always be conscious of that - and welcome you to the invitation of 'where two or more are gathered' you are here.

We are most grateful for this opportunity to be able to share every Sunday with you and with your Teachers that bring us to Higher Truth and better awareness of who we are and that Life does not need to be difficult because it is really simple - in terms of Love being the message and being the goal.

We are very grateful for the message that has been delivered and that we are a part of it: that we are loved as you are loved, and the Father who made All is Love. For this we are eternally grateful.

I add a personal note for the anniversary of my brother's passing away - Greg - last year at this time, and trust that he is with you and in great glee over the happiness that he now deserves and which you promised each and every one of us both here and hereafter, that it's not merely an installment program.

For all that is in our hearts and the needs that each of us knows and feels for ourselves and others … we place before you and before our heavenly Father and all Deity. We celebrate and are glad, for we are one with you - now and always. And we welcome this lesson today. Amen.

Group: Amen

TOMAS: Good afternoon, precious flock. Anatolia and I embrace you and welcome you again into the embrace of the Universe - the Cosmic Contact with neighbors in the Spirit Family.

What an abundance of Joy we have today in your gathering - this culmination of many life decisions that have brought this man and this woman to their hearth, in which they delight to share themselves, their love and their faith with those of you. And with us! who conjoin with them in the celebration of the Gifts of the Spirit. (long pause)

Lesson

Challenge

I pause for a moment at midnight reflecting on your selection of music today, Elena, and wonder at the choice: the attitude that is so reflective of the Inner Life of the Faith Son ~ the quiet time of day that invites reflection - and reflectivation - on the affairs of your existence ~ be they personal, societal, global or cosmic in extent. It is a time of quietude and sanctity ~ at that instant in your daily life that marks the close of one day and the opening of another day-in-the-life of you creatures of time and space.

The reflections that rise up in the conscious mind at midnight are often an odd, and yet poignant and creative, upsurge of subconscious longings and fears enmeshed with superconscious yearnings and faith to create such a tapestry as this - your life moment. The midnight hour is always filled with human pondering, not excluding the fearsome ponderings of the individual who is alone or the individual who contemplates death, or loss of life and loved ones.

And yet, still, at this very hour of the clock striking twelve, the resurrection emerges in the final chime that earmarks a new tomorrow, a resurrection, faith of a new dawning, because of the constancy of the universe. Whether or not and to the extent that Consciousness of the Divine may enter into that state of consciousness, it is nonetheless a Moment in Time that is replete with the Human Condition.

And so we pause at the final gong of the twelfth hour and meet the New Day. And the New Day is a cheerful and sunny depiction of Light and Life in the home and heart of our friends and family.

My lesson today is set aside -- adapting to the circumstances of Life as I find it … as it is incumbent upon you to also adapt ~ at a moment's notice ~ to Life as you find it. For in this Fluid state of Acceptance of what Life has to offer, there are those exercises in expanding God-consciousness that give meat to your efforts.

Thus, I will ask for Anatolia to present her portion of the program. But before I relinquish the microphone, and in acknowledgment of Free Will, I am not intending to direct the show but to be, yes, efficacious in our delivery of that which longs to be revealed. Anatolia, if you would, proceed.

ANATOLIA: Welcome, all, to this New Abode which bodes well for the Lightness that is in each of your hearts, as we observe today your attitudes of graciousness and appreciation for the things that are important in life and not just the trimmings or trappings. This is important as you begin to wander off into your introspective directions of Truth-Seeking.

Let me not waste a moment to also welcome Linda (Renault), for her trip here is not an easy accomplishment, necessarily, and depicts the dedication which she, too, shares with the Teaching Mission and with all of you as well. You are One Unit, as much as petals on a flower make a Unit of gracious and loving Beauty. It is my pleasure to be with you in this realm which offers all of us the opportunity to welcome Newness and Life wherever it is demonstrated.

This is a New Day, for which Tomas spoke in the beginning, relative to Dorenda(Elena)'s choice in music. Speaking of New Days, each one ~ as you become aware ~ is beset with challenges and opportunities. And not just thinking in terms of beneficial or positive ways of thinking. Each opportunity that presents itself ~ whether a challenge or whether a gift ~ is an opportunity to accept that which is presented.

Let us say that the day, as it begins, would bring you some unbeknownst difficulty that in its most positive framework would be presented as a challenge. If that is the case, what would that challenge represent? It would represent the opportunity to meet and greet and to bless the occasion and to enable the best outcome to result. In other words, a simple example would be ~ especially on a Sunday morning when one certainly does not expect difficulty because of the innate nature of a Sunday morning, which is worshipful, restful and peaceful by its nature and design ~ let us say on such a Sunday morning you are greeted by a baseball flying through one of your windows. This would certainly create a rude awakening to your otherwise peaceful scene. The challenge of this opportunity for graciousness is not to be Pollyanna and to simply say, "Oh isn't baseball a wonderful game?" but rather, to rise to the occasion to say, "What must we and can we do to not curse the darkness but to bring Light upon this occasion?"

One can choose whatever their reaction will be. It can be one of immediate and intense agitation and looking for the culprit that caused an invasion of your privacy and peaceful mindset. This is not the preferred choice but one in which most people would respond. I encourage you to seek out the best in all situations, not because it is the right thing to do but because you are Forces of Light. What more can you do but to face the situation with integrity! ~ which is to present the same Light that you do during a moment of Joy ~ to also present that same Light upon a moment of discouragement? For both are the same opportunities. Both exist within the Light, and it is your opportunity to share that which you have and to not keep it from a moment where it is needed most.

So, I encourage you not to turn off your emotions but rather to fine tune them, to be able to rise to the occasion of Light meets Light. Light is needed where there is darkness. Light is welcome where there is Light to be able to expand and enhance Its presence. I simply encourage you to be that which you are: Emissaries and Light Bearers of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. This is your charge ~ not because I say so, but because IT IS OUR charge, as Beings of Creation, to be continuations of the Light we have been given.

We are the Light, after all, and if we do not pass that on, we are denying the world and the cosmos our version of what will make it better.

I encourage each of you to continue to grow - to seek within that which is your part of the Reality that we call Life, and to cherish the opportunity to be part of this which we share jointly … much as the petals on a flower. I welcome you and ask you to "scoot over" so I can add my petal to yours as we stand waiting the smile of our Heavenly Parents to allow us to continue to grow and to be the aromatic gift that we are.

Peace be with you and know that you are Loved and Love ~ at the same time. May all be well, and I love you dearly. Until we meet again. Amen.

Group: Amen. Thank you.

TOMAS: You will appreciate the choice of words then, when I, Tomas, suggest now we engage in intercourse. Are there questions?

Dialogue

Group: (much laughter)

Elena: Well, for once I don't have a question.

Renault: Is there a way to let Dotty know we wish her well and know that she's doing well and onto other things by graduating? (Dotty is a long time friend of Renault's mother, who recently left this realm.)

TOMAS: It is inherent in the resurrection, our understanding of a support system of those who love her: those in the flesh and those who have 'met' her in her new form. The first few days of adjustment to the Morontia Life is a flurry of New activity and meeting New personalities - being reunited with friends and family who preceded the Traveler. And there is, of course, somewhere in the musings of their Midnight Moment that they think about those they've left behind.

But, by this point they have such a New perspective on the dimensions of Reality that these understandings are inherent. Dotty knows you love her ~ knows you have always loved her ~ knows that you are happy for her transition and that any sadness you feel on account of her passing, is a natural part of the grieving process and that the bond between you will never fail.

Thus, I might venture to say that the spirit of your departed friend longs to comfort you in your concern for her, which should give you an idea of how well she is doing … and will continue to do well with the New Paradigm of Reality which is being presented to her in this dawning of her New Day on Mansonia.

Yes, Renault, she appreciates your sympathies. I can say this as a result of having had the experience myself ~ not because I have personally checked in on Dotty and asked her about her experience, but perhaps this will suffice insofar as giving you peace of mind in knowing that your friend knows that you miss her already and is happy for her glorified state.

In keeping, now, with Dotty's inherent, innate concern for you, are you OK?

Renault: Sure. A few aches and pains but I'm okay with it all.

TOMAS: Are you making reference to emotional or physical or mental aches and pains?

Renault: Physical.

TOMAS: In this I would suspect Dotty would also offer her condolences to you for the loss of comfort sustained by her passing. But this is done with good humor and good cheer. This, too, shall pass. Are there other questions?

Sleeping Survivors, Resurrection

Esmarelda: Tomas, I'm curious about something, since Renault mentioned the passing of a loved one, my brother Jared told me that Daddy was sleeping until the next great awakening.

TOMAS: Let me stop you for a moment, Esmarelda, to repeat for clarification what you have said. You have said your are curious, because your brother has been told his father, your father, who has passed over, is sleeping - yes, continue.

Esmarelda: And that - I can't remember if he said it was Ham or who it was that said it, but also in my mother's passing, she chose to be asleep with my father until they were both awakened.

What I'm curious about is that when I get to the mansion world - you said we are greeted by our loved ones and those who have gone before - if both of my parents are still sleeping - will I be able to be welcomed by them - since they are sleeping?

TOMAS: And your question, then, is (to repeat for the transcriber) that if your parents are both asleep awaiting the new dispensational roll call, and if you should resurrect and advance to Mansonia before them, will they be there to greet you?

Esmarelda: That's correct.

TOMAS: No. This is, however, one of the conditions of advanced growth. It might seem unfair that you would not be met by your parents who preceded you, but consider … if you are more spiritually astute and more ready to pursue your Spirit Journey … that you to be there when they are awakened.

The configuration of Life as you know it is not necessarily the same configuration you will find after your death and resurrection. There will be so many things New. There is a real problem directing your consciousness to how different it will be because you haven't been there and you continue to take your Mortal concepts into your perception of what Life will be like on the First Mansion World.

But remember, like the angels, men and women are not given in marriage beyond the Life in the flesh. And there is, in Truth, no reason for your native nuclear family to be in attendance in order for you to recognize MORE intimate associates in Spirit Reality - that being your own Thought Adjuster, who is your Father - and your Guardian Seraphim, who is in many ways your Mother. These elements of Divinity are your True Parents and they will surely greet you.

But for the human psyche, these entities are most often represented by that which the human mind already understands. This is why the legends reveal the loved ones as being literal. They may or may not be literal. And at some point during your readjustment to your New Life, you will indeed have occasion to reunite with their personalities, and the remembrance of whether you had been related in the flesh may or may not remain valuable ~ for what is of True Value is that which has lasting value, and families are a product of the material worlds. They come into being not only to maintain civilization but to propagate the race. And you don't need to propagate in Heaven. Nor do you need to acknowledge the Maternity and Paternity of those who gave you human Life. But, as you acknowledge and recognize their Personality, you will see the Father reflected in them and the Mother reflected in them such that you will see Who they Truly are. And that may or may not relate to how you know them now, as humans.

I tell you this fully understanding that there are many who will discard these words completely, inasmuch as they are not compatible with the human emotional tract. It is very much like - Again, I will be booed and hissed! - It is very much like those who will not go to heaven unless their pet is there as well.

Group: (some group laughter)

Elena: Well, there's a substantial group of those.

TOMAS: This is understood. But I am not here to pacify you. I am here to teach you. And if no students come back next year I will have learned my lesson. (more group laughter) But if the ones who do come back are eager to know Real Truth, rather than what they want to hear, I'll know I'll have done a good job as a Teacher.

Esmarelda: I think you do a very good job, and your message and your answer to my question is comforting, and I think whatever the situation is when we get to the mansion world, it will be joyous.

TOMAS: I certainly found it so. Incidentally, my mate preceded me in death but we were fortunate to have been resurrected at the same time. And so as we made ourselves at home in our New Realm it was simply a matter of time before we recognized one another, greeted one another in the Spirit, and resumed our journeys as friends and as siblings … but no longer as husband and wife.

Paula: Well, all of this doesn't make me a bit happy 'cause I'm old and haven't got a long time to live and when I get up there, I want it to be just the way I always figured it would be! I'll see my father and mother and all the rest of the family and I'm going to have a great time up there!

TOMAS: But you misunderstand my words to you, child. I am not taking away from you your beliefs. You are surely right. When you arrive you will see your Parents as you perceive them. You will be given that which is needful for you. And if you need your parents to greet you, and if it is His will that your will be done, it will be so. But I will insist upon my statement that how you will be aided in your ascent, and in relinquishing this Life in order to embrace the Next, when you in fact are resurrected you will be SO embraced by the Spirit you will KNOW that you are HOME. And that is all I'll say on the matter at this time.

Group: (chuckles)

Paula: And now I feel a little bit better. (more chuckles) I'm not anxious to get up there you understand. I'm having a great time right here!

TOMAS: I am glad to hear that, because we have an entire community to develop here, and you are certainly a part of our community. I say that not lightly because our conversation began a while back about the Garden of Eden, and how it is that each of you are creating your own Garden of Eden. These are not individual only. They are a part of the Community Concept. And so your quarter of the Village that we are creating in Light and Life among us is an essential element of the Reality that is unfolding in this Teacher Base.

This Teacher Base extends beyond you individuals within it. It is a Point of Light for the Great Southwest! And when others are drawn to this area, it would be good if they were drawn eventually into the Light and as Light from the Divinely guided ~ to the Garden of Eden that you have created. The new community is composed of you ~ the individuals in the community ~ you who reflect the Divine. You who reflect the values that are inherent in the Divine, along with us, are a reflection of Light and Life ~ Heaven on Earth. Your attitudes towards one another will show forth "and they will know that you have been with" the Master, that you have learned to love the Father, that you have been nurtured by the Mother, that you are happy siblings in the Family of God.

This success story that you are is not exclusively for your happiness but for the purpose of the Divine. If you would look at the circumstances that have brought you all here ~ even today ~ you will each see that you have been Divinely guided to this very spot. To this very moment. To this very Midnight Moment. So as we pause here to reflect and reflectivate, the Next Instant begins a New Day, a New Dispensation, a New Era. And it is one in which we will rejoice in the Family of Man together with the Family of God.

It all sounds very lofty and poetic, I know. But it is essential to the advancement of your world that you become attractive, you see. Not because, as Anatolia said, not because of your trappings, but because you represent to their minds that which is truly worthy of attaining. It may be perceived as a nice house with nice things, but it is far more than that. It is far more than the superficial material presentation.

It is, in truth, the spirit behind the depiction that is at the Heart of who you are and what you are saying to those who pass by you. If you can be one of those people who represent Truth, Beauty and Goodness in such a way as other people will look at you and say, "I don't know what it is about them but I want what they've got," it will have provided a beacon that will indeed allure and entice others to find you and your community will begin to be of service to the Universe -- beginning here in Rio Rancho. And I say that because this is where I am assigned. It is also the case in other Teacher Bases and in other communities throughout the world where individuals gather together to be all that they can be and reflect back Divine Value in all they do. And this is how we will attain Light and Life. This is how we will sooth the savage beast and bring about the peace which passes all understanding. It is that reflection and reflectivation at Midnight - the stilling of the heart and mind to ponder that which rises up and reaches up and reaches out to glean greater understanding of the purpose of Life and the fulfillment of your place within it.

Closing

How odd we should talk about Midnight when the sun is high in the sky and the Light is dazzling. Perhaps it is one of those issues of contrast that enables one to see more clearly the yin and yang of reality. Are there other questions?

Paula: I will keep my mouth shut. (group chuckles)

TOMAS: Then let us be on our way. Be of good cheer. See you next week.

Group: Thank you, Tomas.