Open Heart
The essential nature of God welcoming and God understanding is the attitude of having an open heart, of accepting and releasing love and all its ramifications; forgiveness, understanding, acceptance, tolerance: those things which are thought of as fruits of the spirit, are indeed the action of love in the world.
So what does it mean to have an open heart, to welcome the spirit of our Father into your soul? It is an attitude of humility and an attitude of complete childlike trust. It is the act of complete vulnerability, of accepting the purity of a child, accepting your own pure-heartedness, being completely un-deceitful, completely open to all that is. Being open to the Father’s love, simultaneously makes one open to the world as well. It softens the heart and mind, giving one an open, honest, soft-hearted attitude toward the Father's other children. When the Master said, "How many times must you forgive your brethren? You must forgive infinitely, for each insult the world hurls upon you, you must return that insult with love and forgiveness." Because when you harden your heart toward one person or several people, you are closing off that part of your heart that must receive the Father’s love, that love that must pass through to all of His children.
When the Master instructed that we must, if receiving a blow on one cheek, we must turn the other to receive what will come. We must do something that shows even more vulnerability, something that exposes one even further, rather than taking steps to strike back. This is probably the most difficult lesson for you living in the world of much cruelty and injustice. To completely follow Him. It is essential to continually make oneself vulnerable to the slings and arrows of the world and to receive those blows without vengeance or thought of revenge. When you learn to take all that someone will throw at you without striking back, when you learn the art of this, you will know very much. For in this manner, you always win. When you take all the anger, all the insult, all the hurt and fear of someone else, and turn back on them, love and forgiveness, then you have truly triumphed in the spirit and have learned a great lesson on earth.
People are frightened children. They harm each other out of fear more than any other emotion. A wise parent understands that when their child strikes out in fear, that to remove that fear, you must absorb their childish behavior, their crying, their hitting out, their childish action and comfort that child so that the fear is released and replaced with love. How many times has your Heavenly Father reached out his arms toward you when you have refused his comfort and remained in your fearful or angry attitude? But the Father does not withdraw His love. The Father intensifies His efforts to show you His love. So must you intensify your efforts to show love to those who show you no love, who show you anger, or fear, or hurt.
Understand that human beings are not so much evil as fearful, and this fear can drive people to great lengths of anger. Mostly, because they want their fear changed, even if they can change fear into anger, as least it isn’t experienced as naked fear anymore. People are running from themselves very often and in doing so, they adopt an attitude which temporarily delivers them from fear. But it is a falseness and it is not a true deliverance. Human beings only find deliverance from fear in love. Only love can cast out fear, and with that fear will be cast out those associated emotions like anger, or hatred, bigotry and intolerance. Human beings often hold on to their bigotry, their hatreds, almost as a comfort, almost as a shelter from fear. The people who are most full of hate toward others have great fear of themselves. What they hate in others is what they fear in themselves and this fear and hatred can become almost codified in a little ritual of intolerant thinking that temporarily creates a shelter from introspection.
The Father commands only one thing, that you should love Him with all your hearts and should strive with all your might to become more and more like Him - more perfect in your thoughts, in your words, and in your deeds. The Father draws His children to Himself through love and only through love. There is never a set of rules, that if you should break them, would alienate His children from Himself. Nothing can alienate the child from the Father, but the child’s own will, own decisions. The Father seeks only to lovingly draw His children toward Himself and for His children to partake of His nature in greater and greater degree. The Father’s nature is that of complete love, that of absolute love, such love that if you should glimpse just a part of it, you would scarcely be able to remain on earth.
The Father’s love as it comes to you in this earthly form is very much tempered or diluted, so to speak, so that you can receive it, but that love is still strong enough to cast out all fear, to cast out all impurity in the heart. So that the more you receive, the more you can receive and so forth. The Father’s love is like a great purifier. The more love you can accept for yourself, the more pure your intention of love is toward others, and the more pure your love is toward others, the more closer you are to the Father. Therefore, seek not after those things that others can do for you, rather seek what you can do for others through your heavenly nature. Seek to expand that heavenly nature, so that you may be more and more useful to the Father in this life. Expand your love for Him. Allow His love to caste out all impurity. Open your hearts completely to Him and simultaneously, open your hearts to His children. Be soft-hearted, vulnerable people. Accept the injustice of the world without complaint. Give back to all who injure you. Give back love a hundredfold. Pray for those who have been spiteful toward you or have used you. Pray that they may be open to the Father’s love and pray that you can forgive them. Pray for all those who are injured and pray for all those who injure you or others. Have an open heart for all and do not close your heart to anyone. In this, you shall learn many lessons of the spirit. You will learn about yourself and you will learn about others. Ham
