My friends, do not
lose heart.
We were made for
these times...
I have heard from so
many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are
concerned about the state of affairs in our world now.
Ours is a time of
almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the
latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary
people.
You are right in your assessments.
The lustre and
hubris some have aspired to while endorsing
acts so heinous against
children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded,
the helpless... is breathtaking.
Yet, I urge you, ask
you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by
bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope.
Most particularly
because, the fact is that we were made for these times...
Yes... For years, we
have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just
waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.
I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel
when I see one.
Regarding
awakened souls, there have
never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right
now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to
signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.
Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous
souls on the waters with you.
Even though your
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure
you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come
from a greater forest.
That long-grained
lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold
its own, and to advance, regardless.
In any dark time,
there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is
wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that.
There is a
tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on
what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not
focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the
sails.
We are needed, that
is all we can know.
And though we meet
resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us,
love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear.
Didn't you say
you were a believer?
Didn't you say
you pledged to listen to a voice greater?
Didn't you ask
for grace?
Don't you
remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice
greater?
Ours is not the task
of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to
mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
Any small, calm thing
that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some
portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is
not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.
What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts,
adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does
not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only
a small, determined group who will not give up during the first,
second, or hundredth gale.
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to
intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul.
Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times.
The light of the soul
throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes
proper matters to catch fire.
To display the
lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to
be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of
immense bravery and greatest necessity.
Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit
and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult,
this is one of the strongest things you can do.
There will always be times when you feel discouraged.
I too have felt
despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for
it.
I will not
entertain it.
It is not allowed
to eat from my plate.
The reason is this:
In my uttermost
bones I know something, as do you.
It is that there
can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth,
who you serve, and who sent you here...
The good words we say
and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and
deeds of the One who brought us here.
In that spirit, I
hope you will write this on your wall:
When a great ship
is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt.
But that is not what
great ships are built for.
