1998-12-20-A Christmas Message

Session

Opening

MERIUM: Merry Christmas, everybody. This is Merium.

GROUP:Hi Merium. Merry Christmas.

Dialogue

MERIUM: I am coming in, in your culture, and acknowledging the sounds of Christmas in your environment. Not because it's my holiday, no, but because it is a holiday that you celebrate in your culture here which gives you opportunity to be of good cheer and, even, in good cheer in the context of the birth of the Christ child, thereby bringing all manner of opportunities to you to teach and preach during this auspicious holiday occasion. Every opportunity is fodder for the teacher mill, and so it is opportunity again for us to extrapolate on how it is that you might be effective in your arenas as you maintain your consciousness of our Father and His bestowal here. The munchkins are always an opportunity to parallel children of God. Always, if you are, in your heart, a child, can you equate yourself to the little ones.

You can discuss the anticipation of St. Nick in terms of your own anticipation of when it is that He will return and how easily then that lends itself to an opportunity to testify that He is in fact here today and living among you. In the spirit. I am going to bow out and allow Tomas to carry on and yet before I go I am going to play the divine Miss M here and pretend I am your hostess so that I might embrace our Angus who has bestowed himself upon this gathering today . Welcome, dear one.

ANGUS: Thank you.

MERIUM: It is indeed a joy to have you in this fold. How much we all appreciate the joy you bring in your very presence.

CELESTE: That is so true, Merium.

MERIUM: If you but take a moment to enjoy each other's presence, you will be in the appropriate circuit for Tomas' lesson of this afternoon. Therefore I will be quiet and let my colleague prevail.

LEAH: Thank you, Merium.

ANGUS: Merry Christmas.

TOMAS: Good afternoon. This is Tomas, your teacher. It is good to be here and I am glad, as always, for your loyalty and for the assistance of Merium who always manages to brighten my corner of the universe, much as you brighten the corner of the universe in which you find yourself. In fact, in light of today's lesson and in light of the season, I will speak to you today about your light and bring it to your attention in the analogy of a string of Christmas lights. You here at the table, indeed, all of us here in this room, are on a circuit, a string of lights in honor of the light of truth. Each of us reflects a different colored light. We manifest the light that comes through the circuits. Each light that is lit creates greater illumination, so that your individual light becomes part of the twinkling of the environs. When you are asked to put your light upon a hill where it can be seen, you are being asked to tap into the energy of the greater light. These words are, of course, rudimentary but it is, even so, an opportunity for me to paint a picture so that you can look at all these Christmas lights with a new perspective, a perhaps greater perspective, on what is being attempted.

You read today about the different levels of energy, the various powers of energy. You have reasoned among yourselves that can die out and there are energies which are eternal. The light that you are developing inside your self by and through your association with your Indwelling Adjuster is a light t hat will never die. The pilot light is illuminated in your lives as you grasp greater phase truths. Are you aware of the light you give off? Are you aware of the color of Christmas that you represent this season? Each of you together, in union, as you connect with each other in this greater reality, can manifest then a light which supercedes the glitter of the perception of the lesser way.

Remain true to your true Source of energy, your power source on high. That way when all the tertiary lights flicker and fail, you will be able to rejoice in the foundation you have set by being at one with your pilot light which remain s ever lit and ever focused. And thus, in keeping with your culture, I have delivered what might be cal led your Christmas sermon. I will, in light of your festive mood, and indeed in deference in part to our most honored guest, offer opportunity to enjoy your repartee and seek questions and/or commentary. The floor is open.

RACHEL: Do you have a question, Angus?

ANGUS: I just would like to say "hi" to Tomas. It's nice to meet you, Tomas.

TOMAS: [Gerdean, move over.] (Group laughter)

LEAH: Well, maybe you could make some commentary on the rush that we all seem to be immersed in. Is it just because we are so commercial here or - Kate had said something about she felt that time had run out and I feel that way too. Just like there is a celestial speed-up of enormous proportions. Is such a thing happening? Or

TOMAS: We have had this discussion many times. (Group laughter) Perhaps you are going too fast to hear it.

LEAH: That's probably true.

TOMAS: Yes, Angus, I would like also to greet you. It is a joy to know you and to see your loyalty in your own understanding of your Agondonter status and to see you embrace the greater community. You are indeed one of the lights on this string of lights on the Christmas tree of creation. Your light is as clear and joyous as others in this participatory venture. How wonderful it is when we begin to embrace the greater community. You are an example of an individual who has known the benefits of God-consciousness and cherished that sacred relationship and held it in your heart, giving you great comfort, even when all things earthly crumbled, but in a reflection of other lights as your own, you can appreciate that even tho ugh you can see other lights reflected, you are still your own light and since you have your own power Source, they too could extinguish and fade but yours is true. It is part of the existential reality of humanity that each individual is responsible for his own light of truth. It is indeed perhaps in grasping the greater light that you begin to have your own sense of time and space.

When you say that time seems to be going by quicker, there are many factors involved in that. You will find that little children still think they have forever, and they are still unawares of how much time they have before they run out of daylight, but you who have become experientially aware of mortality and deadlines and limitations of mortal reality, have come to appreciate t hat there may be enough time in the universe, but there is still not enough ti me in the day to do what you want to do. As you have a rich life, as you enjoy your existence, as you have much to share, you want to cram even more into your life. The adage that "Life is but a days work; do it well" gives you an idea of how it is that in wanting to do well, you want to also have the opportunity to practice it and get proficient at it and you find time slipping away as the education of your very existence takes on so many levels of understanding and opportunity. It is then, my dears, a matter of establishing your priorities. I am finished.

LEAH: Well, we do show up here every week. Generally.

TOMAS: Are you inferring that that is a priority?

LEAH: Oh, yes.

TOMAS: I am fully aware of your devotion to your spiritual connection an d the solid comfort and multi-layered stimuli that comes from your association with fellow-religionists. Indeed, it is my greatest joy to be a part of this community and to be a part, also, of your spiritual growth, your developing love and desire to be of creative service to each other and to the Master in your world at large. It is a good priority, Ah-Leah

LEAH: I just have to figure out the priority of other stuff in life.

TOMAS: Yes. This is also one of the delights of life. When it is said that you have been given the gift of life, it behooves you to be able to regard each day as a gift and each moment in time also as a gift. And here we are again talking about Christmas, are we not, and yet more opportunities to plant the seeds; that, in the gift-giving, may I give you a piece of my heart and a piece of my hope? A little bit of faith? A lot of trust? These are the gifts that, according to Hallmark, keep on giving. Perhaps they are part of the greater Power Center.

LEAH: Well, you celestial beings certainly exude a kind of giving.

TOMAS: We have had a lot of practice. We are also committed. When you commit yourself to doing a job, I know your integrity, and I know that if you have said you will do something, you approach it with a positive attitude. Only as you feel you are being taken advantage of or that your gift is being misused, do you find it necessary to reconsider and re-evaluate your circumstances. This is a growth lesson also.

LEAH: Well, I know I speak for all of us when I say we are grateful t hat you come and give us counsel. And you are so patient with us, too.

TOMAS: I am told that I have great patience.

RACHEL: It's a virtue, Tomas.

TOMAS: I need to prod you in your development and not sit here and soak up compliments. Although, of course, I enjoy your words of support and praise. Indeed, I am being reminded by Merium, that you are giving me Christmas presents and so I accept your gifts in the spirit in which they are intended.

CELESTE: Tomas, do you think I will ever learn to understand The Urantia Book? There are parts of it that are so hard!

TOMAS: I am quite certain, Celeste, you will come to understand what is necessary. If you will recall, there are ages upon ages to come in which you can learn all that is necessary, even all the way into Paradise. There are parts of the Book which I don't understand. There are parts of the universe that I have not been to, and so do not be impatient with yourselves. It is important here, Celeste, that your understanding of the Book includes some elementary reality, some relationship realities based upon your relationship with Our Father and then with your siblings in the Kingdom. That's a good grounding place to begin. From there you feel love, you fee l safe, you feel you want to give, and then you begin to give in service to others. There is not much more to understand than that. That itself is a full time job. If you want facts, by all means exercise your mind and assimilate as many facts and insights as you can. But don't beat yourself up if you are incapable at this point of grasping certain informations.

All right, then. Let's think in terms of yourselves as a gift. A Christmas gift. Yes, Angus you are a gift to this gift and Gerdean is certainly appreciating the joys of the gift of your arrival in our midst, and you are being the recipient of the gifts of these women who are enchanted by your energy and your presence. Just by being in the presence of humanity, you are presenting humanity wit h a gift of the spirit. It is an indication of the new era that you don't think in these terms.

Only lately have we been put upon to put it to your attention that your pattern of reality affects people in more than a cursory or socially gracious way. You carry with you intent and purpose. You are motivated t o bring the Father into your environment. You are geared and gearing yourself to display His fruits of the spirit in your lives and in your relationships. How can you not regard yourself as a gift? How? Well, I know your conditioning. Your conditioning would say, "I can not exalt myself in such a manner because I have seen how some people are and they are obnoxious to be around; they are egoistic and self-centered; they think the world revolves around them; they think their opinions are most important;" and on and on and on and I am not talking about that level of reality at a ll. I am talking about the manifestation of the love saturated soul.

This reality is a reality which your world hungers for. When it is out there shopping, what is it really looking for? It is looking for the light that will light the way, the gem, the jewel, the pearl of great price. These offerings of other are what is truly being sought, coveted, fought over, and they are not aware of it. Bring your gift of love into t he environment and allow them to savor the reality of that gift, that gift which you yourself have been given.

RACHEL: Even if they reject it?

TOMAS: Even if they reject it. That is not

RACHEL: What I mean to say, Tomas, is I had an experience yesterday where I talked to my ex-husband and I was impassioned about something and - he hasn't listened to me without hanging up the phone in two years. And I heard his soul listen to that yesterday, and I was just - I wasn't aware of what was going on at the time, but I realized that he was listening! Even though he told me I was crazy and all kinds of other things, but for some reason or another he listened!

TOMAS: And also, something in you realized he was listening, and so there is some kind of communication going on there. Attained. Appreciate the gift , then, that you have received in this breakthrough!

RACHEL: I did! It made me feel so good it made me cry.

TOMAS: Bravo. Bravo to the Father who works incessantly to bring about such a harmonious relationship between his many-faceted children. Continue in your efforts to bring about good will. Not only will your children benefit, bu t all of humanity will benefit. It is a noble endeavor. If and when you find that your words are not falling on fertile soil and when your light is being unplugged, if you will, then remove yourself, but remember undying hope and don't give up.

RACHEL: I'm still having undying hope for me, Tomas, that I'll be saved in my 11th hour.

TOMAS: I trust you jest.

RACHEL: No! I don't! Of course, I don't know when the 11th hour is.

TOMAS: I see. You are discussing the lesser reality. I am glad that you are discussing your salvation in terms of your address and not in terms of your actuality. I would have felt dismayed that my lessons were not being effective, if you had.

RACHEL: No, Tomas. Understand too, that I'm coming into an awareness of a greater faith.

TOMAS: Indeed, you are coming into an awareness of - not just the faith itself, but a conscious awareness of it. I am glad of this, because when you become aware of your assets, you can also become aware of your liabilities . And as you are aware AT ALL, it is something you can work with and work on in order that you may be a more effective teacher and preacher. This goes to the heart of our recent lessons as to your acknowledgment of your own relative perfection. Indeed it goes to the heart of my preliminary remarks regarding the development of character, preceding the series of lessons on the Fruits of the Spirit. As you allow your mind to work with these concepts, they become a part of you consciously, allowing then for greater growth on other levels. You are advancing in your destiny path. This gives us great joy. We celestial hosts rejoice. The angels sing, as you accept your reality and act upon it.

CELESTE: And the fruits of the spirit, then, become so much more meaningful.

TOMAS: They become more meaningful, Celeste, yes, they become downright critical. "By their fruits they shall be known", and they shall be known better, and they shall be known intimately, in and through the relationship with divinity, and thus we will move from the material existence into the realms of light and life, hauling the material existence with it.

RACHEL: I know I've said this before, but I was standing reflecting on the things I've learned this week and I - it was like poetry. God is like poetry in motion because He - it's like poetic the way you grasp these lessons? The way you become aware and you say, "Oh, how pretty! He's so easy on yo u!" even though I'm throwing my temper tantrum. You know?

TOMAS: Indeed. Well said. It is wonderful, however, as you leave your childishness behind and become led in childlike faith, these portals into greater awareness are more easily assumed. You struggle less. Even when you have a difficult learning experience, you have a better faith grasp, understanding that something important is going to come form this lesson. It may not even be for you! It may be for one you can minister to, and that will have made it worth it, worthwhile. But the bottom line is your attitude.

RACHEL: It needs adjusting

TOMAS: It is incessantly adjusting, in order that you might have a wide- range education.

RACHEL: I had a dream last night or the night before that life and it's experiences was like a book, and this was my life, that every page, chapter I opened, out would flow the experiences in beautiful colors and scenes, and even the most devastating one had this beautiful message with it, so that everything WAS beautiful, even though you may not think it's beautiful at the time. Every unfolding.

TOMAS: What I would like for you to do, Rachel, is to put those words on the wall in a frame, those words you just spoke, so that the next time you have a difficult passage to go through, you can remind yourself that you've done it before, you can do it again. And these are your very own words. These are your testimonies to truth. It is not something I have told you; it is not something that has even come from The Urantia Book or other prophetic tome . It has come from your own experiential reality. You can do this.

LIANA: It reminds me of that song, "Everything is beautiful, in it's own way." (Group sing)

TOMAS: Christmas carols!

ANGUS: Does the reconnecting time, Tomas, mean that - we look at everything being directed inward toward us from out of the universe as far as the reconnecting of the circuitry, but what about when we are showing our light to others? Is their circuitry more open now because of the reconnection?

TOMAS: It is indeed, and far more amenable to activation. Let's say you are all on a light switch but many of the lights are not lit but just encircuited and aware of the surge of spiritual power and energy available to them. A s you have your light lit, and as you urge them to turn on their switch, the y will be more inclined to see what their own light looks like, and so you can encourage the fostering of greater global reality by your encouraging your fellows who remain in darkness to come into the light, to come into their own light.

LIANA: And this is what is meant by "they enter the ark two by two". It came from a book I was just reading. When you light another That's: Do you get it, Tomas? (Group laughter) I wish you'd acknowledge me so I didn't sit here struggling!

TOMAS: I enjoy your teachings! (Group laughter) I suppose then you and I are an example of two and two there!

LIANA: Um-hum

TOMAS: You lead me and I lead you and we find our way together. Sometimes you are in the dark; sometimes I am. Like just now. (Group laughter)

HESTER: It takes the light and the darkness because without the darkness , you would not recognize the light. And without the light you would not recognize the dark.

LIANA: We read something today about that.

ANGUS: The dark holes in space.

GERDEAN: Not to mention page 51!

LEAH: Right.

Closing

TOMAS: I am going to talk to you a moment more about this upcoming Christmas season in terms of your lights, even about the pace of your world, and about the importance of your knowing where your power and energy come from. As we approach this Christmas season, you will more and more discover those who are lost in a turmoil of non-reality. They have gotten caught up -- They? They.-- have gotten caught up in something that is not giving them peace. They act erratic, perhaps lost, lonely, hostile, fearful, excitable, angry , depressed, belligerent, confused. In a word: emotional. Emotional in this case is the lesser energy, and it will exhaust. Be for them the real Source. Connect yourself to the First Source and Center. Ground yourself in that greater energy and when they come by with their emotional eddy, hold firm. Hold firm not only for your own sanity, but in the long run for theirs as well. Great growth will come from these seasons of pitch. Merry Christmas.

GROUP: Merry Christmas, Tomas.