Circle of Christhood

The Message Must Be Lived

"Every great teacher that has ever shared truth with others has stressed that his message must be lived, not simply heard.  It cannot last long if it is not lived, but if by the zeal of its followers it does survive, then it does so simply as a sterile philosophy or another cult.

"How can we keep the Infinite Way a living way of life in our homes?  There is a way, the only way: by accepting the principles within the message, and making them a part of our daily lives. Just how this is done will depend upon the one or two in the family accepting the responsibility for developing spiritual awareness in the family.  The home must become our place of worship, in the understanding that "the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."  We have no churches or organized meeting houses, for the very reason that, if it is to be a life-giving message, it must find its temple in the hearts of men.  Then their homes as well as their bodies become temples of God, because they have accepted Him as a living God resident within them, andknow they cannot depart from His presence.

"Is this not the closeness with God that we want to feel, and have our children feel?  We would walk freely in love, knowing that we owe no man anything except to love him as ourself.  This cannot come about by desiring it, or hoping for it, nor will a great deal of spiritual reading bring about any appreciable change unless we are also practicing daily the type of life that testifies to our living as sons of God.  Our lives are different in many respects now, but one distinct change is that we feel we can share freely, for we are constantly aware that all that the Father has is already ours, and we must make a way for its release through us.  There is in man an up-welling spring of life, energy, love, whatever you want to call it.  If a path is not made for its flow into expression, it turns the ground around it into a swamp.

"In an aware household, no member of the family should ever start his day without sitting quietly and realizing, 'Right where I am, God is, now.' This feeling of 'now-ness' and 'is-ness' of God willstay iwth one throughout the day like a secret word, a shibboleth that will keep God ever present. Encourage your child to feel this closeness, for if we parents fail to include this awareness in his training at home, we have not done our jobs fully.  We have made it more difficult for him to grow up into the fullness of life promised to every man: 'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.'

'The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof,' and we are part of that fullness, but how ungracious we are in our appreciation of the gift of life and all this fullness.  Open your child to this appreciation...Open his eyes, his ears, his heart; let him be aware early that he is citizen of the world and a fellow child of God with every other inhabitant of the earth. 

"Only in this way will encourage succeeding generations to believe that what they think and feel and do affects not only them, but will also ripple through this one consciousness that we are, and touch every one to some extent.  Jesus said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto me."  Read the Sermon on the Mount and become acquainted with the quality of life that we are expected to live as the child of God.  Not that God enforces this degree of living upon anyone; but until we do live this way, we are not allowing God's Will to be done on earth.  God does not hear the words and prayers of men; he only hears the message of their hearts, and what a man believes in his heart, he lives out in his life.  Let us, then, turn our hearts toward God so that

'the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.'

"Teach your child that what is most important in his life is his personal relationship with God.  Show him how, and encourage him to make his relationship the most important one in his life.  If he is right in his response to God, then he will be right in his response to every man."  Awakening p. 269-70