Dearly Beloved

Interfaith Celebration Gathering

Dearly Beloved

Creator God,

I cannot go on. Things have gotten out of hand in my life. I cannot bear the pain, the sorrow and the hurt that I feel. I am so frightened of making mistakes. I hear so much about sin and punishment.

At times I am almost too scared to do anything, for fear of displeasing You, or of committing a sin. I worry that if I take charge and things fail, not only will everyone around me be angry, but You will be angry with me, too. I see bad things happen to people all the time, and I figure they must have done something really bad to have had those things happen.

Dearly Beloved,

I did not put you on this Earth so you could work for me, using either your hands or your head. Nor did I promise you a life free of strife. You asked to come here to learn lessons that will bring us closer together. Through you I can experience all things.

I promised you I would always be by your side to assist you in every situation. I am as close to you as your prayer requesting my help. However, because I respect you and your learning process, I cannot step in until you ask me to do so.

I am here to support you through the learning process that can take place after mistakes have been made - if you choose to allow it, and if you ask for my help. I love you dearly and want nothing more for you than your Highest and Greatest Good. You are an extension of me just as I am an extension of you. When you hurt, I ache to enfold you with my love, compassion and grace until that wonderful moment when you invite me into your life to help.

As to the ideas of sin and punishment, humans have such a propensity for looking for cause and effect, that they long ago created the ideas of mortal sin and punishment from Me for one’s sins. Both mortal sin and Divine punishment are only ideas, illusions created by mankind to make some sense of life. After all, what you can describe and understand, you feel you can control. So, the illusions of sin and punishment are mankind’s attempt to control both yourselves and others.

When two events happen in close proximity to each other, humans seem to want to play a cosmic version of Connect The Dots. But, there are no ‘dots’ to connect. In reality, 'bad' things happen to you because one of your brothers or sisters, acting out of his or her free will, made a mistake. There is no such thing as sin, there are only mistakes. While some mistakes are greater than others, in the end analysis, they are all only mistakes. They are actions taken when you did not realize that you, your brothers, your sisters, and I are One, we are interconnected and inseparable.

As to punishment, you punish each other enough without my adding to it. You withhold love from each other when you are displeased with your loved one’s behavior. Can anything possibly be more punishing that that? You treat others who do not act as you would have them act with disdain, contempt, judgments, shaming and name-calling. As a society, you punish what you consider to be wrongs with the full measure of the laws for punishment you have created. You even punish yourselves many times over for what you see as mistakes.

Even if I wanted to punish you, which I do not, punishment from me would be a bit redundant, don’t you think?

You are imperfect beings striving toward perfection. Inherent in your imperfection is your ability to err. Mistakes and errors are simply part of the learning process. They are not a cause for disparaging yourself or others.

Nor are errors a justification for punishment. They simply exist. They need to be acknowledged, owned, and forgiven, both by you and by the person or persons whom they impacted negatively. Mistakes are simply an opportunity to learn and grow. Some of you choose to grow from mistakes and some of you do not. While I regret your choice when you choose not to grow form a mistake, I do not interfere with your life’s plan. Nor do I create other opportunities for you to make the same or a similar mistake.

On a soul level, you know what lessons you are here to learn, so on a soul level, you set up the circumstances in your life such that you can learn what you failed to learn earlier. You are in total charge of your journey here on Schoolhouse Earth.

What I offer you and your brothers and sisters is Love, comfort and help with your journey. Love and punishment are incompatible. I cannot love you and also justify harming you any more than you could cut off your own hand because it offends you.

I am as close as a prayer. I am with you at all times, whether you are aware of my presence or not. I love you.

May God add a blessing to these humble words.

AMEN