2001-12-30. Wonder of New Year
Nashville #137
Topic: Wonder of New Year
Group: Nashville TeaM
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Opening
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am happy that you are all gathered here this evening. It is good to have fellowshipping and we encourage this.
Lesson
Growth
Tonight, we shall discuss the wonder of a new year. It is a wonderful thing on your world that your new year roughly coincides with your winter solstice so that now the days begin to become longer and though there are long winter weeks ahead, there is also the promise of spring and new growth coming soon.
Each day is a new beginning. With each coming morning, there is new opportunity to broaden your outlook and receive new understandings that help you in your lives. No one is given knowledge of the future, but you are certainly given some glimpses which show direction in your lives.
It is very true that the future is what you make of it. It is conceived in your minds and carried out by your work. It is very true that directions are chosen and that your lives are very much your own creation in many ways. But, when lives are joined to the will of the Father, when you have the courage to give control of your lives into hands other than yours, hands greater than yours, then can true life transformations occur.
When you contemplate your futures, it is perhaps easier to grasp it completely and tightly, to plan everything and work toward each goal so that life contains few surprises. But the lives for God knowing people such as yourselves is filled with thrilling uncertainty. It is completed with disappointments and failures for the roads tried that didn’t succeed the way you had hoped. Truly, it is said of the God knowing kingdom believer, for him or her what does it matter if all things earthly crash for your true goals are beyond this world and you perceive this world truly as a training ground and a testing ground.
Success and failure to the God knowing is very different that it is to the world at large for your understand that you win more in failure than you do in success. You grow and fatten on disappointment and the thrill of uncertainty. You learn the value in waiting and become patient and wiser. You learn about human nature and the trials and tribulations of your brethren by experiencing them yourselves. Remember always, that you are hear to learn to live a righteous life, to grow toward the Father in heaven, to grow in love for him and for his children, and to truly know what it is to live a life on an evolutionary world at the edge of the universe.
You are learning to count your successes in other ways. Are you more loving, more tolerant, more accepting of yourselves and others this day than you were a year ago? Are you more peaceful in your hearts? Is the stress of living less a burden and more a joy each day? Is your happiness level rising? Are you more humble and secure in your place in the vast universe?
There will be many roads put before you in this coming year and you will choose among these with the best guidance you can muster. Each road will hold its own lessons and each one will lead to other roads and other lessons. And so goes the journey of life. In each life there will be ups and downs and this you must accept. But, you can glean from each experience its spiritual value and gather up your treasures in heaven.
Love, Jesus
There is nothing more valuable than love and all life experience will lead you to greater and greater love if you are truly seeking spiritual advancement. When you are rich in love, it is a possession , it is part of you, something which cannot be taken. It is something which colors all your life and transforms the most mundane reality into a beautiful, fantastic adventure full of charm and holiness.
Imagine for a moment, walking in the sandals of Jesus as he walked the villages and towns of Galilee. The people were just people, same as people are now filled with their petty concerns and problems. But look again through his eyes and you will see a wonderful landscape of pure love. He loved each person so much that their value to him was immeasurable, their words were important to him as his words were important to them. These people were his friends, his neighbors, and he loved each one of them with a divine, infinite love.
Now, take a look around you in this room and imagine you see your brethren with the eyes of Jesus. You have infinite understanding for each person, infinite love, infinite acceptance, and fatherly patience. Imagine that you see each person as the pure spirit being he sees, that the little character abrasions or things of this nature are seen as a father observes a child, as something precious and special.
Now I ask you to think of someone who has wronged you or you feels a grudge against and look at that person through the eyes of Jesus. Imagine that grievance growing smaller and smaller, for in the grand scheme of things, these petty disagreements are very small. Imagine yourselves loving that person as Jesus loves them. Did your hearts not open with compassion? It is important for you to use this lesson in your daily lives. When you feel yourselves needing a higher perspective, slip on the Master’s sandals and let him give you his view.
Are there any questions at this time?
Personal Counsel
Q: Ham may I have a personal message please?
Ham: Of course, my son. You have come far this past year. Think back to where you were one year ago. You have grown in the spirit, you have gained in wisdom, and your emotional life is more balanced. You are naturally a very compassionate man and it is important for you to go with the side of compassion rather than the opposite way of anger or fear. Compassion is very important in your life. Always remember to afford yourself that same compassion and understanding that you so readily give to others. Learn to say to yourself, “I did my best today and therefore everything is going by the Father’s will”. The Father asks only that you believe and follow him, grow in your love for him, and your way will be secure. Is this helping?
Q: Yes, thank you so much Ham.
Q: Ham I would like an end of the year update on my own self please?
Ham: Of course. Yes my daughter, you also have made good spiritual progress and have learned many lessons this past year. You are growing every day as you follow your light and expand your understanding and compassion for others and for yourself. You are also a person who tends to be very hard on yourself and gives love to other people but sometimes has trouble receiving it for yourself. This is still getting better and I am glad to see it. Don’t be afraid of yourself for who you are is a wonderful, loving, shining, marvelous being in the universe. You are welcomed and accepted by all the other beings seen and unseen who love you. Most of all, you must realize you are safe and that the Father holds you in his arms, his special, cherished daughter. And, you must realize that you truly have all the love you need.
Q: Ham, what do you think of Rayson’s message about the circuits, the energy expression, maybe for this group?
Ham: Yes, his emphasis upon group prayer is something helpful and he has a way of illustrating these things which can be helpful for some. Of course we welcome all efforts concerning prayer and meditation. Group prayer is a step toward group worship and these are both very powerful things. It would be fine to offer your prayers as a group at the beginning of the meeting, perhaps, for someone you are concerned with helping for simply for yourselves as a group, these things are encouraged, yes.
Q: Do you think we should print out the messages and share them among the group.
Ham: It is not necessary. It is sometimes confusing to have too many teachers all at once. But of course, it is fine to do these things also.
Q: Ham do you have an counsel for me tonight?
Ham: Certainly, my son, welcome back. You also have learned much over this past year. Remember when your life is going well that sometimes that is when you need the spirit the most. Human beings tend to turn to the Father in times of desperation and need while in times of stability and harmony the Father is neglected. We know that you try to make your life about the spirit and about helping others and these are two goals to cling to as well. It is good to have you return to our group. My blessing upon you and your family for this new year.
Q: Ham I would appreciate any words you have for me today.
Ham: My son, you do well. You also have come very far over this past year. You are realizing many things about yourself and coming to new understandings about your intellectual power as well as spiritual power. Remember that you have come very far and the future in unfolding before you. Each decision affects your future. The time is coming when you will know yourself as you know others and this power of knowing yourself will give you much more freedom and ability to change. Knowing oneself is also an infinite adventure, the more you understand, the more facets there are to understand and you love and respect for yourself only rises. Therefore, be unafraid to being open to new parts of yourself. Make friends with parts that have been hidden from you. For example, most of your life you thought of yourself as non intellectual or kind of anti-intellectual, as more intuitive and yet now you find that you are intellectually equal to very sophisticated philosophy, such as is found in the Urantia book. So you are finding who you are as a more rounded person. Is this helping?
Q: Yes it is, thank you, you have given me a lot to think about.
Q: Do you have anything for me as we head into this new year?
Ham: Certainly. Yes, my son, you are also growing in the spirit and have made great progress over this past year. You also are more secure in yourself as a spiritual being than you were a year ago and you are becoming more accepting and loving of others and of yourself. You are someone who holds yourself to high standards in many ways. And, sometimes, this makes it easy to become disappointed with yourself and you have a cycle that goes with that disappointment which isn’t always good for you. But, all in all your level of happiness and well being is rising and as you become more and more accepting of yourself and can break free from the demanding and eventual disappointment cycle, this happiness level will rise still further. You are much more stable than you were a year ago, much more self-assured. These things come only with spiritual growth and I am very glad to see this. Most of all, you need to know that you are a beloved child of the Father and a beloved son of Jesus himself who watches over you and prays for you. Know that you are worthy of the Master’s prayers. Think on this and go in peace my son.
Q: Do you have anything for Rebecca?
Ham: Yes, my daughter, you have come very far in this past year. We would wish that you could come to see yourself as we see you and that you could give to yourself as we give to you. But yes, you have come very far in this regard and have made great strides in self-assurance and grace. You are truly the Father’s beloved daughter. You have a great gift for empathy for others. Grant yourself that same understanding and patience and remember to take some time each day to be with the Father in meditation and worship. This will take your further than anything else.
Q: Jarad?
Ham: Yes, my son, you have truly come far in this year. You also are much more secure and self-assured, much more patient and loving and tolerant of others. Most of all, you have made strides in loving yourself. Still you have far to go, for you also are very exacting with yourself and prone to put the bar so high that disappointment is inevitable. Learn to lower that bar and to be giving with yourself as you would to a child. Give yourself goals, yes, but make them within reach and not so difficult that the cycle of disappointment repeats. Give yourself rewards and not punishment, give yourself love and not disappointment. See yourself as the Master sees you and let yourself be only a child.
Q: Daniel Raphael wants feedback about his self-published manuscript, “The Second Reformation, Reinventing Christianity”.
Ham: Certainly. My son, this is a fine work and it is very good that you have undertaken to create this thing. Be careful not to take too much on your shoulders at this time. Always remember that the effort is ours, and the results belong to the supreme. The effort itself is the important part for in all effort there is growth and there is learning. So be at ease and do not worry about achievements, let the effort be the achievement.
Q: Personal message for Norbert?
Ham: Certainly. My son, you have also come far in this year. You are growing and learning and becoming more and more who you are each day as it goes by. You have made good progress this past year and will make even more in the coming year. Do not push yourself so much but rather allow the unfolding of your life. This is difficult but it is wise for you. There are times when not everything can be controlled, when all you can do is let go and pray. Learn to do this with ease.
Q: Personal message for Elena?
Ham: Certainly, daughter, you have come very far in this year. You are also making progress in learning to love yourself. This progress will continue.
Q: Personal message for Esmirelda?
Ham: Yes, of course. My daughter, this past year has been difficult and rewarding. You have grown very much in the spirit. The future will be very much the same. True growth always comes through difficulty and so difficulty should be welcomed. Be at peace my daughter, you do well.
Q: Charlie B? Ham: Certainly, my son, this past year has been very emotionally difficult. As you grow in the spirit, you emotions will stabilize and become less extreme and even this past year has been less wrenching than it might have been because you are more balanced than you were a year ago. You are doing very well in many, many ways. Keep seeking the Father with all your heart and keep expanding your heart to love for your fellows and for yourself. You are doing very well.
Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week?
Ham: Of course, my son. This past year you have grown very much in the spirit. You have even experienced some breakthroughs and experienced new levels of spiritual living quite suddenly. Know that although the initial rush of the spirit may be temporary, that all growth is real and permanent. Know that you have also come far in areas of self-discovery and self-knowledge and as a result you are more secure and well rounded today than a year ago. Know also that you are cradled in the Father’s arms and given all the love you will ever need in this life and the next right now. When you find yourself in need of that love, it is available to you. Remember the stillness for it will help you stabilize your energies in the coming year.
You are all experiencing rapid spiritual growth and this can be destabilizing. The stillness will keep you grounded.
Closing
Let us pray for spiritual growth in the coming year and that we can see the value and the purpose in the lessons the Father gives. Let us become ever more humble and ever more whole hearted servants of the universal master plan. Let us dedicate yourselves once more to the service of the Father’s love and know my children that my love and my prayers are with you constantly. Be at peace, farewell.
