2007-03-18. Rio Rancho’s 5th Anniversary
Rio Rancho #144
Topic: Rio Rancho’s 5th Anniversary
Group: Rio Rancho TeaM
Teacher: Tomas, Merium
TR: Gerdean
Opening
Music: Elena on Piano: “Heavenly Sunshine” Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, Wonderful Heavenly Mother, and wonderful celestial beings that gather around us today to shed your love on us and your guidance and your wisdom. We praise you for your valiant efforts at guiding us along in our one step at a time existence, and we are grateful for your presence here and eager to hear what you have to say to us today. So thank you for being here with us on this beautiful day and we are so welcoming you into this room and into our hearts. Thank you. Amen.
MERIUM: Amen and thank you, Elena, for your lovely bouquet of music and prayer. “Heavenly Sunshine” indeed! What a radiant outpouring! Do you know that the center of your sun is 35,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit and that it takes light years to get from there to your planet so that it’s warmth can draw forth the daffodils buried in the earth, to come forth and trumpet springtime?
There is every reason to praise His holy name in song and thanksgiving for the bounties that are provided, not only for this world but for all the worlds throughout time and space. And even beyond, to those inert areas of the Master Universe that lay and await the divine finger to have writ itself upon it such that even you perhaps one day will be engaged in the creation of the universe.
For today, however, let’s just gather here with who we are and what we have and celebrate the coming of spring and the anniversary of your group. Let me invite Tomas in since he will be blowing the candles out on the cake.
Group: Is it four years? No, five years! Time flies.
TOMAS: Time flies when you are having fun and/or actively participating in an ongoing pageant such as we enjoy in this unfolding of the divine will on Urantia.
Lesson
Our group was technically begun in March of 1993 when I first made contact with Gerdean and celebrated with Hal and Rebecca — Jared and Rebecca — in the little house in the valley, attended also by Nolus and Jeremiah from the Woods Cross group who came to sanction and bless our coming into being. It took lo those many nine years for the bulb of the daffodil that is your group to come forth, and now we are seeing you in the full blush of your youth. I am proud to have served with this group in this unfolding and its members, those who have passed by and those yet to come. [Long pause]
Merium and I have been discussing (in this interim pause) your conversations prior to the opening of our session. Before we undertake the questions that you have formulated as a result of your active socializing, let me ask you what you anticipate from our gatherings.
Over the years we have acted as a church, as a social group, and as a ministry, but the potential of this configuration has not begun to reach its potential. Reaching your potential as individuals impacts on the potential of what you can do as a group, and so this means that you each are in a process of developing your own potential or your are not, and to the extent that you are growing in spirit reality, you are inherently contributing, while those of you who are not contributing to your own spiritual development, while not particularly advancing the group, are none-the-less maintaining a status quo that would serve to provide an anchor for those whose growth might otherwise waft off onto new things or other fields.
I will ask you then to think in terms of whether our group ought to continue or whether it has reached a point of fulfillment such that we are no longer perceived as needed or shall we embark upon a course of study for an experimental outreach or what do you propose we do with this which we have created, if anything.
It behooves us occasionally to check in with our members to find out if their needs are being met. It is certainly not our intention to obligate you to our teachings. Many groups have come into existence and faded, the participants going on to engage in their god-led, spirit-conscious lives of fulfillment and adventure.
It is a matter of free will. But we certainly want this to be most advantageous for you or as many of you who enjoy our company and counsel. Shall we retire the group? Or shall we persevere?
Dialogue
Esmeralda: Oh, I think we need to persevere. I would feel a very important part of my life had disappeared if we did not have our meetings. They mean so much and I don’t know about the others but I have so much to learn, and these sessions are inspirational, educational, stimulating, inspiring … I think I said inspirational, but definitely inspiring …and I would feel quite a void if our group did not persist.
And in time, possibly, it will grow. It’s not a fast thing to gain more members in our group, but there is still potential, and the group that we have is a nice family, so I would definitely want it to continue. Your teachings are very helpful.
Elena: I would definitely want it to continue. I think that — and I participate certainly very actively in a church, too, but I don’t– I have the feeling that this is somehow closer and more on-line than the regular church environment. Not that … and I don’t mean that in any critical way, because I enjoy that too, but I have to agree that I would feel bereft if this group were to not continue.
I think it’s interesting, though, to look at what our group does and I think that maybe some input on what we– how we would proceed– might be a very good discussion, because I think if we were to focus and align some of the efforts that are being extended in the other parts of our lives, and maybe to focus those and gather them into one kind of think might be helpful and might be the good deal. And that actually relates to some of the questions, you know, that we have actually been posing, so I won’t get into that, necessarily. I think we’d need to think a little bit.
I mean, just right off the top of my head, I guess one of the things that I’d like to … Sometimes I don’t know from the lessons if I’m really getting it or not, and I guess sometimes what I would kind of like is just to have kind of … since we do have this kind of on-line contact — to have a little bit more feedback about how we are doing. You know, that feedback thing individually, so just kind of check our progress, I think would be one thing that I would like. But then to be open in a discussion from everybody else about new ways we might consider.
Esmeralda: If we didn’t have these sessions, we would miss all of you who visit with us. Elena: Yeah!
TOMAS: Thank you. I would miss you, as well. I become very attached affectionately to my students.
I am going to suggest that we take a look, then, at our component parts in the concept of church, as you understand it. You think in terms of a cathedral or a building and the people attend the church. The parishioners go to church. But I would like to introduce the thought to you that you yourself are the church. You are the temple, the synagogue, the body of Christ. Whether and when you do things together as a larger body, or as a congregation, is another matter, but for now let’s think in terms of you as individual churches — a place of worship, a ministry, even a belief system, and a social outlet.
If you think in terms of yourself as “the church,” the spirit within your church then can be your Thought Adjuster. And it is how you represent your Thought Adjuster that gauges what kind of church you are and how effective it may be, if at all, in your life — and in the lives of others.
There are in your mind’s eye many kinds of churches, based on sects, and edifices of evolutionary religion, and so your church — which may be the little church in the wild- wood — will not be the same as the mosque or the temple, but none-the-less the spirit is within that house of worship. When and as your church reflects the spirit within it in all you do, you have, to all intents and purposes, fused. The actual fusion may be delayed simply because the impact, the physical impact of fusion is such that it can be destructive of the environment, and so you are in some regards restrained from fusing until you leave the planet, when you don’t have the physical body to concern yourself with.
But you can begin to act even now as if you have fused. And to the extent that you have not fused, it will certainly be made apparent by your actions, which speak louder than words. And which will reveal whether it is the divine spark within that is expressing itself or your imperfect aspects. Even though, to be fair, even your imperfect aspects are a part of you as a Son of God; even fused, you are still not rendered perfect. There are many, many worlds ahead before you can call yourselves “perfect” in the ultimate sense of the word.
So rather than this Rio Rancho TeaM being thought of as a church, I will think of you each as individual little churches running around, and each of you will lay out your altar and your pews as is appropriate for you. I invite you to worship with one another. For in this process, you will discover the walls of your church come down and the glory of your being will rise up triumphantly to herald … springtime. The sunshine of his love.
I’ll return you to Merium for fun and games. Bless you, my loyal students and eternal friends.
Group: Thank you, Tomas, for coming today. It’s always great to have you. I’m glad you’re going to be an eternal friend. That’s good. Yes, that’s wonderful.
MERIUM: Me, too? Yes, me too, and I will not always be your babysitter. (Chuckles)
Yes, I understand that there were questions in your discussion that you wanted to put on record for our response. Are you ready to get them out of the Job Jar?
Elena: Well, my question has to do with how we think about pursuing our passions and using our talents that God gives us and how that relates or conflicts or works with or works against Father’s will, and our egos. I mean, on one hand, one of our tasks is to rid ourselves of ego, perhaps, and to go more towards Father’s will. Okay. So how does that line up with actually us pursuing our passions and using our talents, because quite often when you’re in the process of doing that, it appears that you’re feeding your ego as opposed to doing that which Father would have us do. So I’d like your guidance on how we work with each one of those and still have an ever-closer path towards Father.
MERIUM: Excuse me while I stand here and look at the daffodils.
Elena: Oh, okay.
MERIUM: I am observing the fact that the energy from the sun went to great lengths to come all the way down here to bring the daffodil up out of the ground, so that it could reach up and spread itself in order to be the most dynamic, yellow daffodil it can be. And this same thing is true precisely. The spirit of God has come a looonnnggg way to burrow itself into the still, quiet recesses of your mind, in order to work with you as through time you begin to stir and awaken and emerge as a personality, even as a super-conscious personality, in order to be all that you can be.
Am I going to stand there at that daffodil’s side and berate it for having the audacity to manifest itself so radiantly, as if it were a bad thing? Am I going to stand next to you with my hand on my hip judging your unworth as a child of God to not manifest yourself as you are being called to do by the very molecules of your being, saying it is mere ego? If you were a lesser woman, I might consider it. But I recognize you as a daughter of the Divine. You are god-conscious and striving to become godlike.
What choice has a daffodil if it is following the pattern of its design but to become a daffodil? It cannot become a toadstool nor a tulip. It must be a daffodil or die trying. Whatever it is that emerges from you that you feel led to do in service to your congregation, you are encouraged to embrace as your task.
I would say that those who are not god-conscious, who simply want to come along and construct an idea because it will make them money or give them an edge somehow, might have their ego at the helm. But those of you who strive to know God and be like him are not they, even though each of you — as relatively imperfect, as incomplete — are going to manifest shades of ego manifestation. But if you are not driven by your ego (which is not a Father-fused attitude), then you are doing His will.
You are conscious enough of your consciousness to observe and recognize when you are in error and correct your ways for you know that the path you are on will fall short, will fail to provide you the satisfaction that can be derived from doing it well, doing it right, doing it according to the best sense of your comprehension of the divine will for you, through you, in you and as you — a son of God, a daughter of divinity.
Those who strut their stuff to the exclusion of truth, beauty and goodness are like plastic flowers. They may look really good from afar. They may even look intriguing up close. But they lack that spark of life that renders them spiritually fragrant. (Sometimes even skunk cabbage is an appropriate reflection of the divine for it is, at least, real.)
Why? Were you feeling restricted? Did you think that your hobby was ego run amok?
Elena: Well, actually, I just kind wondered a bit because I had doubted, actually, why I was doing this, I guess. That’s not entirely true. It had occurred to me that because I was interested in having it be financially successful, then it might be more ego-driven than … more firmly based than the spiritual side, so I guess sometimes any connection with money makes you wonder if your intentions are in the right place.
MERUM: That’s because God has no use for money. Your spirit has no need for money either. But your church needs money because it is finite, material. (When I say “your church” I am drawing upon Tomas’ rendering, in order for you to, say, keep fresh flowers on the alter or reupholster the seats in the choir, or provide tablecloths for the conference tables that will be set up out under the trees for picnic lunch. If that is in keeping with the pattern of the church you are creating then those will be valid expenditures that can be rightfully considered part of your responsibility. Just check your motives.
Now, when I say, “just check your motives,” I don’t mean to go so far as to say, “Well, I need flowers; I’d like to have flowers; flowers would look good on the altar. That would involve an investment of $17.00,” whereas, “I don’t have to have flowers on the altar; I could pick forsythia from the yard and they would do as well.” This is allowing your mind to discern, as it says in the book, “Counting the Cost.” And your ego is that which would say, “Oh, no! We must have flowers. We must have $150 worth of flowers. We must have more flowers than any other church in town, in order for people to take me seriously.” That would be ego.
Elena: Okay. That makes sense to me. Well, I can see that I have a little bit of work to do then because part of this hobby is, you know, presenting yourself well and as attractive to other people, so … but I get your point. I mean, you can present yourself well and still not be to where you have to look better than anybody else kind of thing, so I think I get your point. Thank you.
MERIUM: You’re welcome. You need to be presentable. Establish your own understanding of what it means to be presentable, based on your standards as you’ve worked out within yourself, perhaps in consultation with that divine aspect in you which is at the helm of your endeavor. It is the spirit that leads. If you are allowing the spirit to lead, then allow its inspiration to fill you, understanding that the mortal vehicle will be responsible for “counting the cost.”
We have been dealing with you around fifteen years or so, and encouraging you to become all that you can be. Grow, develop and branch out, establish yourselves as ambassadors of His Kingdom, and invest yourself in ministry of one sort or another. And you have been counseled as to the talents that are given to the sundry stewards. And so as you recognize your talent and are impelled to serve, there begins to grow within you a stirring that can be called a leading.
Look within you to ascertain if you are being driven by your own need to advance or excel or strut your stuff or prove something or make points or whatever as compared to following the leading that you are given from your higher consciousness, that morontia reality which will be superimposed through the leadings of the Thought Adjuster that show you the way.
Usually if you have to force something, you are going about it the wrong way. This is not to say that unfolding yourself does not take effort. There is no happiness without intelligent effort, no progress. But if you are butting your head up against a wall and not finding effects, perhaps you are going about it the wrong way. Perhaps you need to back up and reconsider your approach, your motives, or your design.
This all comes back to, once more, following the still small voice. And making certain that that small still voice is the voice of God and not the voice of your own ambition or your own ego-desires to seek position at God’s table. If you are maneuvering your way to sit next to God for his favor, you are simultaneously edging someone else away and out, and that would constitute an egoistic act. Is that clear?
Elena: Yeah, it is. I mean it kind of gets back to where we came in, with your great example of the ego and the daffodils. So it kind of completes the circle there, I think. I think you touched on each one of the elements that I was asking about. And it still points out that still small voice. I mean, that’s one of the threads that has been in your teaching for all the years, encouraging us to listen to that voice and I guess a lot of times we try to do everything else but that, perhaps. Or we get busy or whatever. And many of the lessons that you’ve given us have been certainly nudging us back to that topic, and I guess it’s pretty easy to get away from that, and yet it’s still the main answer, I guess. So thanks.
MERIUM: What seems to be easy is you misconstruing your will for His will. (Right) And this becomes an increasingly sensitive matter as your will and His will become more aligned, for it is easier then for you to say, “Oh, well, whatever I do God is going to smile upon it.” And while, indeed, God may smile upon you, His child, He may not be smiling at some of your antics. In particular, if they are brutalizing others or pulling the rug out from under others’ scaffolding.
It is only fair to comment that at this point in your development, error is to be expected. You learn by making mistakes, even those of you who are sincere of heart, because you cannot see the whole picture. You have to thus be kind to yourself as well as others when you see the ego encroaching. It is as if to say, “Your zipper is down” or “Your slip is showing.” You don’t do it in front of everybody and embarrass him or her about it. You go off to the side and with delicacy let it be known that their ego is sticking out.
It is not a crime to have an ego. All of you have one. It is when you are ego-driven that it becomes problematic, or when your desire to do His will becomes so paramount that you perceive His will as your will and you run roughshod over everyone in your desire to accomplish His will as you see it, even as you are like a bull in a china cabinet, breaking all the tea cups in your enthusiasm to be about His will.
It is all a very delicate balance. And it is when you take time in Stillness to discern this balance between your will and the divine will, and where you are in the paradigm, that you will find your stride and when you find your stride you will find that things work for you and on your behalf because the entire universe is interested in seeing you unfold, just as all those who have endured the long cold winter await the coming of spring and eagerly look with longing upon the sunny days that bring forth the bulbs that flower the path you walk.
Elena: That was beautiful. Thank you.
MERIUM: We have past those days when the daffodils disdained the tulips who looked down their nose at the hyacinth who shunned the crocus, and now see each as a precious contribution to the beautification of the TeaM Garden Club and Tea Party that is now discussing how it can take it’s show on the road. It is very exciting to watch you find yourselves and seek to fulfill yourselves in service avenues, and those of you who have found it and who have been long at it are to be commended for your patience as those younger are cultivated to come into bloom. Thus, the entire realm becomes the Garden of Eden that we know as Light and Life.
Your desire to lead young souls in a Vision Quest that may lead to their finding their own still small voice within and their path in the Way and value in themselves as a human being, even a church within their own right that houses and honors its own spirit, is truly noble work, as well as fun for you who likes that kind of thing.
This is a part of the personality pattern which you have received, each of you, and coming into your own is as important for you as it is for the vegetables in the garden that know who they are and who become in time a radish or a carrot or a potato and to become who you are is not a reflection of ego, it is a reflection of the Divine Creator. And so I encourage you to be all that you can be, without shame. Let your petals radiate the dynamic beauty, truth and goodness of our Creator, without shame. And rejoice in it.
Elena: Thank you.
MERIUM: You have undertaken a big responsibility by doing so. Nurture your clientele. Pray on each step you take. Allow your counsel to be divine wisdom to the extent of your ability, understanding that you are working with God for Him and in Him. God is love and love is the desire to do good to others. If your desire is to do good to others and that remains more important than making a buck, then you’ll be fine.
This counsel is intended to serve also those of you in the greater community, outside of Rio Rancho, who have your sundry ministries. The culture that is emerging from this phase of your development, socially and planetarily, is the skeleton upon which tomorrow’s society/civilization will be built. Plow your fields with love and prayer. Plant your seeds with care. Nurture their growth, weed and hoe accordingly. The harvest will reflect the abundance of your relationship with the Divine.
I feel spring fever setting in. I can feel you daydreaming and laying back watching the clouds roll by, so I will withdraw, along with Tomas and the many others who come by, having seen your lights shine. Are there other matters to take up that you would seek to know or resolve before we go?
Elena: Did you want to ask your question, Mother?
Esmeralda: I don’t really have any questions today. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything that has been told to us, by both you, Merium, and Tomas. It’s been an especially good session, I think, today.
MERIUM: It has been a party in and of itself. Happy Anniversary! (Hooray!)
Esmeralda: I just realized it has been five years.
Elena: Isn’t that great? Esmeralda: It’s a good record.
MERIUM: You have done well.
Esmeralda: I hope our next five are even more bountiful.
Closing
MERIUM: We could not have done it without you. Only in time will you realize how much you have given to your world by and through these simple Sunday sessions. Let’s go play. Bye-bye.
Group: Bye-bye, Merium!
