2002-08-11-The Bigger Picture
Nashville #155
Contents
1Heading
1Topic: The Bigger Picture
2Group: Nashville TeaM
2Facilitators
1Teacher: Ham
2TR: Rebecca
3Session
1Opening
2Lesson
2.1Perspective
2.2Encouragement
3Dialogue
3.1Marriage
4Personal Counsel
4.1Devotion
5Closing
Heading
Topic: The Bigger Picture
Group: Nashville TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Session
Opening
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am happy that you are here this evening. This evening let us discuss the understanding which comes through quiet thoughtfulness, the understanding which comes when judgment is suspended, the wisdom which grows when the ego is quieted.
Lesson
Perspective
All people go through times when you are very busy, when your attention is focused on something every second it seems. These are difficult times for growth. Spiritual development comes with understanding the bigger picture. The ability to step back and understand a situation more completely helps to lend spiritual levers.
The work and worry of the moment will be forgotten in eternity. From the viewpoint of the mansion worlds, what will your life look like? All of you are building toward your life’s careers. You are all working diligently to make something worthwhile with your lives. So, remember to take the longer view as often as you can. Think about how what you are doing is building character, how the people you deal with are affected by your presence. Think about how the whole of your life is moving.
The Father wishes for all of you to have happy, productive lives. But be careful not to leave him out in your work and worry and daily toil. Always does he stand ready to give you and added dimension to your thoughts. As he works in your mind, he endeavors to spiritualize your thinking so that the everyday trouble itself takes on a spiritual meaning and dimension.
Encouragement
All people want to be loved. Everyone wants the reassurance that only love can give. When the Master said to Peter, “feed my sheep” he very much meant for him to feed words of love to his hungry children. Everyone wants to be valued. They want to be valued by their peers. That is something the Master gave constantly and freely. He valued every human being he came in contact with. Never did he put anyone down or belittle their efforts. Always was he encouraging and helpful in his comments. He knew how little it takes to make someone happy. He knew how much people needed his acceptance, how much they needed him to value them. My children, that is true every where. You are all people that others look up to. So be free with your praise and let others know that you value them.
It takes very little to wound someone. Most people are very sensitive to little slights, even as you are and little do you realize how easily you can wound someone quite deeply without really thinking. So please think well on your comments for you all have responsibility for others.
The Master said time and again, “love one another”. Love implies acceptance. When you love someone, you accept who they are suspending judgment, letting go of criticism, and most importantly when you love another you love some part of yourself as well. When you criticize another, you are criticizing yourself.
All people need love and you yourselves need it especially for love will be what sustains you. Let go of petty criticisms. Be large enough to allow love in to all sides of your hearts. Let go of your pain and do not use it against others. Release your anxieties and do not burden others with your fears.
Embrace the Father fully and completely without reservation, without hiding anything for this is salvation. This is being reborn. Let the Father’s love roll over you like an ocean. Let is wash away all your pain and fear and doubt. You are just another swimmer with no extra burden, no deformity which will not be cleansed and straightened by the Father’s purifying love.
Accept your status as children of the universal Father. Take not the role of teacher of seer or prophet. Always be child/student open to learning, open to changing. Realize that you have nothing to give the Father’s children but that which the Father gives you and that great gift is love. Accept it for yourselves and you will be able to give it to others. Are there any questions at this time?
Dialogue
Marriage
Q: Mark and I are getting married soon and we have been thinking about how it will change our lives and how it will be the same and how it will be different. We have been pondering long term relationships. Any advice you can give us will be wonderful.
Ham: Certainly my children. When you make this solemn vow, your lives will change, yes. And yet, you two have come so far together already that little will change also. Being in the married state is a source of great joy and happiness. The building of a life together with all its ups and downs, with all the pain of growth and the struggle of living is a great adventure and a wonderful endeavor. Always leave room for growth. Grow together, allow each other their own freedom to change and to expand in life and you will find a long and wonderful romance. Allow the security of marriage to give you a basis for increasing your vulnerability with each other.
Let your love for each other deepen and grow strong in the firm rooted nature of the married state. As close as you are now, know that you will become closer over the years and time will deepen and strengthen this relationship which is your sanctuary. Support each other and always pull together as you move forward in life. Seek the best for the other person. Seek their happiness and you will find happiness yourself. You children are meant to be together. Your life together will be blessed with much happiness. Have peace in your hearts as you go forth in life. Lean upon each other. Give each other strength and face the world together in all that you do. I would be honored to attend you wedding ceremony. Be assured I will be there.
Personal Counsel
Q: Ham I would like a personal message. It has been a while since I have been able to come.
Ham: Certainly, my son. You are doing very well. You are handling greater and greater pressure with greater ease as time goes by. Always consider your balance. You are a person who needs balance in routine, in food/healthy eating, regular stillness, all these things contribute. When you are out of balance you become stressed and quite easily ill so balance is very important. For the most part, your life is well ordered and balanced and this is very important to maintain. Your emotional balance is greatly enhanced through your relationship with Katie. Just as you are a source of balance for her, so she is a source of balance for you. Be at ease as you make these plans for your life together. The way is clear and you are doing very well.
Q: Ham do you have anything for Rebecca?
Ham: Yes, my daughter, you are doing well. You are a person who feels comfortable in working and when tasks are completed then feels able to relax. It is well and good to find a balance in life which allows for work and for relaxation and exercise. Be at ease for you do well. Find ways to let go of the work and worry and to relax more often. Be careful not to push yourself too hard for the time is coming when that will be very easy to do. Practice stillness every day, morning and evening. This will help you.
Q: Jarad?
Devotion
Ham: Certainly my son, you do well. You are a person who likes to take time off and relax regardless of what is to be done.
Q: Are you saying I am lazy Ham?
Ham: Not lazy so much as rebellious. Yes, you are still very much the boy playing hooky and that time is more enjoyable to you for the fact of shirking responsibility. You must find a little more discipline, a greater willingness to take responsibility when necessary. Growing in the spirit means growing to adulthood and adult responsibility comes with that stature. Embrace that growth and direction.
Ham: Do you see how you make decisions to play the child rather than being the adult in situations?
Q: I don’t know if I see that or not. I guess I do, I usually am inditing myself for the same charges which are you referring to me.
Q: Why is that?
Q: That I am inditing myself for the same things you are warning me about.
Ham: Yes.
Q: It’s the same thing about a guy who is wholeheartedly dedicated to doing the Father’s will be really isn’t. Something like that.
Ham: That is a serious statement to make. Explain further.
Q: Well I just still haven’t dedicated myself to doing the most I can and serving. I haven’t been able to decrease my preoccupation with my own comfort and am always involved in self-centered crap, all the things that Ian has brought to my attention about wanting praise and doing the least I can. I have always wanted to do the Father’s will I don’t seem to have had much luck with it. So many years of being dishonest as an alcoholic makes it difficult now for me to have enough faith and courage to do my best. That is what I am always trying to come up with.
Ham: So rather than face your responsibilities you want to run away from them?
Q: I seem to do that on some level. I see myself making a lot of, my life is directly from the unconscious portion of my mind, I seem to be conforming to some scenario that I am not fully aware of in my daily life. I haven’t had much luck with letting go fo the past. I am not really that agile at forgiving. But I do of course want to do the Father’s will. It was indicated to me that I have made the supreme choice about that. I get down on me about stuff and maybe that is the reverse of self-centered-ness. I don’t know.
Ham: Yes my son, you have spoken some difficult truths. You cannot be dedicated to the Father’s will and dedicated to your own will at the same time. The two may diverge. Dedication to the Father’s will requires a gradual relinquishing of your own selfish desires and this is a process, one which everyone must go through. The Father’s will is uncompromising. You can’t make a deal about having your way this time. The Father requires all or nothing. Understand that and you will find peace within yourself.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Carol?
Ham: Certainly, my daughter, embrace the fullness of the Father’s love and in that love find complete forgiveness and complete acceptance. Be careful with those around you for they too are fragile creatures needing your love.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Jim?
Ham: Yes. My son, you do well. You have come very far but still have very far to go. Like Jarad, you want everything to be easy and to work itself out quickly. You have little patience with long and involved projects. But life is about learning. Life is about growing into greater responsibilities. So, be at peace with yourself and have patience with yourself. Above all, have patience with others surrounding you for they very much need your understanding and support.
Q: Do you have a personal message for Charlie B?
Ham: Yes, my son, think well on these messages for you also can become impatient and even intolerant of others at times. Watch your thinking for shades of intolerance and be forgiving of others as you would wish to be forgiven. You do well my son, be at peace.
Q; Do you have a message for Norbert?
Ham: Certainly. My friend, you do well. Remember that growth very much consists in finding new sides of yourself so to speak. Allow yourself to blossom and grow. Don’t put arbitrary limits on who you are. Be open to be yourself. You are doing well.
Q: Do you have any feedback for me this week?
Ham: Certainly. My son, you have much to give. Realize that you hold great responsibility with this. Be forgiving as you would wish to be forgiven. Be loving, as you would wish to be loved and be understanding as you would wish to be understood. You do very well. Go in peace.
Closing
Is there anything further? Very well then, as always my prayers and my love are with you each. Until next week farewell.
