Remember often what you are here on Earth for. You must know by now that you are not here for your body. You are not here for possessions. You are not here for wrangling. You are not here to compete. You are not here to win arguments. You are not here to get A's in tests any more than you are here to flunk tests. You are not here to be on best behavior or worst behavior.

You are simply here for your joy and for the joy of others, which is another way of saying that you are here for Me. I am at the top of your list. In fact, there is no list. I am the Whole Story.

Although I may be considered as the apex of a triangle, I am the base. The base supports. Consider yourself the spire of the triangle, pointed Heavenward. But how is it possible to say that the peak of the triangle is separate from the base? If a triangle is a triangle, it is of one piece.

You are all Moses in the bulrushes. You floated down a river, and rightful strangers took you in and made you their own. But you do not feel that you quite belong in this strange country with these strange people.

You would go back upstream to find your origin, if only you knew how. Sometimes you feel that it is a mistake altogether that you are on earth, and you want to go back where you started. You feel adrift. In that sense, We can say that all of My children are adopted.

I am all-encompassing. I am everywhere all at once. I never miss a beat. I hold the entire Universe in one embrace. I hold you in My embrace right now. My embrace is firm yet not tight. Within My embrace, you can do your own breathing. You can live your own life, so to speak. In your imagination, you can wander, yet you are nevertheless caught in My embrace. Caught in My embrace, you are yet freed. In My arms is the freedom you so desire. In My arms, you travel every coast.

I say, "I AM." I say, "I am right here." I say, "I am always right here." I say, "You have Me always, beloveds."

Beloveds, you live in many worlds. It doesn't matter where your body is, and it doesn't matter where your mind is. I am totally absolutely right here with you. I am as near to you as your breath. We are so vital and vibrant to each other. We are the same breath. Who breathes your lungs in and out, you or I? Who can separate Us? Neither you nor I.

Refrain from others' pain, and you will have less of your own. There are many things for you to partake of, but another's pain is not one of them. You are not grander for taking on another's pain. That is not your role, although many of you have made that your role. You have thought of your role in another's life as solver of their pain, but that is not your role to fill. You cannot solve another's pain. Remove one thorn, and they will find another. Each must learn whatever it is that he has to learn.

You cannot feed the whole world. You cannot instruct the whole world.

Beloveds, I am not Santa Claus. Do not think that you can make a list, and that I will deliver everything on your list even if you have been very good? I am not going to give you a shiny red fire truck or an El Dorado every time. These are for you to deliver to yourself.

I am not a genie in a bottle who must fulfill your every whim, grant your every wish, be at your beck and call.

I am not a magic potion that will make your body young again.

Nor am I Cupid who will shoot an arrow and make someone you designate fall in love with you because that's what you want.