Jona to God:

Dear God, thank You, God, for Your love. I do not understand Your love for us, and I do not wish to understand it. I am just thankful for it. I will try to trust You, and I will try to look in love on the people that drive me crazy! I will try for all You have given me. Love, Jona, 15

God to Jona:

Dear Jona, you understand My love more than you know. You are My love. Dear one, don't try. Just ask Me to help.

I am very satisfied with you, Jona. Believe Me.

Gloria to God:

Dear God, Jona asked me what my favorite color is, and this has made me wonder about the importance of colors. I crave color around me. I don't think I could exist in prison where it is drab. I know that You will tell me I can exist anywhere under any circumstance because You will be with me, but I do have to say it would be hard for me to be somewhere where color is limited. Color must be more than color.

God:

Color soothes you. Color is vibration. Just like it is good to have sunlight shine on you, it is good to receive color.

The senses are more than senses. They are avenues to what is outside you, but they also reverberate Me and lead you to Me.

Some people must have music the way you must have color.

The vibration of sound or color awakens Me within you.

Gloria:

Without bodies, will we know color and music?

God:

Yes. You will know them as a form of love, like a shade of love or an echo of love. In any case, a sweet vibration.

You are made of light.

Certain vibrations of light strike a chord within you.

They awaken wonder within you.

There is another thing about color. It is contrast. One plays off the other. All are light, however. In drab surroundings, a change in color that you might not even pay attention to now, you will see in all its wonder. It is a play of light, just like music is a play of sound.

If you had only bright colors without contrast, you would find that hard also. Harder.

Gloria:

Or to live without nature, dear God, that would be very hard. I think being in nature is a basic need.

God:

Nature reminds you of Heaven. It is a basic need to remember Heaven.

But anything can remind you of what you want to be reminded of.

Gloria:

I believe prisons are set up to deprive the inmates. Wouldn't it be better if prisons tried to replenish the prisoners? Wouldn't more color and nature be better?

God:

More love would be better. But My children find it difficult to give more love when they judge someone as right or wrong and keep that thought. Judgment, by its very nature, precludes love. That is why it is so important to eschew judgment.

Now, as I say this, I don't want you to judge judgment so badly either because then you are judging, and judging does not feel good. Even when you judge something as good, deep down you feel the hollowness of it. It doesn't matter what it is you judge; the act of enthroning yourself as a judger doesn't sit right. To judge is like to pounce. A predator pounces. To judge is to attack. It sets you up as higher than another and apart from another.

See truth, but don't judge the errant one.

Gloria:

Dear God, would it be good for Heaven to be available to people in prisons and nursing homes?

God:

Yes.

Gloria:

Is there something I should do?

God:

Desire it. Desire that Heaven be known. Desire that I be known.

Take whatever steps you like, but, now, here is the difference between being and doing: If you think you are the one who will open up Heaven to the world, you will knock yourself out and accomplish little. You will be doing all over the place, running frantic, exerting great effort, straining and floundering. Do the same motions in peace, know that I am the Doer, and you will enjoy the doing. Unattached doing. First, being. Being along with doing. Holding the door open for Me. Letting Me go first. Knowing you merely hold on to My cloak in a gentle way and then simply following Me. Do, but let Me do. Be in following Me rather than in doing on your own. Do with Me.

Who made the stars? Who created the curves of earth? Who made the lapping waters? Who blew life into you? Do you think I cannot find readers for Heaven? Follow Me.

Gloria:

God, I saw the Lilies of the Field last night. In it a Mother Superior of about five nuns had come to the United States from Europe and was determined to have a chapel built in the chapel-less little town because it was Your Will. The nuns had no money, no labor, no materials etc. When a man (Sidney Poitier) stopped for water, the Mother was certain You had sent him to build the chapel. No matter what, she never wavered from her conviction and determination. And, of course, the chapel was built.

Now, if she had wanted a garage built for herself, even with the same determination, I doubt it would have been accomplished. Her determination AND because the chapel was for You, the miracle happened.

What I am wondering: Without her determination, would it have happened? Was her determination Yours? I know You were behind it. It almost seems like her determination alone could have done it.

God:

She couldn't have kept her belief without Me. Her belief created her determination. But the miracle was not created by dint of her will. It was created by Mine.

Gloria:

She was definitely holding on. Is determination the same as holding on?

God:

Her motive was pure. It was not for herself alone. The substance of her great one-pointedness was her belief in Me and her loyalty to My Will. Her faith and surrender to My Will created the great energy in the town. This great love energy built the chapel. What can one do amidst such love but follow My Will?

Gloria:

I know that a physical church is very important to many. At the same time it is hard for me to think that it would be so important to You.

God:

What is behind the material is important. Energy on earth will manifest into the physical. I do not need a physical church as a tribute to Me. What matters is the energy that made it. The chapel was the focus for that energy. It was made of light, not bricks, you understand. The focus has to go somewhere. Focus without an object is not focus. In this case, the love for Me was focused in a chapel. You could say that the chapel is love for Me frozen into a building of worship.