Gloria to God:

Dear God, I was thinking about what I want to pray to You for, and I thought for You to teach me. Then I added "in a sweet and most gracious way" because I don't want hard lessons! Then I thought to ask You to give me Your vision, and that was good! And then I asked that You help me be aware of Truth, and that was good. And then I realized that right now You are giving me everything I could think of without my asking, and that the purpose of prayer is for my awareness, not Yours, but for mine.

God:

All true. Your awareness strengthens your hold on the golden cord between us. It strengthens our bond in your perception. It helps you to toss out the old and ring in the new. It focuses your vision. Your vision focussed on Me sees more truth, and you become more innocent.

Gloria:

Karen has said something to the effect that love is Your innocence.

God:

When you know truth, you are held to it. It is your eyesight. You see the purity within all, and therefore you are innocent of delusion. Innocence is not ignorance but awareness of truth. And truth is Mine.

Who is more innocent than I?

I have no sophistication. I am not clever. I am what I am. I am all that I am .

Wisdom is innocence. It is a freshness. It is not stale.

Truth is innocence.

Gloria:

Jon would like more clarification on how we know when we are following our heart or just being inclined or disinclined.

God:

The innocent heart within you is Mine. Following your heart is following Mine. It is not smoke or aroma. It is not pastime. It is not even fervent. It is not planned. It is not ambitious. It is not lazy.

Following your heart is following truth. It is not becoming something. It is where you already are, but now you are noticing it. Not what you have heard or been taught or read or think is wise. It's not a "good idea" or what you like or don't like. It is not following untruth.

It is taking care of yourself. Untruth is denying yourself. Inclination and disinclination are periphery.

Following your heart is not ego because ego is not truth. Ego is a like a bow you put in your hair. It is not your hair. There is nothing wrong with a bow, but you have to know that it is added on to you and is not you.

Gloria:

Having been a career counselor, I often think of following your heart in terms of choosing a career.

God:

You do not surfacely choose a career. You are a career.

Someone aspires to be an artist. Is it inclination or deep heart? How true is the desire? Is it honoring your truth or denying it? Your truth may be you are an artist, or your truth may be you don't really want to be an artist that much but you prefer it to anything else you can think of right now. Or you like to dabble, or you are an artist in everything you do. Following your heart: All want to express their inner heart. All want to live their truth. Truth is truly not in terms of career. Truth doesn't have names.

In following your truth, you may become an artist, or a piano tuner, or a teacher, or a retiree, or a writer of My words.

Your heart is not fully in the world. The extent of your heart ranges to Heaven.

Do not preplan your heart. Following it means following it in the here and now.

Your heart of truth is not selfish.

Gloria:

That brings up another question. It's like we're taught to do for others before ourselves. It is better to take care of someone else, that "to give is more blessed than to receive", that putting others before ourselves — that that is virtue.

God:

Any giving that is not to yourself is not giving. It is taking.

"I will be virtuous and give because it is right to do so and I can know I'm a good person and others can know, and I will be loved" is not love. How selfish is that?

Gloria:

Karen says that all we have to do is love ourselves and You, and everything else takes care of itself.

God:

You do not love others without the love of self. Many many people love their neighbors as themselves, and that is not very loving at all.

Yes, please, love yourself. Love Me, and then you will be able to give My love to all My children on earth.

Unless you love yourself, you are not in your truth. You are in a game of being in truth.

Following your heart leads to Me.

Inclination and disinclination lead you around in circles. But that is all right, too, because if you feel you have the time, eventually you will stumble on to Me.

That is how it is for most of My children. They stumble onto Me because I am everywhere.

Take one step after another, and you will reach Me. You will have followed your heart, reached Me, and found yourself sitting in the lap of the Oneness of Truth.