Gloria to God:

Dear God, my friend Karen worked on me last night, and I find myself with nothing to ask You but much gratitude to express instead.

God:

Express it to My children. Remember love more often. Sometimes you forget.

Gloria:

Yes. Last night Karen (You!) helped my soul be more deeply planted within my body. That is interesting because I would have thought that closer to You would mean more out of the body.

God:

Although your body is temporary, it is the home of your soul on earth. Better to be comfortable in it. It makes for more coherence. More consistency. Greater focus.

Gloria:

What would You like to tell me this morning, dear God, and the growing numbers of readers?

God:

Look yourself squarely in the eye. Do not pretend things. You are imperfect! You are not intended to be perfect on earth. You are intended to find Me.

Gloria:

Jon reminded me of the word "strive" that You used in an earlier writing, and how we don't strive for anything.

God:

Striving puts you offtrack. You strive to be a success. You strive to be a perfect mother. Striving puts your attention away from Me.

Gloria:

What about people who strive to find You?

God:

Strive is a word of the ego. You do not strive to God. You do not huff and puff to find God. It is in the opposite of strive that you will find Me. What is the opposite of strive?

Gloria:

Letting go.

God:

Yes, and striving is holding on. I am the opposite of strife. You do not fight to find Me! Stop the noise, and you find Me sitting next to you, waiting to be found!

Find Me with love. Allow Me to poke you on the shoulder. Turn around and see Who it is.

Let others help you. But only you yourself can locate Me. No one can do it for you. Yours is the only key to Heaven.

Gloria:

Dear God, I've had so much help. The list is long. So many books. People. I have had great ones to help me look up at You.

God:

Ask for help and then receive it. Be good at receiving. Let someone give you directions. But it is you who finds your own way to Me. No one can do it for you, yet let yourself be helped.

All who read these words are coming closer to Me. And the one who writes these words is coming closer to Me. You, Gloria, have just begun to notice Me out of the corner of your eye. Start looking at Me full-face.

It takes no striving. Just turn your head a little bit. Over here.

Gloria:

The section I am reading in A Course in Miracles this morning talks about gentleness.

God:

I am talking about gentleness, do you see?

Gloria:

Yes. The opposite of gentleness, as I read it, is harmfulness.

God:

Harmfulness is the opposite of Me.

Gloria:

It says that a teacher of God can neither harm nor be harmed.

God:

Who is your example of that?

Gloria:

Christ.

God:

Who made things simple? And what did he strive for? He didn't strive. He walked to Me. He kept his eyes on Me, not from effort, but from joy.

Gloria to Mother Divine:

Dear Mother Divine, what would you like to say this morning?

Mother Divine:

Let me think.

Harm results from judgment. Were there no judgment, no one would think of harming another. There would not be an angry thought.

Without judgement, no one would be angry with God. I have to laugh. God, in His greatness, does not judge. Man in his smallness does. Need I say more?

Gloria:

But I wish you would!

Mother Divine:

Then I will say there is nothing to say. Let's just sit with love a minute, and not let this moment go but keep it always. Let's sit, stewing in love, love to and from, and watch God's love rise from us like steam to the whole world.

Where does love leave room for judgment?

And how you have all been taught to judge. When you judge, you are the judger and the judged. You pass sentence on yourself. Often a life sentence.

I think it is time to set yourselves free from the pall of condemnation.

Here's what you do: When you see a flaw, have even a tiny impulse to criticize even silently within, turn that criticism into a blessing. Bless the flaw, and bless the holder of that flaw.

The flaw will not seem so large, and you will have moved from judger to blessor. Which would you rather be? Then be it.

Later…

Gloria to God:

Dear God, Rudolph has a seventy-seven-year old mother who lives in another country. Although she is in reasonably good health, she does not seem to want to go on living. Her mental attitude takes a toll on my friend Rudolph, and he asked me to ask You what he can do to help his mother.

God:

His mother likes to make her son feel guilty about her and her state of mind. This way she can exert some power. She doesn't have much power left to her except what she can exert over her son.

It would not be different if they lived in the same town or even in the same house. No one can please her quite enough.

What the son can do is bless her, picture her at times when she was happy, and send her cards and notes that remind her of what must be her pleasant memories. A little constant keeping in touch like this will go a long way for his mother. She will have something to look forward to. A lot of little attentions from her son. She can savor these testaments of love more than a phone call.

When Rudolph does call his mother, he needs to prepare himself ahead of time. He cannot expect what he would like from her. He calls her for her and not for himself. She cannot uplift him at this time. His difficulties make her anxious; whatever happens to him happens to her.

He also takes on her problems as though they were his own.

When Rudolph calls his mother with the intention of uplifting her, the mood of the call will be less draining on him.

Your friend is impeccably honest. He needs to be less honest with his mother. He does not have to tell her his concerns. It is not dishonest to keep some things to himself. He does not have to be literal. He does not have to give details. He can say, "All is well," and that is the truth.

Perhaps he knows how to make his mother laugh.

It will be good for him to tell her he loves her. She needs to hear those words as much as he does.

Rudolph's real question is: "What can I do to help myself with my mother?" This is not selfish. This is survival.

Rudolph is My blessed child, and I desire his happiness. I would like him to make an appointment with himself every day to do something he has never done before. It can be anything. It doesn't matter. He can walk backward. He can eat dessert first. Go to an afternoon movie.

The important thing here is for Rudolph to have fun, to break some structures in his life, and not be so concerned with tomorrow. I understand his concern, but I would like him to go around it or over it.

Rudolph will hear more from Me. I will close in telling Rudolph that he pleases Me very much. He is a person who devotes himself to whatever he does, and now I would like him to devote himself to some fun for himself.

I know that Rudolph looks for Me. He is a great seeker. Tell him I have found him, and I am pleased.