Beloveds, I hear your heart. Your heart speaks to Me. I hear you say in your deepest longings:
 
“You are My God. You are Mine. I say that strongly, knowing that there is no ownership, and that You are everyone’s. I do not possess You. I am in the palm of Your hand. When I think of it, and I think of it a lot – You created me, You made me Yours, God, as Your handmaiden. It is You I wish to follow. You are the One to follow.
 
“All this time I have followed others, having them recline on a pedestal in my heart. They were idols I placed before You. How could I? yet I did. And this is past, and that which is past does not come back, yet I find that I would hang on to the past even when there is no one and nothing in the world to hang onto.
 
“I had some beautiful dreams for a while. I was caught up in them. They came to naught. I understand now that what I thought was so wonderful was not real. That which is not real cannot last. All the while, You posted Yourself near me. You are here. You never mind the past. Your Presence is growing in my life.
 
“You are all that which is real. This that I have thought I am isn’t real. The world is not. You are the Permanent. You are the God of Truth as well as the God of my Dreams.
 
"All the while, I couldn’t touch You or see You full-fledged before me. I dreamt of You without knowing that it was You I was dreaming of and longing for. I accepted human beings to adore as approximations of You.
 
“Thank You for being God and seeing me and liking me and giving me the privilege to know You. I know the Greatness of the gift of service You have given me. I am in Your employ, God. I don’t know how I ever managed without You in my life – that is, without my awareness of You in my life.
 
“Without Your closeness, I was an orphan. Through Your Goodness, You found me and lifted me. You brought me higher so I could look into Your eyes and know Who You are and so come to have a better idea of Who I am. Thank You for setting a place for me at Your table.
 
“Now I must pull out chairs for others so that they also may sit at Your table and bask in Your Light. I have no other purpose, God, is that true?  Is it everyone’s purpose to sit at Your table and bask in Your light and shine Your Light? Is this what You want of us?”
 
Now I, God, answer your lingering thoughts:
 
Yes, it is everyone’s purpose to sit at My table and bask in My Light and shine My Light on all, yet everyone has his or her unique way to serve Me. The expression purpose is many-fold. This is what is meant that everyone has his or her own path to Me. It is inevitable that everyone comes to take My hand, some sooner, some later. How long it takes is often a question of surrender.
 
Coming close to Me is surrender. It is the surrendering of the cause of any and all distance from Me. It is surrendering the cause of all wars, big or little. It is the surrendering of ego whatever guise ego may wear. It is a surrendering of attachment and yourself as knowing it all. Now, you wisely and gladly trade in your acquired learning in order to become a learner.
 
It is the surrender of littleness. What is ego, after all, but littleness?
 
Beloveds, there is no war between Us. There never was. You may have felt so. You may be feeling distance between Us now, yet what you feel is not always what is, is it? What you are really surrendering is your ignorance, beloveds. You no longer have to be so possessive of knowledge. From this basis, you will take leaps.