(Q) Please give us the meditation for our daily prayer on
PATIENCE.
(A) HOW GRACIOUS IS THY PRESENCE IN THE EARTH, O LORD. BE
THOU THE GUIDE, THAT WE WITH PATIENCE MAY RUN THE RACE WHICH
IS SET BEFORE US, LOOKING TO THEE, THE AUTHOR, THE GIVER OF
LIGHT [Life? 2 Tim. 1:10?].
In the preparation of selves, as individuals, for presenting
patience in the experience, this - as other lessons - must be
experienced by the individuals. Would we have that love,
that patience of the Maker of the worlds, we must show
patience to our brother, and - as was asked of Him, how oft
shall I forgive? Seven times? Yea, seventy times seven,
that ye may know that which is builded in self. Through
patience does the understanding come. Knowledge of itself is
nothing. Understanding in the Lord becomes that of love, in
patience, that maketh for the glorifying of that which is the
gift of the Father in the material, the mental, the spiritual
world. Stand STILL, will ye see the glory of the Lord. In
patience possess ye your souls. As there is gained more and
more those understandings in cooperation, self, activities in
self, and the more there is gained a knowledge of the
presence of Him in the experience, greater does patience work
in the life, the experience, the heart, and the soul grows in
understanding of His presence; for as these gifts - that are
attributes of His consciousness in the lives of individuals,
as entities, in a material life - become the greater
manifestations of individuals' activities, so will there be
in the experience that as would be the next lesson THE OPEN
DOOR. Would ye enter in the joys of thy Lord?
Ready for questions.
(Q) Please outline the central thoughts and basis upon which
we should begin our meditations and questions on PATIENCE.
(A) As given, in patience possess ye thy presence before the
Throne. Seek oft, then, to gain an audience with thine inner
self which bears witness before that Throne. With patience
may this be reached; for as one loses their hold on self in
the lack of patience, so does that give the opportunity for
the entering in of those things that would make afraid. Not
that one should remain unactive, or inactive, but in patience
run the race that is set before thee, looking to Him, the
author, the giver of light, truth and immortality. That
should be the central theme in every individual. Not in
submissiveness alone, but in righteous wrath serve ye the
living God.
(Q) [
69]: When does patience cease to be a virtue?
(A) When thou art satisfied with thy own surroundings or
conditions.
(Q) [
560]: In learning the lesson of PATIENCE, please
advise how we may overcome the little harassing annoyances
that come in our daily lives.
(A) As was given of Him, as ye seek, know there is that
Comforter present that will speak for thee under EVERY
condition; for, as He gave, "I will not leave thee
comfortless. Be NOT afraid." Be MAD, but sin not! In thine
UNDERSTANDING gain the presence of Him ever as thy companion,
in every act, in every word; for every thought must be
accounted for, and in grace - His grace is sufficient - will
there be that constant, prayerful attitude for a purposeful
life; forgetting self, preferring another above self. Lose
self in Him. THESE will answer. Not as an outward, but an
INWARD growth - that makes for the beauty of the soul that
has patience SHINING through. [
262-25, Par. 6-A]
(Q) [
993]: When we reach the development of ceasing to see
faults in those we contact, is it then we can say we have
patience?
(A) When we see rather Him that we worship even in the
faults of others, THEN we are at the BEGINNING of patience.
(Q) [[
69]'s husband]: Explain my shortcomings in connection
with patience, and furnish the remedy thereto.
(A) Remove self far from criticisms or fault-findings in
others, and there comes then patience in word, deed and act.
These are the BEGINNINGS, as it were, of wisdom. Knowest
thou that which has brought about the activities of another?
Rather, then, find the fault in self, and this will be that
path that will lead to LIGHTENING the way of thine own
patience. Does there arise those periods when little petty
disturbances call for the quick retort, find rather the fault
in self, if there be one; then, if there is not, according to
thy standard that is set in thine ideal, open not thy mouth -
even as He did not when railed upon.
(Q) [
295]: What is the Master's definition of patience?
(A) Know ye that, in patience possess ye your souls! In
interpreting, then, how one possesses their souls, that in
the LOSS of patience there is the entering - as He gave - of
those influences that would separate the real self, the soul,
from the Maker. Hence in patience POSSESS ye your souls!
(Q) Please comment on the following statements:
Epictetus said there were two faults far graver and fouler
than any others, inability to bear and inability to forbear.
(A) In these we have the variations that would come from the
experiences of individuals giving the expression of THEIR
experience in MEETING the conditions that arise in one's
daily experience. An expression, then, of an inactivity on
the part of one, and an overanxiety on the part of another.
(Q) "All great things are slow of growth."
(A) Just true! For, as has been given oft, the soul grows
upon that it is fed. The soul of man is the greatest, then,
of all creation, for it may be one with the Father. Little
by little, line upon line, here a little, there a little -
these are the manners of growth, that this may be one with
Him. Lose not that as was given by Him, the greater of all
those who gave the truths, that not only one with Him but
individual in self! Not the whole, but equal WITH the whole
- for one with Him. Ye, then, are not aliens - rather the
SONS of the Holy One.
(Q) "Content but not satisfied."
(A) Content in that "Have Thy way, Lord. Use me as a
channel. Not my will but Thine be done!" That is content.
Satisfied means gratified, and is the beginning of the
falling away, for SELF is to be then glorified.
(Q) "The offences committed through desire are more blamable
than those which are committed through anger."
(A) Be angry, but sin not. Means there has been lost rather
the desire of exaltation, that the anger is as of the giver
of light that disperses the darkness as it falls upon same.
These would depend, as a statement, upon the experience of
the one so stating; for in this SOME would find the excuse
for self. Rather that, in the desire that may be lost in Him
may there come the knowledge of Him, in that there is found
the light which comes from patience with self, with thine
neighbor, seeking ever that He, the Lord, shall lead.
(Q) [
2125]: Could I develop automatic handwriting?
(A) Anyone could. [See also
262-25, Par. 15-A, 16-A.]
(Q) Is there any message for the group as a whole at this
time?
(A) Prepare self in this, as thou studiest thyself approved
unto Him, for the door is to be opened.
We are through.
BACKGROUND
