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Be a CompanionOne beautiful afternoon, as I was hiking a hillside trail that I usually would have found exhilarating, I was engulfed in loneliness. I had been living a solitary life for some time and desperately wanted a companion with whom to share life's pleasures. As I was mulling over my sense of lack, I realized how poisonous these thoughts were. I did not like the feelings I was having, so I began searching for a way to stop the self-inflicted wounds of depression. I knew from experience that if I could formulate what I call a God question, I would receive an answer. A God question does not include a personal agenda, an opinion, a special or favorite inclination, or anything that can be possessed as matter. Utter humility is required to seek out such a question, and unconditional trust is required to hear an answer. In my own experience, one of the special characteristics of Christ's answers is that they are always an epiphany, for I know I do not originate the solutions. I had learned from my study of Scripture that spiritual Cause is the only creator and, therefore, the only initiator of all questions and answers. After several unsatisfactory attempts to ask the right question, I settled on this simple request: 'Dear God, either give me companionship or take away the desire, for I do not like what I am feeling.' I was satisfied that I could accept Christ's response, whatever it was, so I just let the subject go and continued on my hike. A week or so later, while sitting in stillness in my house, I felt a holy presence around me. I knew the answer was at hand. I heard a thought voice answer, 'Okay, I will take away the desire.' Immediately, I felt myself being submerged in a gentle but strong, encircling current. There was light all around me as I was washed clean of my yearnings. I felt as innocent as a child. The anguish was gone! As I sat there reflecting upon what I had just experienced, the presence returned. There was another message - an answer to the first part of my request. I heard, 'Now be a companion!' It was loud and powerful. I was taken aback by the command. What did it mean? I pondered it daily for weeks. I reasoned that to be a companion must mean to expand my definition of companioning, so I began thinking about companioning with birds, trees, and flowers, as well as with people, sharing the beauty of Soul with each contact I made. I proceeded to do this to the best of my ability, but it was not as satisfying as I had hoped. Years passed, and I laid aside this practice for other ideas, duties, and challenges, but the angel command to be a companion never left my subconscious. Then one day, the simple answer came as an idea charged with light. I had misunderstood the command because I had been looking in the wrong direction. (Fortunately, Christ is patient with his little ones.) Christ had been my companion all along, and the command to be a companion meant, 'Be My companion - companion with Me, your best and ever friend!' Jesus declared, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). He claimed Mind, God, as his inseparable companion, setting the example for all mankind. He knew that to waver from the direct line would be an admission that Love is not infinite and that this vacillation from truth would inflict upon him the toxic waste of mortal mind and its physical condition. Jesus knew that there is no satisfying alternative or substitute for divine Love. Does Jesus' high standard leave us bereft of love when we find our works to be something less than his example? Be of good cheer. Divine Love is the source of all real human affection, and it is on this basis that we begin to learn what love is and how Love blesses us. It is essential to understand that God does not create or alter human events, even though we may feel Christ's touch leading us in a direction that changes our human experience. All law is Spirit and spiritual. Reflecting Spirit, Jesus' statements are spiritual. They touch the core of consciousness, which is above mere human advice. For example, in his instruction regarding marriage and divorce, Jesus taught, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, . . . one flesh? . . . What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt 19:4?6). What God has joined together is Mind and image, God and His thought, with both male and female qualities. God is omnipotent Love. In other words, Christ commands us to let no circumstance or human influence jeopardize or cloud our marriage covenant with Spirit. I heard Christ say, 'Be My companion,' which is identical to the First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," meaning there is only one Love manifested (Ex 20:3). Human marriage is just human; it was never intended to be Spirit. Mankind works out God's demands, which may introduce companioning for a season, but when there is time no longer, the justification for human companioning disappears, for God never sanctioned special relationships. Thus is the proof that God knows nothing of it and neither recommends nor interferes with mortal dreams, "for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matt 22:30). Since Spirit's laws are always true and always in effect, they cannot offer stopgap measures that are later rescinded according to the same laws. At every moment, Christ accompanies us as God's evidence of Himself. What other reward could we desire than to companion with the infinite as infinite manifestation? Many testimonies may come to mind that appear to contradict the idea that God does not sanction human marriage or bring forth human children, but this does not change the truth. Joachim and Anna, the parents of Jesus' mother, Mary, were faultless before men and God, and so it was prophesied that they should receive the gift of God. This gift is always Spirit, and the product is always as spiritual as Christ. Joseph heard the angel Gabriel instructing him: "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt 1:20). The message was Joseph's interpretation of a Christ idea, not God's directive, for the law of Love took away Joseph's distraught confusion over Mary's pregnancy in a way that he could understand. This comforting message prepared Joseph to receive Christ into his mental and physical household and to defend the Christ child with an intuition that was not his own. Mary had conceived the idea of man born of God, but she was just beginning to learn the meaning of Father-Mother. Joseph appeared in her experience as a stepping-stone to this lesson. Because Joseph and Mary were unequivocally attracted to Christ, they were enabled to look upon that idea as the child, Jesus. Sharing and communing together with the Son of God in their midst, they were literally married to Christ more than they were to each other. They witnessed the record of perfect man for the first time, even though the Son was established before the world was. When both husband and wife are pointing
to God and mutually acknowledging their spiritual connection,
they can be companions without jeopardy to their indissoluble
union to God, and they may help each other on. One person who
is at one with the light may share the light with another whole
person without violating spiritual law as long as no one else
is excluded from the holy relationship. Jesus' encouraging words,
"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world," leaves
no one out and no one more special than any other because in
that conscious state, Mind is known as infinite good (John 16:33).
Be MY companion! George Denninger © |
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