Living Miracles
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What does it mean to be a Messenger of Peace? Of course anyone can be a Messenger of Peace; as Jesus teaches, a teacher of God is anyone who chooses to be one. What is being shared here is how the Messengers of Peace, of the Living Miracles ministry, have been brought together to live a devotional life of service.
A life’s Calling The core upon which the Messengers rests is trust, and in a practical way this means joining in Guidance as Given by the Holy Spirit. Becoming a Messenger is a bit like meeting your life partner or your marriage partner. Somewhere deep within you know that this is your fate, your life's Calling, and that these are the ones that the Spirit is Guiding you to join with in a very deep way. Divine Providence Divine Providence is total trust in God. Messengers of Peace is a context for learning what this means, and for experiencing the profound realization of this as a consistent experience. Divine Providence is a daily practice; it is a relinquishment of one’s own ideas and reliance upon one's Inner Strength moment by moment, giving authority and power back over to God, praying constantly to be shown the way. Modern-day monks The Messengers are like modern-day monks. We do not rely upon rituals to maintain a focus on our Purpose, and so the attention to Guidance in every moment takes a deep devotion and extreme attentiveness. Our intention is for every decision to be inspired by Guidance. As Jesus says, it would not be practical to stop and ask for Guidance for every little move that is made; however, decisions involving "others" such as travels, retreats, timing, and length of stays for visitors are all given prayerful consideration. Either a clear directive is Given by the Spirit, or it is "felt out" together, through discussions in which personal interests, ideas, concerns, and preferences are raised up and released so that the Answer can be revealed to all. Of course, the Answer is the Spirit and a sense of being joined in Purpose together, and this comes through in terms of specific Guidance for everyone in such a way that there is a flow. Plans are given moment by moment A friend who came for a two-week stay in the community described the Messengers' "way" as deliberate, saying that even when there was a spontaneous and joyful trip to see a movie, given with about 20 minutes notice, there was still a consistent sense of deliberateness about it, which she loved. This describes purpose beautifully. Moment by moment the plans are given, and when Given by the Spirit they are Joyfully followed. Hearing the same Guidance A key aspect of the Messengers is being willing to remember and put into practice the awareness that there is one Holy Spirit. This means that every time there are opposing or conflicting ideas about what is Guided, then a personal idea, fear, or preference is interfering with tuning in and hearing the same Guidance. One Voice would never say opposing things, and this realization is a daily practice that clears away lifetimes in terms of egoic perceptions and distractions. For the Messengers, the "elder brother" approach is used as a reference point, which means that there is always willingness to defer to an "elder brother" when conflict or lack of peace is experienced within the mind. This always results in awareness of truth and gratitude, although it may or may not be felt immediately. |
