"…for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." (Matthew 10: 26, King James Bible). "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." (Psalm 139: 7-12, King James Bible). "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Isaiah 54: 4-6, King James Bible)
As a teenager, I lived in a neighborhood where what seemed to be a perfectly normal family also resided, just two streets over. This family was comprised of a mother, father, and three or four children. The children went to a nearby grade school, except for one child who was in junior high. The children (we were told) had all lived in their same home since birth; so the entire family had resided in the neighborhood for many years, quite unaware of the human drama that was about to take place. The drama began to unfold, one day, when the older child (I think it was a boy, but not sure my memory is correct) was talking with a new friend at school. It seemed that both friends had the same last name. After comparing their lives, they learned that they both lived on the same street, only about fifteen blocks away from each other. With that distance between them, they probably wouldn't have played together as younger children, they reasoned, and had probably attended different grade schools. A few days later, however, the two new friends were slightly disturbed to find out that their fathers had the same first name, as well as last name. Still, it took sharing this with their moms at home, before the truth was revealed: the same man was the father and husband in both families. The man in question had two, nearly identical families, living just a bit over one mile from each other. He had three or four children in each family. His two wives had never chanced upon each other; yet, the man had kept them on the same street so that he could take a long walk for exercise, and be at the other residence in a rather short time. News of this drama sped through our neighborhood like a fast train. It was soon learned that the younger children, were indeed, attending the same grade school together with their half-siblings, without knowing it. As days and weeks went on, some of the information that was uncovered was probably true, such as the fact that the dual father and husband was arrested and charged with bigamy almost as soon as his deception was revealed. Most other things people heard about were probably rumors, such as gossipy stories of what happened with the two wives and the half-siblings after the truth was out. But though some residents of the neighborhood were entertaining themselves by trying to figure out how he did it (how did his double life deception go on so long without detection) many other neighbors were aware of the emotional pain that was afflicting the wives and children of both families. The man that both families had loved and trusted had betrayed all of them, without any seeming remorse. This experience was proof to me, all those years ago, that living in the human condition is really scary; particularly if one doesn't have a way of rising above the destructive actions of others. Sometimes people (all of us) can be selfish beyond belief; and we never know from which direction unsettling circumstances can turn our lives around, from harmony to devastation. This human experience we all share has truth, joy, and harmony all intertwined in a material soup with deceptions, betrayals, crimes and all other manifestations of destruction. It is the 'place' in time and space, or a dimension of collective thought and action, where we daily experience the fruits of eating from 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' (See full account beginning in Genesis 2: 16, 17 of King James Bible). And lest someone thinks that men are the only culprits when it comes to deception and passing out emotional pain, don't forget the women who have actually abandoned their own children to be with another man. Mothers who have been loved and cherished by their husbands and children have sometimes left their families without a backward glance, for a new romance or thrill, or financial gain. Painful betrayals can occur in every country, and within every tribe or family around the globe. So, what are we to do when the unexpected deceptions and destructions 'out there' crash in upon our lives without warning? Is there any way to rise above such emotional pain when those we love and trusted turn out to be our enemies in disguise? Christ Jesus once announced, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5: 43-45, New King James Bible). Now at first glance, and on the surface of things, this doesn't seem like good advice at all. Instead, it appears to let the culprit off the hook from all the destruction he or she has caused us, while we suffer from the fall-out. But that is not the ultimate truth in the matter. So, what could Jesus have meant by telling us to follow that directive to love these destructive ones? He was turning us (humanity) from the material appearance of things, to the spiritual reality of all things under God's creation and loving laws of justice, equality, and security. When crushing human loss and pain seems to make nothing but victims out of us, that is the time to turn to our spiritual sense of things and realize that God is our Source of all good; and nothing hidden, threatening, or lost can ever be a permanent situation in the invisible Kingdom of God. While being crucified on the cross, Jesus the Christ said something else. He prayed, "…Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, New Kings James Bible.) By these words, the Master defined the workings of evil in the minds of anyone calling himself and herself human. We all lie, deceive, hate, steal, and destroy while under the false belief that we are material creatures, separated from God, our Source of all good. This good includes the eternal presence of God's love for all identities in creation. It is always present to shine the light of day on wrong-doing and replace anything or any one 'lost' to us. When we are taking care of ourselves (unaware of the divine presence) and doing whatever we think we have to do to survive in this material dimension (where good and evil seem to co-exist, side by side) we often choose to victimize someone else in order to take care of our own sense of well-being. Yet, despite material appearances to the contrary, Christ Jesus knew that we are all God's own children, however wrongly we act while in this human dimension and under the spell of material existence. Jesus preached about the invisible Kingdom of God throughout his ministry. The four gospels in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) show that learning of this ever-present, spiritual kingdom brought forth the power to heal diseases, and all manner of wrong-doing. Christ Jesus also told of God's forgiveness for all of us; for while under the spell of materiality and false, human personality, we are each in an altered state of mind and don't really perceive reality. Not perceiving reality, we don't realize God's ever-present harmony, underlying the material scene 'out there'. We don't perceive the love of God that is preserving us for eternity, in our true spiritual body, soul and mind. We don't perceive God's sovereignty that can fix anything in the collective dream of materiality and mortality. The most important thing Jesus was showing us was the ever-presence of our own spiritual identity—the Christ Consciousness within us all, which is our very link to God. This spiritual, rather than material identity is the real image and likeness of God. This consciousness is our true mind, uncontaminated by any material beliefs. It is always at one with its Source. The imperfect, physical identity we seem to be is the falsity of existence. It is a state of self-deception. It is a lower level of conscious awareness, filled with both truth and untruths, which seems to be sleeping from its full, spiritual awareness of the God consciousness and realm. An awakening, even in a small degree, of our true, spiritual oneness with God, begins to bring about a deeper trust in the ability of Spirit's (God's) Intelligence, Wisdom, Power and Love with which It maintains Its own creation. Then the failings of humanity are not so threatening anymore, because the presence of God (when turned to within our innate spiritual conscious-awareness) begins to correct our thinking and acting. So what if our humanly-imperfect father, mother, boyfriend, girlfriend, wife or husband, betrays us and deceives us? God is still invisibly present to make whatever correction is right and good for us, exposing those who do wrong, and replacing whatever material thing was lost in the process…even the people we need to have a happy, right relationship. Just because one individual proves to be a lousy parent, spouse, or friend does not mean that they can't be replaced by someone else, or transformed so they turn away from their deceptions. God is the Source of all good qualities within us, and turning the whole matter over to God's divine, loving control, will sort everything out so that, after the adjustment, we will find ourselves better off than we were under our own management of our lives. Hear these words of God, as spoken through Ezekiel the Prophet: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." (Ezekiel 21: 27, King James Bible). In this biblical passage, God is speaking to each identity in creation, showing that the 'bad' that comes into our human experience is never the end of the matter. Instead, by realizing that God is also present with us, (on every level of existence we mentally experience) then we remember that God's ever-presence makes all the difference in the world. Where God is, all things exist by the spiritual laws of love and the all-power of the Creator. Nothing (no power) is left to the temporary behavior of any man or woman. God is always present to overturn and replace whatever was destructive to us in the human scene. No individual is what we need anyway. What we really need is God's presence and power, and we already have that. It only takes our remembrance of God and the turning of our thoughts back to the real power over us. God never leaves his beloved children to the false, material sense of existence that we collectively (and usually) believe in, and out of which we act. But, that's why we're so fortunate; for the remedy is as close as Spirit's ever-presence and loving, protective care. When we find ourselves in the emotional pain of a human sense of loss (be it loss of someone's affection, our financial well-being, or something else) we can reject anger and fear. Instead, we can make it a point to love that individual, despite the altered state of mind out of which he or she has been acting. Then we proceed safely in freedom and fearlessness. When we do this, we are loving the real persons—who, when more spiritually awaken, would never have deceived anyone. They are not the false, fleshly identities they believe themselves to be; nor do they know where they really dwell. They are God's own children, living and moving within the invisible Kingdom of God's Harmony, despite their beliefs. Years ago, someone once told me that these experiences of betrayal and deception (from those we depended upon in our lives) are like "little deaths" we suffer. They always represent a sense of something lost to us; and in the moments of these losses, we feel that we will never be all right again. But, with faith and trust in God's love for us, our anger and fear dissolve, and we move out of the "little deaths" very quickly. And as our human lives become harmonious again, we find we can even forgive those who caused us our earlier grief. Trusting God's control over the whole situation doesn't always have to be about betrayals by others. The "little deaths" we suffer—our human losses—can occur from our own actions, and even random situations that we couldn't avoid. Small children suffer these "little deaths" when they have to move away from a playmate they can no longer visit. Teenagers, moving to another city, also might feel the emotional pain of leaving all their friends behind. For adults, even an actual human death of a loved one can feel like a betrayal of sorts. Emotional pain comes to us from many avenues. We should never be impatient when waiting upon God's active participation on our behalf. We want divine justice and harmony to be completely right, not fast; and when trusting in God's eternal care, there is always hope for our future, rather than despair. God's underlying harmony and rightful adjustment of all things concerned are operating in the unseen world of Spirit, but manifest in the human condition. And if you find it difficult to believe in the invisible presence of our loving Creator, one of my favorite song lyrics from my own childhood reminds us so well: (From "You'll Never Walk Alone")
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