Dad, or should I call you Lord, what is time?”
“I have many names, and I answer to all of them that are expressed from the heart.” And He continued. “Time is one of those subjects that man has always struggled with and can’t seem to get an understanding about. There was a past, and there may be a future, but I don’t live inany one of them. I am the present and always have been. The past is there as a schoolmaster and the future is something that you need not concern yourself with. I Am the I Am, ever present and never failing. If all things work together for good, then the days gone by can only work within each person to bring them to a greater understanding of them- selves. That is to say, that the people in the Bible and the situations in your past are archived for your benefit to give you a teacher to nurture you in the ups and downs of the now. I was there, but not anymore.”
Once again I asked. “What about pain, that is the many times we feel pain or even when we give it to others. What is it and why is it not bad and not called evil, pain hurts, isn’t anything that hurts bad?”
“I know pain,” and He then rolled up the checked sleeve of his shirt, “the scar that you see on my wrist came from the wound that mankind gave to my son Jesus. Him and I are one, we share in everything, just like I share in all of mans’ hurts and glories. The scar is just a happy little reminder of the Love we have for each other and for you.”
“Lord, you are God, and speaking of love, I’ve always been taught that you are Love, and although I’ve thought that I knew what love is, I’m really not that sure. What is it, I mean what is Love?”
With a content look on His face, and His brown eyes so wide open that you would think that one could see to the ends of the universe through them, He spoke. “That’s one of those words that has been misused for eons. There are different meanings in different languages for the several meanings to love. True Love is undefiled, it is that action that one gives to another unconditionally, and it is always beneficial and always edifying. Pure Love is constantly giving and seldom takes. My son Paul wrote much about this and at times it was interpreted as charity. Love never fails and is not to be confused with trying real hard to really like someone. I so loved the world and that means everyone in it, that I gave and I gave with pleasure that I endured the cross with my son Jesus, still bearing the scars of love. You can-not earn it, nor deserve it with any thought or deed, I, from my deepest loyalty and compassion, give my love to all. Love does not depend on whether a person feels good, or whether one has done good or bad, Love stands on its’ own, does not need to be propped up, never presents itself unbecoming, nor does it always feel good, for Love never fails.”
Looking back at the barn again and with His answer on my mind, I again was reminded of how messed-up I was. “Lord, could or should I love someone that hated me or has committed some ugly act against me, you know, deliberately wanted to hurt me?”
“Sure you are, but when you understand and receive the trueness of love, you can’t help but love them, no matter what they’ve done. It’s the person, not the deed that you love, and that comes easy. Whosoever Loves, Loves me, there is no effort in Love, and for those that abide in me, it is an extension of the new man. All are made in my image, and I live in all. Ross, you love me by loving them.”
Rubbing my fingers over my eyes and sitting up a little straighter, beginning slowly to comprehend what He was saying, I asked; “how did I and all of mankind get so persuaded that you send your wrath on all that go against you?”
“When man ate of the fruit of independence in the Garden, he not only chose to separate himself from me, he also chose to make his own decisions with his own knowledge of what ‘good and evil’ is. The serpent convinced man that he could be like me, if only he would eat of the fruit, since the throne of satan is the mind, then it’s easy to see that there is just too much thinking going on. Depend on and trust Me, and the mind will melt into My Heart ”
“Religion and all other methods did not come from me, nor is it the invention that I have ordained, but man with his desire for his so-called freedom wanted it bad, just like the Israelites also wanted a king. All religions have that man must do something to earn my graces. This is at the heart of all religions, ‘do good and act right and God will love you and not send His wrath upon you’, therefore to manipulate others to adhere to their form, and their set of rules and regulations they began to teach; unless one conforms to our standard, God would do nasty things to them… I am grace, I am Love, and no man can escape either.
Remember, my sons Cain, Moses, and David, they were what you call murderers, and that did not detour me from using them in great ways, nor did I withdraw my love from them. I just plain and simply loved them because I loved them. And I love all the same way, this is my enjoyment.”
“Thank you Dad for saying that,” I spoke as He was beginning to sit on a fallen log that was slightly up-hill from me, “I think I really do understand what you just explained, thank you. Going back a little to what we were speaking about earlier, let me ask you this; Lord, is all the things that people do in the world, are they all directed by you as happenings, events and so-on that are useful to the whole theater of life, are we made to do them without choice or do you simply, in your Holy ways use them for the betterment of man? In other words, can or do you take the stuff that we call evil and make something beautiful from it? I guess what I’m trying to ask; are we puppets directed by you or do we make our own choices, and you then take our stupid mistakes and make something beautiful from them?”