Are you accustomed to getting what you want on demand? You open a faucet and water flows, and you turn on a switch and electrical current flows. Your access to information networks is very similar, and you like this convenience. Do you see your spiritual connection with me the same way; that I am there for you whenever you want me? Yet this perspective can give you a distorted view of our relationship, as if I am here for your convenience. If you call me Lord, shouldn’t it be the other way around? The reality is not that I am with you on demand, but that I am with you always, whether it is convenient for you or not. How would a greater awareness of my abiding presence with you affect the way you live your life?

Do you find it easier and easier to surround yourself with like-minded people? Modern network communications make it easier than ever to make contact with those of similar backgrounds and beliefs, and opinions. Is this a good thing? The same technology also makes it easier to come into contact with those outside of your familiar group. Which do you prefer to do? It is comforting to be reassured that you were right all along, but that is not a formula for your growth and transformation. So it is easier to do the easier thing, and also easier to do the harder thing that provides more growth potential for you. Which will you do?

My word teaches you that no one would light a candle and hide it under a bushel, but rather put it on a candlestick to give light. This makes sense at the most basic level, but you know that it has a deeper meaning. You have light within you. What bushel would you use to hide it? Fear? Shame? Guilt? These may be real issues that must be dealt with in your life, but they are not valid reasons for hiding your light under a bushel. If you wait until your imperfections are all resolved you will never let your light shine. Let it shine in spite of your flaws that when people see it they will glorify me.

Have you heard it said that you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives? Everyone is familiar with this saying, and your relatives, like the poor, are with you always. When I was asked about my own family I replied that they were those who did the will of God, implying that spirit is thicker than blood. Do you find more in common with your spiritual brothers than your blood brothers? Yet you may recall that one of my brothers did become my disciple. If you make the effort to develop relationships with your relatives so that you would choose them as friends then your brother can be your brother in more ways than one.