A couple of things have happened recently which are serving as a way for me to remember that judgment is not the way to love unconditionally. For example, often people have preconceived ideas of who I am, how I should be, how I should act, and what motivates me. And more often than I care for, a few people place me on a pedestal. You know what happens when you are up on a high, small place...you can fall off! I quickly fall and crash, but it's usually at the expense of a developing friendship. A close friend says I should do something to let people who want me to be "special" know I'm just an ordinary person, for instance, who can pick my nose or pass gas. She helps me laugh about the absurdity of the situation. But it isn't funny when people who I've considered friends make a judgment based on a preconceived idea that I should now act like a saint. It doesn't upset me any more, but it has given me the opportunity to speak my truth.
Just because I receive messages from Mother Mary doesn't imbue me with any special spiritual powers or attributes. I haven't turned into a saint, nor do I keep "the pained Christ" look on my face. I make mistakes, I disappoint people, I get angry, I'm human with all of humanity's emotions and frailties. The receiving of the messages is very special and this in no way belittles that. I am truly blessed by these communications. But I've not magically turned into a great spiritual person because of it. I've had to do my healing, in my own way. I'm not Mary, nor am I in any way the Blessed Mother's representative. Another thing that happens more often than I like is that people often call me Mary. My name is Annie. I do not represent Her, nor am I infused with Mary's spirit. Nor are Mary and I the same, as a few misguided people have stated.
I'm very aware of my shortcomings and I know that I'm still working to love everyone, unconditionally, all the time, even those I don't particularly like. Who I am is Annie; wife of Byron; mother of Mark, David, James, Brian, Edward; grandmother to Jason, Jonathan, Robert, Lindsae and great-grand- mother to Brianna. What I am is Mother Mary's messenger. Please do not confuse the message with me. Often I say I'm just the Fed Ex or UPS person for Mother Mary. That may sound sacrilegious to some people, but it's the best way I can describe my role. I don't exemplify the message, nor am I the message. I'm trying just like you to put the message into effect so it can make a difference in my life. Mother Mary asked me to encourage you to work on your connection to God in your own way. So when I say I'm learning something, it doesn't mean I've "got it," but that I'm working on it. Together we can encourage each other. Together we can make a difference in our own lives, and in our loved one's lives. Then, together we will make a difference in the consciousness of mankind.
When we fall into the old habit of judging, either ourselves or others, we are not loving unconditionally. Usually when we judge, we don't see the good in people, or ourselves. We focus on the mistakes, flaws, failures, and the times either we or others act in unloving ways. Mother Mary says God loves unconditionally and to be at peace we are to love ourselves and each other the same way. For me this means I monitor how I view other people. Judging was an integral part of my family of origin's dynamics, and it's been difficult to set the habit aside. There are times Byron will say, "That's judging," when I think I'm making an observation. It's one thing to observe and another to place blame. Placing blame is what I do when I'm judging. How many times do we say, "How could he/she do that?" meaning that the person is "wrong, bad, or lacking." Have you heard a statement like this, "Look at him/her...that's not how a spiritual person should act?" This is judgment, and it's also spiritual arrogance.
Once we asked Mother Mary how we could tell who is spiritual and who is not. She told us there was no way while we are on earth to tell who is truly spiritual and who isn't. She said the most spiritual person in our city (which was Dallas) could live in the worst part of town and be considered the worst drunk in town. One other time when I was having a problem forgiving, She said, "The greatest gift one soul can give another is to come into their life to be their nemesis." This gives a whole new perspective on the difficult people in our lives.
We are in this life experience together, and we all experience imperfection. At any given time mistakes are being made. Our goal is to love unconditionally, like our Divine Parent/God loves us. He loves us without limit, without judgment, withholding no part of Himself. We are loved more than we can understand, and more than we can imagine. It's our happiness and good that we withhold by judging harshly. My commitment to myself and to my Creator is that I will do all I can to learn to love as He does. I love by saying, "I love you," withholding no part of myself. The human part of me may be stung by criticism or judgment, but this too shall pass away. What never dies is the love we share.
It is with pleasure that I come to you in love. I hear your anguished pleas for help. Many are in confusion as to why God causes or allows bad things to happen. God loves. In His great love, He has given you freedom of choice. If you do not make your own choices, other people's choices will determine circumstances and situations to happen that could affect you. God loves, without judgment, without reservation. His loves flows freely to all people, those who appear to be living spiritual lives and those who are not. God loves you no matter your circumstances or the conditions of your life.
God's love is more than you can understand, more than you can comprehend, more than you can envision. God's love is pure energy; it is pure love that has nothing but good imbued into every atom. God's love is Himself, coming to you in the most pleasant, comfortable, and energizing ways. So when you see hunger, disease, cruelty, abuse, or violence, understand these conditions are not created by God...but by humanity. Humanity will heal them through the efforts of individual people, working one by one to recreate heaven on earth through love.
Cry out, my children, if you so desire. Become enraged; recognize the injustice of these and many other undesirable conditions. Yet understand God is not the cause; humanity is the cause of these conditions. Humanity can correct them. These conditions will be corrected in love. To judge another person harshly is to perpetuate these conditions. When you speak badly about another person, injustice continues to be fed. To become immune to the suffering of other people and see them as less than you, is to feed the injustices of this world. When you deny your own emotions and try to hide your meanness or harshness, you water these conditions. When you abuse yourself or others, you cultivate violence in the world. As you place conditions on your love, you stamp out kindness and poison the wells of human kindness.
You have the ability and the power through prayer to correct these conditions so they will be eliminated for all time. You have the means in your hand to bring an end to world hunger, not only by giving food, or money to buy food, but through prayer and through daily loving actions. You can end disease not only through new and better treatments or medicines, but end it for all time through your love as you daily pray and treat each other with gentleness. You can bring cruelty to an end through your prayers and by loving all people, no matter how they act or react, what they believe or do not believe. You can cease the wars in families and in nations through your prayers and through your acceptance of each other, loved ones and strangers alike. You can stop the injustices of the world through your prayers, and by ceasing to judge yourself or another harshly.
All this is possible, because you have the ability to live in peace. It will happen as each individual begins and continues to live in inner peace, prayer, and a heart filled with unconditional love. It is your joy to be a peacemaker; it is your pleasure to live a love-filled life. It will be an honor to give the future generations a world free of cruelty, violence, disease, and hunger. You can make a difference, my children. You have in your hands the means, abilities, method, and knowledge to make a huge difference in the world. You alone can fulfill humanity's destiny of peace. You are needed; don't think for one minute that you can't make a difference. Your prayers are powerful when they are backed by a love-filled life. Remember that it is a life guided, supplied and imbued with unconditional love that makes the difference.
My little children, I am only asking of you that which you are fully capable of giving. You can live in peace. You can love without judgment and without bias. It will require of you dedication, commitment, and effort. It will take being dedicated to prayer. Pray daily, and I ask that each of you pray one hour a day as a minimum. Meditate and listen to the silent voice of God daily. Give yourself time to be silent. Only in true silence of the soul will you fully communicate with the Father, who is within you. Listen with your inner ear and hear the murmuring of your soul as it glories in its Divine communication with its Source of Life, Love, and all Good.
Remember always that prayer is talking to God. Talk to Him as you would a beloved parent, or a trusted friend. Talk to Him in honesty, for God alone can look into your heart of hearts. He sees your motivation, commitment, intention, and honesty. He hears your longings, inner yearnings, and your emotions as they display your reactions to life's situations. God feels your suffering, concerns, angers, fears, and your hopes and dreams. Nothing is withheld from God's view. Why would you persist in thinking that you cannot be truthful with Him? It is useless to be dishonest with God. Step out of the illusion of denial and take a good look at your life, at your motivations and at how you live now. Speak to God in your own way, whether that way is the prayers learned through your religion or just plain talking as you do to yourself. Please don't become impassive because you can't decide the right way to pray. God just wants to hear from you, in your own words or through learned prayers and ritual. He is like a loving parent who is waiting patiently to hear from His children.
God loves you and treats each of you as if you were His most precious creation. This is how God treats everyone. Understand that we all are God's most precious creation, we are all one in Him. We live because God lives. He loves completely and totally, and He loves you now. Allow His love to fill your heart, your life and your day with joy. Begin each day with the gentle reminder that God loves you. It doesn't matter to Him what is happening in your life, what your circumstances are, or what the situation of your life is...God loves you. He sees your full potential, the total creation which is you. He knows you inside out, and is just as proud of you when you think you are winning, or being very spiritual, or very religious, as He does when you feel lost and without hope.
Love each other, pray one for the other. Be of good cheer and seek the truth of your life. Let your heart be healed of all malice, resentments, and fears. Your prayers added to others' prayers can cause miracles to happen. The world can enter a thousand years of peace in joy, instead of heartbreak.
I am loving you, my children. I am loving you and praying with you for your good health, and inner peace. I am with you in prayer and in love.
I few months back I got a letter from my ex-brother-in-law blasting mine and Annie's beliefs and our work.
Mike and I had gotten to know each other many years ago through a mutual interest in amateur radio. As our friendship developed, we (myself and my sons' mother) introduced him to his future wife, my ex-wife's sister. Then, as things seem to happen, we grew apart as employment caused them to move out of the area and thus we rarely saw each other, except at certain overlapping family functions. What I didn't know is that Mike and his wife had become "Fundamental Christians" and had developed the typical attitude that "if you don't believe as I do--you're wrong!" In his letter, he said they had read our books and made a lot of accusations based on his beliefs and his erroneous view of what he thought our beliefs were.
After reading his letter, I was hurt by his accusations, even though his intent was to save me from hell/the devil/harm/bad manners/wrong doings, or whatever, and his intentions seemed sincere enough. It was obvious that he hadn't actually read any of our books in any detail, or the statements he made wouldn't have made any sense. I suspect that someone showed them a copy of one of our books and picked out selected parts they didn't agree with, and told them "how wrong we were" to believe what we did!
His letter was accompanied with 60-pages of photocopied literature from "Fundamental Christian" experts--people I had never even heard of, but were obviously very sure of their own self-righteousness.
Why am I talking about this? Mike's letter hit a hot button of mine about how we as humanity separate ourselves from each other, usually to say that the way we believe is somehow better than the way others believe. My response to his letter wound up being nine single-spaced typed written pages, as I vented my feelings. My letter may become the core of an article I hope to someday write.
A portion of Annie's current work is to help us recognize how we separate ourselves from others and God, and yet we are not separate, we are all connected to each other and to the Creator. This theme is also predominate in Neale Donald Walsch's books, Conversations with God books 1 and 2. (Book 2 was just released is available through B&A).
It seems that my mind keeps trying to find a way to rationalize the differences between what we believe and the beliefs of the Fundamental Christians who have been told how wrong the "new agers" are in their beliefs. Now, new ager is not a term we would normally use to describe ourselves, but one that is given to someone that may believe in reincarnation, no devil or hell, a non-judgmental God, and other areas that are different than the currently accepted Christian beliefs.
Recently I got the idea of the term "New Age Christian" to bring together the concepts of the new age beliefs and those of standard Christianity. I realize that there are those that probably believe that these terms are mutually exclusive (meaning you can't believe in both at the same time). Mike even stated his belief that the "New Age religion" was not a Christian denomination, and I agreed, but not for the reasons he stated. First of all, it's not a religion, it is not even an organization, but a loose set of beliefs, more concerned with Spiritual issues than the rituals of a certain religion. Secondly, who determines what is and isn't a "Christian denomination?" Is there a committee, if so, who represents the new comers and argues for acceptance on their behalf?
I think it is ironic that the fundamentalists, who feel they represent all Christians, are so narrow in there thinking. This country was founded on the need for religious freedom, yet they are the least tolerant of other's beliefs.
Perhaps many of you have also been censored or criticized by family or friends about your beliefs. What is important to remember is that no matter how different some people think we are to them, in God's eyes we are not separated but connected to each other. Now that gives one food for thought. How do we keep this thought of unity in God, while we resolve the hurt that comes from these types of opinions? It is a question that each of us can answer only for himself. But isn't it a comfort to know that we are as closely connected to God as the next person? Doesn't it help to know that God doesn't play favorites? Isn't this the reason we can be more tolerant of those who criticize and point a finger at us?
This is just something to think about. Thank you for letting me rant and rave.
I would like to invite you to join us for an open house on August 16 & 17, 1997 at our home in Bunch, Oklahoma. This is in conjunction with our Mary Prayer Day to be held at Lake Tenkiller on August 15th.
Mother Mary asked us to do this this year. She wants us to open our home for prayer, meditation, and discussion.
This country is beautiful and there are many things to do while you are here. This includes swimming, fishing, and scuba diving on Lake Tenkiller, river rafting on the Illinois River, visit the Cherokee Heritage Center (museum). Also the spiritually-oriented, intentional community of Sparrow Hawk Village, just north of Tahlequah, will be open to visitors.