On this, another Sunday morning, we gather in the chapel on Sunrise Ranch for an hour of meditation. And this ninth day of May 1954 has been set aside in honor of the mothers of the world. Mother's Day.
When we think of “mother”, we think of home—and we know the vital importance of the true Spirit of Home in the family pattern of father and mother and children on earth. But when we think of father and mother and children, we think of the Family of which we are a part, not in the segregated cells but in the Unified Body of cells, making up the Home of Heaven and Earth, of Father God, of Mother God, and of ourselves, the Children of God. And we would honor our Father and our Mother that our days may be long in the land which the Lord our God hath given us, as Children of God. We would that all the children of men should come to realize that we are more than children of men, children of earthly fathers and mothers, that we are likewise the Children of God, children of the Heavenly Father and Mother. And so, in this spirit we are gathered, and in this spirit we would pause for a moment of devotion.
Our gracious Lord, Heavenly Father of us all, we thank Thee, not only for all Thy provision by a reason of which we may live, but also for the expression and revelation of Thyself through the being of Mother God, for the privilege of birth on earth, for the privilege of revealing the nature of the Heavenly Family in the world of men; for the provision by which we may live would be of no value had we not first been born. And having been born of our earthly mothers, we would also be born of our Heavenly Mother, that being on earth where thou hath established the provision, we may live, and in that living reveal the sweet essences of our Heavenly Parents—the beauty and the wonder of Love, not only our Father's Love, which we so deeply appreciate, but also our Mother's Love, our Mother's care. For in the earthly mother, we see and know the symbol and the revelation of our Heavenly Mother—our Mother's Love, our Mother's care, our Mother's ability to produce and maintain the atmosphere of Home, Sweet Home; that we may know a place for our heart to come to rest and our spirits be at ease, that peace, sweet peace, may pervade the Home, the realm of Eternal Being in the Spirit of the Living Christ. Aumen.
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This morning as we give thought to the significance of Mother's Day, there is a particular point which presses upon our consciousness. The significance of Mother's Day depends upon the significance of birth. What is the significance of the fact that we have been born into the world? I have known human beings in a moment of futility and discouragement to say, “I wish I had never been born.” In such a moment, the individual has lost the consciousness of the significance of birth. We need to have a sense of our origin, a sense of our purpose. If in some unguarded moment a human being says, “I wish I had never been born”, what is the significance of that attitude? What are its implications? I think if we pause to consider this aspect for a moment, it will help us to see something else more clearly, for I suspect that most of you have known some such moment.
But first, such an attitude dishonors Father God. Such an attitude suggests that God did not know what He was doing. Such an attitude is finding fault with God—both with Father God and with Mother God. Such an attitude is finding fault with earthly parents. While this is a significant part of the matter, it is small compared to the attitude of finding fault with God. If in any moment the human vision cannot immediately grasp, perceive or comprehend the reasons for our presence here on earth, this one thought should sustain us, regardless of the problems we may face, regardless of the seemingly impossible task, regardless of what may seem at times to be imposed upon us, this one thing should sustain us, for we know within ourselves that we should not find fault with God. This one thing should sustain us: God the Father, God the Mother, had a purpose in bringing forth that which you are—you individually, you the person, you the man or the woman, you whom we know. No matter whether the human being himself, no matter the attitude of one's fellows, wherein there is a failure to grasp the purpose and the meaning of the individual, God had a purpose for you.
Almost always when we think with any depth of meditation upon the thought of “mother”, there comes a sense of nostalgia. There is a certain hint of sadness, or of longing, a certain something which cannot well be described. I remember when, in this outer form, I was a child. I remember certain lovely things with respect to my mother. And then, at a time when I was entering the teens, when I was 12 years old, my mother left this realm of things, and I remember particularly those early teen years following that event. As I have said many times, I could not wish her back in the circumstances which she had known. But there was a certain cycle which worked out. There was a loneliness, a deep inside sadness, and yet an acceptance of the situation as it was.
As time passed, the greatest need in my being was for a sense of meaning—the meaningfulness of my own life. At that age, it appeared that the years before me, stretching toward adulthood, were unspeakably long and endless, and I had some vague concept that when I had reached manhood, I would then, in such a time, have meaning. I remember long hours of loneliness that reached the depth of whatever being I knew. I remember those hours on the barren waste of the Whitewater Country, and hours in the high mountains, and Grand Mesa. And I remember particularly certain hours, when after a long day's work, the time for milking came, and there was no milking shed on top of Grand Mesa; a corral up under the tall evergreen trees. And there the wind, the breeze moving through those trees, the mountain stillness, the mountain chill in the air—the whole atmosphere so far from the haunts of men; no sounds of civilization in the dusk. There were certain feelings which cannot well be described, but I think it was a longing for Home. And yet my mind could not turn to any spot on the face of the earth, any place, any geographical location, and think of that as Home—not a single place anywhere, there in that vast loneliness. A certain sense of communion with nature and yet a longing for Home. But there was not one single geographical location on the face of the earth that meant Home to me.
Now if you can sense or feel something of that, perhaps you can more readily appreciate how human beings have, with false and limited concepts of home, which have been allowed to fill the consciousness, produced a substitute, a substitute pattern of home; not wholly satisfying, but providing something of an anesthetic, dulling somewhat the longings, the deeper longings, for the Higher Home. And under the anesthesia, trying to be somehow content with the geographical location, the place that human beings call home.
We consider the feelings as they work through the masses of mankind. How many songs there are which speak of “home”, a longing to go home or to return to a certain place; many, many songs, many stories, many ideas. And there may be certain factors in a location which provide a setting for that sense of home, which means a sense of meaning. When a young person leaves home, as it is put, for the first time, to be away for even a vacation or a term at school, usually there is a certain amount of homesickness, a desire to return to a place where one has a greater sense of meaning to others. In that new location, the young person does not have, all too often, a deep sense of having meaning to others. And consequently, he becomes homesick. And he thinks that if he could return to the geographical location, to his earthly parents, he would have meaning once again.
As soon as a person develops a sense of having meaning in any location, his tendency toward homesickness with respect to some other location tends to vanish away. Home is the place of personal meaning; and we think of “mother” as the one who provides the deepest and the most consistent sense of personal meaning. And yet we know that with many mothers, regardless of their fine qualities, there were great faults or limitations; and in many cases, the sense of personal meaning which mother could have, or should have provided, has become overshadowed with a sense of duty, established in the act of physical relationship. Here in such a case there are always conflicts, something that is detracting from the true sense of personal meaning, something that is contrary to the true significance of “home” and “mother”. Perhaps my early experience, as I have briefly touched upon it, had something to do with instilling deep in my being a longing for a Spirit of Home on Earth for all mankind, regardless of race or color or creed.
The Fatherhood of God is ever so important, beyond words to describe. But in the world, due to all these factors upon which we have touched, human beings in adult life have tended to imagine that the place of personal meaning was “heaven” to which one would go on leaving the earth; an acceptance of limited meaning on earth, but with a hope to go to a place where there would be personal meaning. If we consider the many, many songs that are utilized, we will see this point emphasized: the idea that true personal meaning could never be experienced on earth, but surely there would be true personal meaning in heaven. And yet God placed us here. We are here on earth. And the logical, the sensible mind, must feel the necessity for some practical solution among men on earth.
There is something that stirs in the hearts of all the children of men, making them somehow dissatisfied with the substitutes which they themselves have been able to devise—a longing for Home. A longing for the true Spirit of Home, and yet a longing to live on earth, for life to have meaning in this world, among men. To many, this has seemed to be a basis of conflict. It is seen to separate the practical phases of life and the so-called spiritual phases of life. And yet, if we accept this idea as basic, this substitute pattern, there is in it inherently a reflection against God, a process of finding fault with God, and the feeling that our opportunities are inadequate. And there is nothing more dangerous for any human being than to begin to imagine that the reasons for his failure, for his lack of personal meaning, are established in a lack of opportunity. For the moment the individual begins to feel that he has been cheated in this sense, he begins to blame someone else for his failure, his failure to have personal meaning. Some blame parents, some other relatives, some blame husband or wife or friends, business associates. But the moment any human being begins to blame someone else for his own lack of personal meaning, he has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; and unless he changes that attitude, he makes the remainder of his life to be bitter as gall, without meaning, without purpose—a denial of home, whether of God or of man, a denial of the Fatherhood and the Motherhood of being, whether of God or of man. Such an attitude precludes the possibility of ever finding Home, a place of personal meaning.
Once we begin to realize that even though there may be some failures in one way or another, with respect to the revelation of Father God and Mother God on earth, through parents or others, we can personally establish our own sphere of relationship with Father God and Mother God. We begin to have a sense of personal meaning and the assurance that we can, by our living, establish right here on earth, regardless of limitations or difficulties, something of the spirit, the atmosphere of Home. And wherever there are those who share a life-longing for the reality of Home, there will be a touching of kindred spirits, a joining of hands in the doing of the tasks by which the common purpose may be realized. The sense of utility vanishes away; the sense of personal meaning is increased; and we do not say the reasons for living have vanished away—but rather, we see in life, and in the fact of our presence here, a glorious challenge by reason of which we may do our part toward making it possible for all men and women everywhere to begin to find the Spirit of Home. For if we ourselves have missed it, that surely gives us a basis of appreciating Home.
And if we appreciate and value this atmosphere of Home, what greater task could come to heart and hand and mind but to help establish that Home, that in the days to come there need not be so many who wander in the wilderness in a solitary way. And how better could we glorify Father God and Mother God than to do our part in establishing and maintaining the reality, the form, and the Spirit of Home on Earth, where all who will may come and begin to know the true value of personal meaning, not in selfishness and greed, but in generosity and love—a Home wherein we honor our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Mother, so that there is meaning for the days which are granted to us in the land which the Lord our God hath given us. Not empty days, meaningless days, which some have thought to wish might be shortened, but that our days may be long in the land which the Lord our God hath given us, long and filled with meaning, filled with joy, filled with the accomplishments of living, because we have not accepted a substitute, a mere geographical place, but that we allow ourselves to be dedicated to the development of a Spirit of Home which shall in season envelop the whole earth, to the Glory of God and to the blessing of all the children of men who are willing to acknowledge their birthright as the Children of God.
Our Father, we thank Thee for the privilege of being at Home on Earth—a place for Home and a place where we may know the sweet essences of Mother God, for Thy Provision is of a Mother, and of a Home, and the opportunity to live in the Spirit of the Living Christ. Aumen
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