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A GIFT, by Gail Gupton During the holiday season one is occupied with thoughts of gift giving and party preparations. Shops are lined with worthless doo-dads we buy and give to one of whom we know little. Hundreds and thousands of dollars are spent on over-priced items the recipients will barely remember two weeks hence. Is what we give to be put onto a shelf and forgotten? Is what we receive a material trinket because the giver failed to know who we really are? The truth of who we are is the greatest gift of all. God is our being and our true identity. If parents give their child the knowledge and understanding of God AS being his or her life, of God AS being his or her true identity, they would have given their child a gift worth more than all the toys and presents to be received their entire human lifetime. Although we teach our children to be good human beings, there is nothing spiritual about it, we are only teaching them to "be human". The truth of our being is that we are God being. We do not exist on our own and do not have the ability to do so. As we give this gift of true understanding, the truth will be perpetuated. Anyone can be a good human. But being such has not stopped war, disease or famine. Giving a material gift of sorts, once a year, to people we rarely see is short of insanity. Doing so only lets us believe we are being finitely "good". Spiritual truth is infinite. The gift of Truth is one which never gets consumed, never wears out, never is outgrown, never becomes old. The gift of Truth is not a story about the birth of Jesus, but rather the realization of what Jesus was here to teach. His message was that we are "ALL sons of God", that the "kingdom of heaven is within". Jesus was here as a teacher and as an example. His gift to mankind was enlightenment. His gift was freedom from orthodoxy and old Hebrew law. His gift was a new awareness of God and our relationship to God. As the world celebrates the "birth" of Jesus, we need to remember every day is a "birth" in that we are born into a newer and greater understanding than the day before. Every day is Christmas, when each day we awake to find our gift of Life, our understanding of the nature of God as "I" - I am that "I AM"! Each day is Christmas when we can look into the eyes of our children, our friends and enemies and realize we give them a gift of Truth in our consciousness. It is the Truth that makes them free. This is the greatest gift of all! All is well. |
