Man is reminiscent of his yesterdays, but what is yesterday?
Yesterday is only a flash in the fleeting movement of time.
Time is, just as God is, eternal and not subject to definition.
Man has given time a label as he has many things in his world.
The events in this eternal motion leave an indelible imprint upon the ethers of the universe.
All action is recorded in order to thrust man into what he refers to as the future. However, man is not always able to move into the future for he retains the past and is unable to consciously release it.
* * *
My soul remembers, and the search begins for answers.
Spirit haunts the past to explain the present in her quest for understanding.
Paul felt this when he wrote to the Romans, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” (Romans 13:1)
The soul must seek this lofty realm in order to receive Divine Inspiration and Illumination. Universal law must be understood, and man must be obedient to its action for it is action unto itself.
In Romans 13:10, Paul informs us, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Love sits on the seat of justice and tries her case until the action is adjusted to the reaction of love in transforming all that is unlike God into the image and likeness of God as Infinite Love.
I ask, “How many yesterdays have I lived in order to realize today?”
I hear about tomorrow; but what is tomorrow?
I tell you, tomorrow is only an extension of what man calls today.
Today is the only time I seem to know; I am not quite acquainted with tomorrow.
Yesterday has left me with only a memory.
Tomorrow is beckoning, but today—yes, today, is my friend.
* * *
Today, I stand before my world, unsure, questioning, for life has conditioned me regarding man’s beliefs and concepts.
I stand before that which is greater than self yet an integral part of me. In my longing to know, I stand before the eternal, naked, free from flesh and free from possessions.
These are vital moments in consciousness when man has communion with the Infinite. My soul is a constant reminder that a world calls, duty demands, and life is insistent. There are times when I stand as a part of the whole, but only for minutes, sometimes only for seconds.
The greater portion of life spent in a body is a form of isolation and separateness that invites fear and doubt to the unknowing.
In these dark moments, I am reminded of the words of the Psalmist as he said, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” (Psalms 37:3)
In my searching, I have scanned the heavens; I have found solace under her subtle blanket that wraps a majesty about the universe and sparkles with extravagance.
I have arrived at this conclusion: life is not controlled by the stars, but by that which put the stars in their orbit.
The solar system is part of His plan just as we, too, are included in the great scheme of things.
I am intrigued with the order and regularity of our solar system and wonder how long it will take us to comprehend this order.
We say the sun rises, but traveling with the sun we would prove this a false concept.
As people, when we accept confinement to a body, our world is limited.
We are unable to go beyond this outline and touch the eternal.
I remember a time as I stood, in the glory of a sunset, and watched her golden threads cast a path across a quiet ocean to me; she was regal as she disappeared beyond the horizon; her movement studied, disciplined and almost haughty.
The rays mingled with the cells of my being, and I took her into myself for warmth and healing.
There was an exchange of energy and an inner excitement as I watched the flaming display, which unequaled any sight I had ever seen.
The sun knows so well and senses with her pentrating illumination the great emptiness in me as she gently sinks into another part of our universe.
My desire was to blend with the magnificent display; I was reluctant to let her go.
In a last goodbye, I heard her whisper, “I’ll see you, in what you call, tomorrow.”
* * *
Now, it is evening.
Evening is gentle, quiet, and unmistakably, a time for soul remembrance.
I open my arms to you, evening, and accept your cloak of softness as comfort.
Moonlight, starlight, how awesome is your beauty, yet so unpretentious.
I look at you and know this is God.
God in all His splendor—a panorama bigger than self and too vast for comprehension.
* * *
Searching the sky, I am reminded of Infinite energy and the eternal action of mind, as it evolves a world and all that it contains, in the manifest form.
God, All-Knowing Mind, when rightly understood, contains inexhaustible supply.
Man must learn how to extract his good from the one and only source and man must be resourceful in the shaping and molding of Divine Substance.
Our world and all it composes began in mind action just as mind action builds our bodies, maintains and sustains them.
We are mind, and the body becomes a temporary structure which we inhabit for the purpose of growing and learning through experience.
Body after body, we grow into oneness with that which we are; for the lost image is in the process of being restored.
You may ask; how do you know?
My only knowing is through the information revealed to me by the soul.
The soul in her accumulation of information is now releasing what she holds as instruction.
Now, I stand on the threshold of eternity, waiting to express God through manifestation.
* * *
Yes, eons ago it all began.
You and I have traveled through the pages of time.
From cover to cover, time has recorded events in the great books and left us the message of the Bible.
Through Bible stories, man relates himself to God as he searches for the deep meanings.
Finally, man is removing the symbol, rending the veil in order to reveal the hidden truth.
God’s thoughts and words receive animation as life enters the nostrils.
This action turns man into a mobile Temple equipped to do a tremendous missionary project.
There is a plan and purpose for all creation, and each of us fits into the seeming puzzle with precise accuracy.
Life is growth, and growth is an unfolding process that brings with it discovery as well as recovery.
Acknowledge yourselves as spiritual pilgrims engaged in the exploration of the invisible and unknown. Be awakened by the truth that one is the same as the other.
We are flexing our spiritual muscles and moving from adolescence into adult understanding.
Yes, my soul remembers, and the search continues.
Man creeps and crawls through mountains of books; he walks and staggers through volumes of written material only to be trapped by another man’s thinking and unable to think for himself.
Man follows after man as he talks, lectures, and teaches.
Man builds idols and loses sight of an ideal.
It seems inevitable, but time will stop this masquerade.
Eventually, man will recognize man for what he is, not what he appears to be.
Man will be in a position to face self, realistically and honestly, without reservation.
In this total experience with self, God is revealed.
* * *
Time is not gentle in the shaping and molding of her pupils.
How well I remember and still feel her finger of discipline as she moves to correct and adjust.
Time takes us through the hills, into the valleys, across the streams, plays with us in the sunshine, and shelters us from the storm.
Over highways, byways, even many detours, Time moves with us through many lifetimes, wearing the mantle of personality, immersed in self and lost to oneness.
© 1972, by Richard Dale Billings
All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission.
