"THE HAND OF THE AWAKENER"

"Dear children, it was ordained that we should meet together in this way, to think for a moment or two upon the year which has just started from the earthly point of view; and I want all who have come, putting aside physical discomfort, to realise that in time they shall find that such sacrifices of the body have brought great gain to the soul.

"So as we meet in harmony and love, I have been instructed to speak on that which I name: 'The Hand of the Awakener'.

"Now, dear children, you are oppressed by the outward and visible signs of Winter. Many of you, whose bodies are weak, shrink from the thought of the days which are dark and cold and when the blossoms have gone; yet as you look back you see how you have weathered many a Winter, and there are those who will weather many Winters more. But when the first day of Spring comes, as you look out upon Mother Nature so busily at work, you find that so soon you are able to forget the test imposed by lack of sunshine, by the cold, the darkness, and the rain.

"And I want you this day, in commencing another year, to allow these thoughts to enter your heart and mind, and to give you the cheer and encouragement and the support which you must have, so that when Springtime comes, you may be in a fit condition to take of its brightness, to put behind you that which was so unpleasant and relegate it to the past.

"But there is something more than that to think about. You have to realise that when Winter holds the country fast, it is waiting for something. Nature has to have her times of renewal; there could not always be full blossom or full fruit - that would not be according to commonsense. So it is you have Seasons; you have a time of seeming deadness, and then what happens? It is the Hand of the Awakener at work. Yes, the Hand of the Awakener is shown in Nature; but what is behind Nature? - God!

"And so we come back to man's part. You know full well that if man did not prepare the soil, if he did not give of his best in the way of cooperation, the Hand of the Awakener might rest upon Mother Nature, but it could not produce that which is essential for human life. So you see in this one simple phrase - the Hand of the Awakener - there have to be, as it were, many 'fingers', for a hand without fingers could scarcely bring about that wonderful result which is God's Will for human life.

"Now let us think as to those fingers. You have in the life around you many aspects of activity. There are those who take the rough tools and till the earth; but who made the tools? And you have to go back further than that, you have to think of the wood which supplied the handles, and also of the deep mines from which was brought the ore or the iron, which were essential to make the equipment which the land must have to do its full part.

"So at once we see that several fingers can be accounted for; and yet that is but one aspect alone. There are the toilers in the different ranges of life, there are the various kinds of machinery. There are those who produce the seeds, those who sort them, and the experts who choose the ones likely to be most fruitful. Your imagination can fill in many other kinds of fingers as well: they are all linked together and they represent the Hand of the Awakener.

"That is in regard to Nature. Shall we raise our thoughts a little and think perhaps on a wider orbit of life upon the human soul - of you, and the countless millions in other countries. What of them? Freewill cannot be interfered with. There has been war, tribulation has stalked through many lands, and it seemed that the angel of death gathered under her wings some of the finest forms of life there could be - the ones you loved, the ones who loved you.

"And as you look upon 'God's acres', some of you are conscious of a deep heartache - so many plots all over the world, representing a cutting short of young life. But that thought, as you have been taught, is not according to truth, it is only one half of the story. The other half is quite different - it is beautiful and it has joy in all its folds.

"And I want you to try to memorise that which I have said, so that you may be used to help those who have not your knowledge - or experience, shall we say - who have not had the same support over meeting the tests of separation which came to you as well as to them.

"Look then upon God's acre, wherever it may be, and allow the light that shines from the love of Christ to change the scene. There are graves there, yes, but what do they represent? They are the graves of the past, having no relation to the present nor to the future. There is something there which has done its part, made its contribution to the spirit within, and having fulfilled its destiny, was laid aside, like you will lay aside your Winter coat to put on brighter, sweeter garments to greet the Spring.

"So, dear children, when you see others passing by these mounds with a bowed head and with an aching heart, you have your message to deliver. Those graves are something which can be relegated to the past. The present of those whose names are chronicled is different in every sense there could be. For the majority it means promotion; but what kind of promotion, you may ask. Does it mean merely a promotion into a more harmonious home, with better conditions all around? Does it mean that the one so young has the privilege of following his own devices? Or does it mean that the opportunities the earth life would have held have been taken from him?

"All these questions can be answered on the lines of commonsense. The conditions around the young soul must be an improvement upon the earth plane because he suffered, because he strove to do something for his brethren. He still has the privilege of choosing his career and the form of study to which he will apply himself for the sake of that career, and his opportunities are manifold. They are not limited by circumstances as they are upon the earth plane. They were limited there very often by favour, by the factor of power, by the circumstances of birth, by conditions of health and education.

"Well, all that, dear children, is swept aside. Sometimes you feel it is rather unjust that your son or your daughter has not had the same chances as the children of others. But when our loved ones are in the World of Spirit, all that is changed. There is no one to give preference to another, there is no one with the kind of power who can give a favoured one a greater opportunity of achievement.

"Therefore, once you think of your boys and girls in the Spirit World, with the choice of a career, with the capacity to make that career their own, and with many opportunities of learning, of expressing their real selves, of being happy and of mingling with congenial companions, the idea of a grave, which suggests cessation, becomes pure nonsense. And what I say about them applies equally to you when this short span of physical life is ended.

"Some of you have had a very hard time, perhaps you may not have sweet memories of a happy home; some of you found sorrow pushing its way through the door where you dwelt and remaining with you for a long span; some of you have had to fight and resist the enemies of a weakened body; some of you have seen your friends pass you by, preferring another; some of you have had your heart nearly broken by your losses. But when you are in the World of Spirit, you will find that all these adverse experiences from the earthly point of view, represent the fingers upon the Hand of the Awakener.

"What were the 'fingers' doing? They were stirring into life that stronger more lovable self within; they were bringing back into vitality that which was cramped or ill-nourished; and the only way, dear children, to overcome a physical weakness of that kind, or a spiritual weakness, is by exercise, and sometimes it means that the exercise has to be applied by another.

"Your troubles, your tests, your disappointments, were in that position - they were stirring into life something that was sleeping, and you arose in spirit and in body to meet those adversaries that came so close upon you. Although you may not have realised it, you were cooperating with the Awakener.

"And the time comes when, free from restrictions, from all that limits and holds, you will awaken in the World of Spirit, and from your very heart is torn a prayer of thankfulness to God that He gave you the opportunity to bring back into life those wonderful qualities housed in the Godhead within.

"I ask you to think upon these words, and I want you to realise that the weakness of the body can be used by the unseen, out to stem this Truth, but only in the measure that we yield to the tempters who are around. The weakness of the body can always demonstrate the strength of the spirit within; and when you think on these lines, remember Paul, remember the saints and martyrs, remember the weak women who stood at the foot of the Cross, giving out to the last the love they bore for their Master and their Lord.

"As we go back to those early Christians, we realise that because Christ came - the Great Awakener of us all - there were many hands seeking to be used by that great Awakener; but before those hands could gain the power, the fingers thereon had to be brought back into life.

"You today, can also represent the Hand of the Awakener; and because you have suffered, because you understand the pangs of separation, because you have tried to keep a brave heart, you shall have the power to go to one here, one there, who seem to be asleep spiritually, and awaken them, and set them upon the path to freedom, to joy, and to peace.

"So the message of the New Year rings through the conditions. The need of the world today is for the Hand of the Awakener. There is trouble on either side; there are the blind leading the blind; there are many who could work who are allowing their equipment to become rusty; there are those who have opportunities of progressing, wasting their time on riotous living, gambling away their vitality, and will bring into being for the generations to come weakness and misery and a predisposition to temptation.

"Yes, what the world needs today is the clarion call - and it comes from the World of Spirit; and the cry is for more and more of those, who by their sorrows and their pains, have gained the power to become awakeners, to bring the people back to things as they are, to show them that the toil of the earth can be transmuted into the gifts of the Spirit, to remind them that the idlers in the market places or in the vineyards will search in vain for work when they are free from the flesh, but still bound by their habits of thought.

"I turn to the men and women here who have to work so hard, and to the many who will read my words, and I say to them: Be of good cheer, the body and the mind may suffer now, but oh, how the spirit is rejoicing.

"Through that which you are forced to do, so mighty attributes are being brought into life again; yes, talents you did not know you possessed, and opportunities are piled up for the sweet by-and-by. There are many who long to do great things, who wish they could be an artist or a musician or a songster; yet it is always the daily grind and the common task, and it seems that they achieve nothing worthwhile.

"Have patience, little children of the Light, all that which you desire to do shall be possible in the little tomorrow. Perhaps you did not know that the toil in the home done with a will, is building up harmony around you - and out of harmony comes melody. The caring for the children, the cleansing of the house, what is that but preparing 'new garments' - taking off the old and putting on the new. Is there not in that a message for you in very truth, dear children?

"You know it not, but you are sowing the good seed, and the time will come when, to your astonishment, you will look back upon the old home from your brighter conditions, and will see that the blossoms of the Spirit were all around in beauty and in power, because you did the task at hand.

"Unconsciously you were an awakener in the mundane conditions of the earth, where there seems only that which does not please; but there is also, in the Unseen, a beauty that cannot be expressed in human language - the seeds of Divinity, of love, of strength and of power - yet they must wait, dear children, for the awakener: the toiler, the brave man, the brave woman, for the youth and the maiden striving to do their best - although they may have to force their will, and curb their mind over the task at hand - for such as these have become awakeners, they have brought a spiritual Spring, in all its loveliness, into the wintry conditions of the earth.

"And if your eyes were opened, you would see now, blossoms you recognise as heralding the Spring, and a wonderful wood built up in the conditions, and from the trees the buds are springing forth - symbol and sign to you of your Divinity and the creative power of Love.

"Think upon these words when the days are dark and when circumstances seem to go against you, and then the darkness will be despatched and the bleakness will be no more. You will see in your mind's eye, Spring, and the wood, with the buds breaking into blossom and leaf, and the birds singing in the branches, preparing for the new life to come.

"And Mother Earth is crammed with different forms of seeds, which because man is not ready for them, have not yet made a showing. In the Spirit conditions around you much is provided which even the earth soil could produce if there were more hands available to awaken the life imprisoned there.

"So the call goes out for more labourers in every branch of life. No one is despised in God's Fair World; the Father's Heart holds equality of love for each and everyone, but some respond to His love in greater measure than others; and so because there is a response, He can give to them more of spiritual treasure. Thus you see, dear children, that you who love much - who have sympathy with your kind, who try to be brave in spite of adversity - are giving the Father the opportunity of passing on to you those gifts He is treasuring until you are ready to receive them.

"Therefore once again, I would show you that the trouble which comes, bearing so strange a guise, is really an angel veiled by the conditions of the earth; but in the tomorrow, the mists of this world will have passed away, and in your new life the sunshine of revelation will shine upon you, making all things clear. Then how gladly you will look round for your comrades, for those with whom you cooperated, for the ones to whom you passed on words of cheer, and how you will thank God that, in little measure, having been awakened yourself, you become an awakener of others.

"Yes, dear children, the weakness of the body shall give way to the strength of the spirit. As I take my way up and down the countryside, many have marvelled that the flesh has been conquered, and the flesh will be conquered because our faith and our trust is in God.

"And you who have come in spite of the weakness of the body, chose aright. Let not discouragement come upon you if illness keeps step with you for a little while in front, but remember my words. If you knew naught of physical pangs, how then could you go to those in pain and lift their burdens from them? Awakeners must have understanding, and the only way that understanding can be built up is by personal experience. Therefore, dear children, you have your message straight from the World of Spirit, and in your mind Winter is retreating, as I speak.

"I want you all to realise that the Grace of God is with us, and those with faith shall have their faith justified if faith is put into action; and those who ask God that they may indeed be cleansed vessels for His use, shall be found Hereafter purified by the waters of suffering, strengthened by the assaults of the enemy, and charged with the power of an awakener.

"And those around who seemed as dead, shall stir in their sleep, and their eyes will open upon the gleaming Cross, and the message be received, the will shall spring into being, and they will arise and go to their Father, saying to Him: 'I have sinned against Thee and am no more worthy to be called Thy son!' But the Father is the Father, and the son is the son, and naught that anyone can do can break that sweet relationship which lasts for evermore.

"Dear children, with joy I come into your presence and this day shall remain in your memory for the benefit of others; and when this short stage is over, you shall look back and you shall see that this little citadel of peace was crammed with souls who had lost their way through the selfishness of their heart and mind when upon the earth plane.

"But because you met here in the Name of God, you provided the conditions, and I was allowed to bring them back, many almost in a coma; and while the power has been operating, guides and helpers have been busy, and their work shall not be in vain; and the blessing rests upon you, each and everyone. Therefore, even during this short time we have met together, you have been an awakener, and the Hand of the Awakener shall never lose its power, so long as the contact is kept between the individual and his God.

"So in the name of the living, loving Christ, I bless you, and I send you forth upon the work of the New Year with a strengthened resolve, with a happier heart; and I say unto you that if the wish is there to do your best, then when the year has sped, you shall look back and see that God has given the increase. This is a promise to those who sow in the darkness, for indeed they shall reap in the Light.

"Peace, dear children, and again peace. God has blessed us all, and with faith and determination we continue up the steep hill-way to our Everlasting Home. Farewell, but when sleep holds you this night, many of us will meet again."

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