Reflections on Projections
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series, where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has shared many spiritual truths to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to reflect on projections.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Reflections on Projections
"How be it when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. " John, Chapter 16, Verse 13
"When ignorance is essential to success, it would be a colossal blunder for the creature to know the future."
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we want to explore the meanings and values of reflecting on projections. At some point in our journey through life, we are faced with a hairpin turn. This turn is very narrow and curved such that it is impossible to see what lies beyond it. As we approach this unknown barrier, our human emotions begin to rise with considerable apprehension. We even wonder why it’’s necessary to negotiate the hairpin curve. Why has it appeared in our journey? We don’’t know why but events conspire to bring us to this point. Something happens that prevents us from continuing on the straight pathway.
As we contemplate the possible scenario on the other side of the turn, we become filled with a nameless emotion that is akin to fear, anxiety, and depression. We wonder if we have the wherewithal to negotiate this turn successfully. We try to call forth the memories of other experiences where we have traversed similar turns. We try to call forth the wisdom and technique we used to negotiate them successfully. Although the hairpin curves seem similar, we cannot seem to find the right combination of factors of past experience that satisfy our emotional needs. There is something lacking from past experiences——their values and meanings, which cannot be known until they have been experienced.
All of our lives we have watched others negotiate these hairpin curves of life, and we know that eventually they do emerge. When they do, they are never the same. There is some kind of experience that changes them forever.
Materially they may appear to be the same, and eventually the emotions subside as they slowly make the necessary adjustments. But on the inside they have changed in very subtle ways, sometimes not so subtle. But the severity of the distress that engulfs us causes us to look closer, even with the microscope of faith. But still, the hairpin curves of life beckon us. While we may receive a certain amount of comfort from knowing that others have gone before us, that does not excuse us from our own experience with this bend in the road.
As we look closer with our microscope of faith, we try to find something that will help us, something that will quiet our spirits and our emotions. And when we look very close and carefully, when we exercise our faith, we find hope. This anchors us to the road of the experience as we traverse this particular phase of life. This hope allows us to maintain our integrity. It keeps us from falling apart. It keeps the hounds of despair at bay.
As we further examine hope, we are not quite sure when it first appeared in our lives, but we know that it always arises when our pathway appears blocked. Those of us who believe in the Father’’s watch care reaffirm our desire to do His will and reaffirm our faith and trust in His divine plan for our lives. We receive comfort in knowing that our traversal of the hairpin curves is a part of the divine plan for our lives. Our faith instructs us that there are spiritual values and meanings necessary to our growth that cannot be acquired any other way. By adhering to the practice of faith, panic and fear are prevented from influencing our decisions and sacrificing truth.
But we remain human, and negative emotions rise again. We wonder why they keep coming back even when we have submitted our will to the Father’’s will. Sometimes it is hard to maintain hope because the material mind keeps intruding with its forecasts of doom and gloom. We must maintain hope, for there is nothing else we can do until it becomes clear what kind of decision and adjustment is required. We must wait until we emerge from the transition and then begin to deal with the new reality of life.
And even though there are several roots in our present lives that extend into the future, we cannot know the status of these roots as they appear on the other side of the curve. We don’’t know whether they will be cut off in the curve. We just don’’t know. We must cling to our hope, faith, and trust. And we must continue to seek the Father’’s will. And as we continue to do this, a new insight emerges.
Now our faith becomes necessary because we cannot see or discern the true purpose of our lives and why so much pain and suffering, so many trials and tribulations seem to be required. Faith instructs us that there is a good purpose to our lives, though for some good reason, we cannot be told about it beforehand. When we see the difficulty of the journey and cannot fathom how we will find the means to continue on, hope arises to transport our souls through it. And since our material minds are in constant turmoil and has dismissed peace, our trust in the goodness of the Father arises to give us tranquility of spirit.
As we sit on the pin cushions of anxiety and depression, switching from one to the other, our faith instructs us that all is well within our souls. Our faith instructs us that not only will we emerge from the hairpin curves of life, but that we will emerge more loving, more trusting, more faithful, and more hopeful. We now begin to understand why uncertainty is so important. Only uncertainty can call forth these vital slumbering spiritual qualities. Spiritual hope can never arise when there exists no need for it. Without spiritual hope, we would despair, give up, and never complete the journey. Spiritual hope becomes necessary in the face of the closed doors of opportunity. Only spiritual hope opens the doors to eternity. Without trust, our souls would become so unstable that they would never enter the hairpins of new spiritual meanings and values that are concealed and revealed through these difficult experiences. And without spiritual faith, we could never comprehend the spiritual values and meanings of these experiences. Without spiritual faith, we simply cannot know the heavenly Father, can never grasp His revelations of divine love, truth, beauty, and goodness.
So we conclude that the hairpin curves of life that devastate us emotionally and sometimes physically are necessary for us to develop spiritually. They make us completely aware of the foolishness of placing our supreme hopes on material goals. They compel us to transfer our loyalties from the material to the spiritual, from the temporal to the eternal. "Build your hopes on things eternal and hold unto God’’s unchanging hand" is not just a nice sounding slogan. Never were words any truer than these, for they contain the hope, faith, and trust needed to successfully complete ever hairpin curve of life.
After all, the hairpin curves of life are no more than experiences that bring about a new set of spiritual values and meanings, the very values and meanings that make it possible for us to comprehend the spiritual values and meanings of divine perfection. The hairpin curves of life are essential techniques for perfecting our loyalties, faith, hope, and trust, for they all grow under the transforming power of the hairpin curves. They are essential to negotiate in order to obey the Father’’s eternal command to be perfect even as He is perfect. And though we may remain troubled emotionally as we negotiate these never-ending curves of the material life, spiritually we soar as we grasp more of the divine values and meanings on our way to divine perfection.
This concludes today's message of reflecting on projections. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
Reflections on Projections
