Merium; Ham - Introducing Miriam to The Group - Aug 21, 2005 - Central New Mexico

DATE: August 21, 2005

LOCATION: Rio Rancho, NM

Ham Introduces Merium as New Group Teacher

T/R: Gerdean

MUSIC: Elena on Piano: "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts"

PRAYER: Esmeralda:

Michael, we are happy to be together today to help celebrate your birthday. Our group is small but our hearts are large with love for you. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having always been with us. And thank for all you did for us when you were on this earth. Your birthday was certainly a joyous one to remember. We are very grateful for you. Amen.

MICHAEL: "To him who has been given much, much will be expected" TEACHER HAM: Tomas is Reassigned; Merium will be our new Teacher TEACHER MERIUM: Introduces herself and her background. There follows a discussion of the theme: "To him who has been given much, much is expected."

MICHAEL: Blessed guests, I am your Host, Michael, whom you remember as Jesus, my guests indeed, with whom I am glad to share my gifts -- those gifts you bring and that Our Father has given to me to share with you in honor of Him and to His glory. Let us rejoice in Our Family relationship, learning to play together and work together and live together in constructive harmony.

I am here with you today, and in many other places as well, because of the remembrance of my life lived as a man among men on your world and the appreciation for such a noteworthy event occurring on your humble orb, that your Creator Son should choose this world on which to experience a seventh and final bestowal.

You will not know in total all the reasons for my choosing to come here or the advantages you receive as a result of my having been here until many eons have passed, but it delights me when you celebrate this world as one on which you shared experiential living with the creator of the universe of Nebadon.

To those of you whom much has been given, much will be expected. And so to those of you who pause to reflect on my incarnation as a mortal on your world, and who consider what that means in terms of your planetary evolution, in the bestowal of the Spirit of Truth and the up-front-and-personal affection I have for this world of my birth, let us rejoice together in sonship of the experience of beginning as a wee babe and being raised in the flesh and in the spirit to stand before the god of our creation, Our Father in Paradise, on whom we focus as our goal and on whom we bestow our thanksgiving, our heartfelt appreciation for life itself.

Gather round then and enjoy the guests, the invited guests that attend to you in the affairs of the Kingdom. Blessed be art thou, my children. And peace be upon you.

Group: Thank you. Happy birthday! Thank you, Michael. Happy birthday.

TEACHER HAM: I am Ham. I am here in an official capacity as an administrator in the Teacher Corps and as a celebrant of the memorial you enjoy. Thus we warm ourselves before the hearth of the divine plan and in company with the divine Family. I am here to assure you of the overcare that we are all given, we are all provided, but to allow, too, for the furtherance of His plans and the growth of His Kingdom. Tomas is reassigned.

Elena: What?

HAM: I am here in my official capacity to advise you that Tomas has been reassigned, and you will be receiving another Teacher …

Group: (Murmuring)

HAM: … one with far less experience and with whom you may grow in accordance with your interests and capacities as a group. Tomas is in Minnesota, and has been working with the Andover Group for some time and has made an impression. In that, we will let him stay there and serve because it is his delight to serve and the transmitter/ receiver there is comfortable with his energy.

Gerdean is an experienced T/R and can handle the influx of a new and less experienced Teacher who would benefit from the engagement with you and hopefully you will benefit from her association also. You have met her before. Merium is her name. M-e-r-i-u-m. Merium served extensively with Tomas when they sojourned in Pennsylvania, but she has languished without a bullhorn, so perhaps we can provide her a platform upon which to be heard.

I will be keeping my eye on you and on the development of this new configuration, for the doings of these teacher bases is our heart's delight.

Elena: But Ham, did we foul up or something? Is that why there's been a reassignment?

HAM: No, you have done nothing wrong. This is simply change. You will remember my first words to you were "Welcome to Change." Tomas has been a part of Gerdean's life for so long it is difficult for her to detach her thinking from his. This is fine, but it also puts her in a position of feeling as if she is a broken record, for while a Teacher may find a thousand and one different ways to say something, the human perception sees it as if this has been said before, and so the human perspective perhaps despairs that the message must be repeated and repeated and repeated, but the Teacher never tires of finding new ways to apply its wisdom, its lessons to the learners, the students. This also keeps the Teachers fresh, for they have the opportunity to work with other minds.

You have done nothing wrong. You are not being punished. You are not being set back nor are you being advanced. You are simply being given another personality on which to lean as you grow. It being a female teacher, you may all learn to respond to other energies than those of Tomas who, delightful as he is and remains and will for a long time be, is somewhat formal and staid. Merium is ebullient, vivacious, young and spontaneous, and this will give all of you an opportunity to experience new energy, and I anticipate all of you will benefit from this change. Tomas is not fired, nor is he removed from you. He remains a vital part of the Teacher Corps and is, of course, interested in your further growth and development and will continue to be an occasional visitor, guest teacher and friend. Are there other questions?

Elena: I wonder if I might be so bold as to indulge and say, "While you're here, Ham, do you happen to-- there are only four of us-- so, I mean -- do you have any messages for us, Ham?" You know, like it used to be when … I mean when Mother and I were in your group? I know I'm being selfish.

HAM: You are not being selfish, child. You are being presumptuous.

Elena: That's it! (Laughter) Sorry.

HAM: But … I know you well and I know your heart is in the right place. You presume upon those you love and trust. If I did not love you in return, you would not feel free to ask. You would like a lesson. It will take only a moment because Merium is waiting impatiently in the wings.

Elena: Oh!

HAM: I want to say only that this birthday party celebration idea that your childlike minds delight to light upon is a starting point for my analogy that the soul is in a constant state of striving, and when it attains a certain level of accomplishment, it is appropriate that everyone stop and celebrate this new plateau. It is my joy today to see how many groups there are across the nation and across the world that have stopped in their many rigorous efforts to search their own souls and to plant seeds within their fellows, who have put down their weapons and their arguments, who have set aside the struggle for ethics and principles, who have put aside their pursuit of accomplishment and productivity in order to simply look to the Master for the love that he gives, the support he provides, the future that he promises, and to celebrate the gift of knowing him as a co-worker in this advancing reality yes, but even more so, as children -- HIS children -- who, as our Father and the Divine Minister as our Mother, show us the way, set forth the ideal and preside at the table. We understand, as a result of his having walked among you and is walking among us today, tomorrow and next week, Thursday afternoon, Tuesday morning, November, and 2006 and beyond, into the next epoch and into infinity, it is also true that he will be with us and showing the way. And at every point along the way where growth has been attained, and where wisdom has been acquired, and where mastery has been reached, there will be an opportunity for celebration, a putting down our arms and instead, reaching out our arms in an embrace of friendship, fellowship and affection in the spirit. And so, here's to tomorrow, and those future tomorrows when we will walk with Michael (and Jesus, as you understand Deity incarnate, even as you are learning to become God in man). I leave you now.

Elena: Thank you, Ham.

Esmeralda: Thank you for coming.

Elena: But it's so good to have you here.

MERIUM: This is Merium and I am so thrilled to see the doors and windows are open! You know me well enough to know that I am one who likes to come in after having heard a stodgy lecture and open the doors and windows of the mind and soul and psyche to allow the ventilation to flow through, to fluff up the pillows so that your comfort is assured, and to allow you to stretch into that which you are becoming -- to let go of that which is stiff and outmoded in order to embrace that which is fresh and young and new.

All of you are fresh and young and new! And I know you will love me just for saying that because all of you perceive of yourselves as being so mature and so settled in your approach. Indeed, one of our number here is, I believe, 86 years young, and none of you are under half a century, and so for some reason you seem to think you have all the answers and all the problems sewn up, and that it's just a matter of endurance until you are released from the fetters of the flesh in order to fly away like a helium balloon into the heights of Havona, there to celebrate ever and anon a new youth as a morontia personality.

But I want to get you reoriented and set the record straight. You are not getting older. You are getting younger, and that will be our exercise. That will be the physical therapy, emotional therapy, mental therapy, even spiritual therapy that I intend to undertake with you, that we are not looking forward to a gracious translation to the other side, no, but to a vital new life in the flesh as you are enabled to do through your re-invigorated approach to life itself.

I will tell you about myself only briefly, since I will be babysitting you (tee hee) for awhile. I was a young woman on my native world when I was untimely removed from my mortal tabernacle. You might think of me as an 18-year old blonde, pony-tailed, bobby-soxer, the high school student who is called upon to babysit all the neighborhood kids because all the kids love her so much. Indeed, I did live in much of that kind of environment and was much that kind of person. I was often surrounded by children, and while I did have a couple of gentlemen admirers, I was not focused on romance, nor was I focused on academics. I really enjoyed being a young woman -- a girl, actually -- and having the opportunity to spend most of my time with younger children.

You now will be my younger children, and so you will not get any of this mature stuff from me. I will not expect you to be philosophic or wizened. I will expect you to be youngsters, curious about life and adventurous in your approach to it. I anticipate your thinking, "Oh, Merium, I don't have the energy," but I promise you, the energy will be forthcoming, for it does not come from your old chromosomes; it comes from the divine Source of your being, and there is no want where that is concerned.

In fact, you are all just now reaching the point where you can be truly useful, and so you will not be allowed to sit on your duffs and watch the PGA tournament while the rest of the world is floundering in what may be regarded as stodgy air when I am here to teach you how to open the windows and allow the sunshine and fresh air to come through, enlivening your life and theirs. Let us introduce light and life to this planet. Let us be children in our consciousness -- not as you perceive little ones in this world, perhaps, but as the divine eye sees the young from a spirit perspective.

I am not as gabby as Tomas. I am already bored with the sound of my voice. But I will play games and tell stories as the opportunity presents. And yet you are the child; you are the one I have come to focus on. Therefore, this is your time to bask in the limelight of my love. Let's hear it from you, then. Learn to step out and into that light that we may all see your delights.

Elena: Merium, I'll ask a question and maybe it'll be-- I am looking forward to kind of having you here and having the benefit of having a different approach, as much as I have loved and cherished each one of the personalities that we have had the opportunity to deal with, so I'm glad you're here, and thank you. But you know when Michael said, "To those who have been given much, much will be asked." Well, sometimes, as a child, you think, "Well, gee, maybe I'm not doing enough." So I was kind of wanting your spin or a comment on that perhaps, because that sometimes makes me feel burdened and like I have not done enough and I don't know what actually to do more or how can I do more kind of thing.

MERIUM: Well, let's be childlike about it then. Not childish, but childlike, and put yourself in a position of being a child and in a situation as a child wherein you want to show your appreciation for your parents for what they have done for you. Generally speaking, a child does not sit around night and day trying to find ways to please its parents. Only a child who is insecure in the parents' love would feel the need to be constantly finding ways to please the parents and get their attention (approval). Most healthy children are busy being about their lives, playing with their friends, going to school, doing their lessons, learning to play a musical instrument, or whatever it is that is appropriate for children.

Therefore, see, if you will, that it is absurd to expect from yourself that you should be fretting about what you could do for your parents, but rather think about what you can do to make your life richer. It is like a child who sits around saying, "I'm bored!" and the parent will say, "Well, find something to do or I'll find something for you to do," and naturally this means you'd better scurry and get creative fast, otherwise you will end up having to do some dumb chore.

Group: (Chuckles and chortles)

MERIUM: Well, I'm telling you, only the boring are bored. Don't be bored. Find something to do. You don't need to feel compelled to be doing something all the time, either. It is only when you are under foot and asking for guidance and direction that you would say, "I'm bored" in the first place, for usually children, being adventurous, are doing that -- being adventurous: building a tree house; floating up and down the river on a makeshift raft; poking around in a hole for something to come out at you. There are all kinds of ways that children amuse themselves, even academically and through their studies, for learning is a joy for most children.

And that is the business that you need to be about in your life now. Being a child. Finding things that interest you and pursuing it, so that you find joy and satisfaction in your life experience.

Elena: Thanks!

Thoroah: I was thinking about that same phrase. "To those who have been given much, much will be expected" or whatever, but how is one to know that they have been given a lot? Sometimes I feel like I've been given a lot but then sometimes I think how presumptuous of me to think that I've been given a lot. Just a little mind game there.

MERIUM: Well, it is, in fact, a mind game. But what else have you got but your mind to keep you constant company?

Thoroah: Just trying to make sense out of what's being said, Merium.

MERIUM: Sometimes you can feel sorry for yourself and say you haven't got anything -- you have got nothing that you really wanted to get. Everybody else got it but you didn't. And that is a state of mind that many children go through. They sulk and pout. They did not get the pony. They did not get the bicycle. They did not get the dolly. But the neighbor did, and so the mind says, "I didn't get anything." Naturally, in that state of mind, you will not be wanting to do something for somebody who already has it all, as far as your concerned. That would be martyr-ous of you to try to twist it around to make some sense of it.

And yet there are times when everything feels right and good. When the sun is shining and the shadows are falling magically, the breeze is blowing refreshingly, your tummy is full and you feel good about life, you get the giggles, you want to do something fun for someone else. In these times when your sense of feeling good mounts up in you like a wave and you get the idea that you really probably ought to ask little Jimmy Rogers to play with you once in a while, that's the time to go over to little Jimmy Rogers' house and say, "Hey, you wanna do somethin'?" even though many other times you would just as soon not be bothered with him, for there are things about him that you don't like.

Perhaps his family is not the right kind of people, or his nose runs, or something that is distasteful or culturally antithetical, but when you are feeling magnanimous, you can let go of those restraints and prejudices and just go with being a kid and say, "Ah, so what! Come on, Jimmy. Let's go play." And that's when "my cup runneth over. I have got a lot to be grateful for. I may not have the pony. I may not have the bicycle. I may not have gotten the doll, but I have so much to offer and so much to share and so much to learn, I'd like some company."

Including someone else in your life plan is taking responsibility for something outside of yourself. It's one of those selfless things that inspires and stimulates your indwelling Adjuster, for it is thinking of someone other than yourself incessantly. That is not to say that thinking of yourself is erroneous; it is that including others in your concerns and considerations enlarges your room, opens the windows and lets the air through, and only you can tell, only you know in your heart if you have been given much. Only you know the size of your heart and the extent of your gratitude.

Some may find your gratitude capacities to be miserly and mean, and some may be overwhelmed at the size of your intent, but limit yourself not according to others' values. Just be yourself, and be true to yourself in this regard and you will know when and as you have been given much. And chances are, if you allow yourself to do (as Gerdean likes to say) "your own thinking for you," you will probably find yourself so favorably enriched, you will not know where to begin to include humanity in the abundance you have at heart.

"To he who has much, more will be expected -- by whom?" is the question! You are accustomed to that authority which says "Shame on you! You have 14 marbles! And you're keeping them all to yourself! Why don't you give 7 of them to Jimmy Rogers?" Whereas, the admonition is rather for you yourself to say, "My God! I've got 14 marbles! I only need two! How many can I give away?" And this is who makes the determination.

Does that help?

Esmeralda: I think it's helpful.

Elena: I do.

MERIUM: Does that make sense?

Elena: Yes.

Esmeralda: It does.

MERIUM: Then why am I not hearing anything from this young fellow in the class?

Elena: I don't know.

Thoroah: Oh, I think it all makes sense. I still think it's one of those admonitions that gets tossed around that has a guilt edge to it.

MERIUM: Yes. Yes, it has a guilt overtone to it.

Thoroah: Yes, it does.

MERIUM: But that is because of your approach to religious authority on this world. It colors everything, including your perception of our presence among you.

Thoroah: Yeah, I have no problem with the analogy and I understand the difference between feeling like I don't have anything in my cup and I'm ready to admit that my cup runneth over most of the time … whether I perceive it or not! … but you know, it's still -- the question is "to those who have been given much…." You know. Much what? And much will be expected. It's still…. That's like trying to pin down what love means.

MERIUM: Yes, it is, and it is also a paradox, and these paradoxes are games people play and there are no hard and fast rules, but you know the common laws of the universe, such as "attract and repel" or "cause and effect" and so the same thing can be said for this one. Only you can determine how that law affects you and how you affect that law. That way, you take it out of the hands of those who would presume to sit in judgment over you and your goodness or your riches and you then are in a position of wielding your free will toward acting on your own perception of that universe law.

If someone else is telling you much is expected of you, that is guilt-promoting. If you tell yourself much is expected of you, you are challenging yourself. If you simply see in yourself that you have abundance and want to share, you will share, and your cup will be replenished. It is in knowing this that you allow yourself to have many, many more opportunities for sharing, and thus, you reinforce the universal law by having a part in it, by being a participant in the abundance of being. Those who cannot feel their abundance, the joy of living, the love of life, the sense of adventure, have nothing to give, have no sense of responsibility for others. Right?

Thoroah: Um-hum.

Esmeralda: Well, I think much has been given. To probably all of us. And that doesn't mean necessarily much good has been given, because I think we're given some little challenges along with it, and maybe some things we would rather not be given at times, but the important thing is that the things that we were given that what we deemed as not ideal, has actually made us better people, and a better understanding, more wisdom, and … like my stroke was a blessing, because it led the way to other things, so that was-- I think sometimes we are given some eye-awakening things too, and hard awakenings.

MERIUM: But, my dear, you were not given a stroke.

Esmeralda: No, I wasn't given it.

MERIUM: You invited that yourself.

Esmeralda: But, nevertheless, it was a blessing, in a way.

MERIUM: This is your mind allowing for it to be a blessing. This is your adaptability.

Thoroah: Making it a gift.

MERIUM: Making it a gift.

Esmeralda: Well, I certainly consider that it was one.

Thoroah: You made it that way, too.

Esmeralda: But another thing, I think, rather than fretting about what is expected, we are told in our lessons that service is a very important thing, and if we simply just open our eyes or breathe, there are all kinds of things around us that are ways that we can be of service. So I don't think we need to feel guilty about it.

Thoroah: That's right.

Esmeralda: If we only open our eyes! There's all kinds of ways to be of service, and I think we enjoy it, when there are ways, but I don't think that we're to feel guilty about what is expected of us, unless we absolutely … as you said, are sitting on our duffs watching the PGA tournament. Which I do, I have to admit

MERIUM: But this is a part of the privilege of being a child.

Esmeralda: Well, you also said to have fun.

MERIUM: Absolutely.

Thoroah: Be of good cheer!

MERIUM: This is a part of the understanding that your cup runneth over and thus you have something as a result to give to someone else. It is those who have a feeling that there is nothing good in life, that are needy, that provide the myriad opportunities, the many empty cups or half-empty cups that are sitting around waiting to be filled and have no idea how to invite the Living Water in.

Esmeralda: I think what Thoroah said expresses it quite well: Our cups runneth over.

MERIUM: And finding the right way to bestow our joy in service is another challenge, and another adventure. And so I urge you this week to look for opportunities to share your adventures in living in such a way as will help fill another's cup. And I'll be back. And we'll play more games and have more parties. And have more fun in this family gathering.

Esmeralda: We're glad to have you, Merium, and it has been fun. You're very energetic and spirited and I think we're going to enjoy you and learn from you, a lot. Though it was rather startling and unexpected to hear that Tomas was reassigned. And we will miss him.

MERIUM: It was abrupt. But remember, people can be taken away without warning. And we are fortunate that Tomas is not "taken away" from us, but merely busy elsewhere.

Esmeralda: Yes, that is good.

Elena: Because we really care about him, too.

Esmeralda: Oh, we do. We love him! We care about Ham. We care about Abraham. And we will love you too, Merium.

Thoroah: Yeah, we didn't mean that we were being punished because they sent us you, Merium.

Esmeralda: No, we're glad. It's already been a good lesson.

MERIAM: I didn't think anything untoward from any of you and I adore you all. I'll be glad to be back. Bye.

Group: (Laughter) Bye!

END