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CHAPTER XIV

CHILD OF THE KINGDOM.

HEN one awakens and desires to know concernin the Infinite Presence, in which he lives, moves and has his being, he is as a child and knows not concerning the Eternal Kingdom to which he belongs. Being a child, his first desire is to know of his Father. It has proven a great joy to him to learn that he has a Loving Father, whose Love is far greater than an earthly father's could be. The Heavenly Father's Love is Divine and constant, while the earthly father's love is only a reflection of the Divine Love, and it is subject to change.

Child of the Kingdom! It is true that you are heir to a vast store-house of which you never dreamed until you awake. It requires devotion to the heavenly Father. It is necessary that you study deeply to understand about the Fatherhood and sonship, so that you can live accordingly.

A child of the Kingdom! Let the mind dwell upon it for a few moments in the silent stillness of the Great Silence, and the alone-ness will begin to depart from your mind and, instead of that feeling within you of ever being ready to strike an opponent in self defense, you will begin to feel that assurance of the protection of the Infinite Presence, just as a child feels secure when in his father's home and surrounded with his brothers and sisters.

To be a conscious child of the Kingdom, man knows his inheritance and knows that it is secure and that his Father is the one that oversees all.

As a grain of sand has a place to fill and cannot shrink from filling it; so man has his place in the Great House, the universe, to fill; and, if he learns to know his Father and clings close enough to Him to learn the way, he can intelligently fill the right place.

When all men learn that they are the Children of the Kingdom they will dwell as one family of men upon earth. There is plenty, yes, abundance, of all things upon the earth today, so that every one could have even more than a sufficiency, but man has not learned to lay down his carnal mind so that the wisdom of God may adjust things.

The mind of man, it matters not how great it may be, is not capable at this time of adjusting the affairs of earth, but, when man learns to submit his carnal mind, that it may become merged into the God-mind, then, the Wisdom of God will become manifest in and through him, and the Brotherhood of Mankind will become evident upon the earth, because, in the Reality of that which is, all men are Children of the Kingdom.

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CHAPTER XV

APPRECIATION.

S man studies through devotion and meditation he comes into the Realization of the Presence of the Infinite, and through seeing his prayers answered he has learned positively, that God Is and that He is the Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

As the student learns to live more closely to the GreatHeart, and feels the protection and loving care of the Divine Father-Mother, he in love feeds daily from the bounty which the Infinite supplies.

As anxiety, fear and doubt depart from his mind and faith and trust fill their place, the heart should become so filled with appreciation, that a song of Praise and Gratitude would be constantly falling from heart and lip.

The mind should be so full of appreciation, that, asleep or awake it is ever silently singing Praises to the Infinite. Appreciation is the opposite condition to that of selfishness. When man has the insight of the Truth sufficiently clear, he soon sees that selfishness is the strongest chain which binds man to carnality; and, if he is sufficiently in earnest, he will set persistently about removing it.

All men require assistance when they awake from the Adam-dream, until their feet are firmly planted in the center of the Sacred Path.

In and through prayer, in all its different methods, God assists man; and man, by Loving and Trusting this great invisible Presence, shows his appreciation for God's Loving Care of him. When man requires the

assistance of a teacher or instrument in healing from among his fellow men, he should appreciate the efforts of these helpers and, even though there is no immediate result, he should, not only by expressing words of appreciation, but remember that the helper must live. Therefore, man should show his appreciation by giving to him of his material substance in assurance of his appreciation.

If man after he has studied deeply into the message of Truth still lacks appreciation and has no desire for it, he has missed some of the deep-sounding notes in the message and it will be well for him to return and seek, until he discerns the missing points, at which diligently he must work to remove all selfishness.

When man really knows that he is the Child of the Kingdom, he will understandingly know that all others are children of this Kingdom and heirs to the same inheritance and members of the same household; and, truly, brothers and sisters with the same Father should appreciate all assistance which comes to them,-appreciate the Giver thereof and the instrument through which it came.

Though the home of God's children is the Universe and the Father is Infinite, this greatness should not cause man's appreciation to diminish, but it should the rather enhance it.

When man thoroughly is appreciative, he sees the expression of the Father's Loving Care everywhere. When in the joy of appreciation, he hears the Father's Loving Care voicing in the sweet songs of the birds; he sees it blossoming in the flowers which grow along the roadside; he sees it shining in the kindly smile of his neighbors and in the genial expression of the people he meets in the busy marts of the city.

If man has through understanding the principle of the Message of Truth brought appreciation into expression within himself, he will be appreciated by those whom he encounters.

But, if there is no appreciation of others in man's

heart, there is no magnet there to draw it to him from others, even though that may be his desire.

A man of wealth feels that he is greatly appreciated. Let his wealth take wings and fly away and he be left penniless, and he will soon find where the appreciation of the people was, because it, usually having come with the money, flies on those same wings with the money.

In the Message of Truth, given through Jesus Christ and elaborated upon in this book, man can, by learning its teachings, cause selfishness to become entirely eliminated from his consciousness and in its place have appreciation, which expresses in and through him to God, his Father, the giver of all good, and to those of his fellow man who assist him in any way, even, if it is only a kind smile, or an encouraging hand-clasp.

When the awakened men of earth, those who are students of the great and glorious Truth, begin to show their appreciation of each other and stand shoulder to shoulder and express brotherly kindness, then, indeed, will the world of men, those who are not awake, begin to see that there is something more to the Christ-Consciousness than mere words.

Appreciation is an expression of the Infinite. Let all seek to express appreciation.