My dear friends, we love you so very much.
Today we are going to speak of obedience. It is a word which, for many of you, conjures up images of sitting up straight in school and having to listen to your parents, teachers, and authority figures. It is a word that often brings memories of reward or punishment, or not-so-pleasant memories of being forced to behave in ways that you felt were rigid or confining. It is a word used to describe the behaviors of those who serve in religious orders, and a word otherwise not often used in spiritual circles. And yet, dear ones, this word is ripe with rich possibility for improving your own lives.
In truth, even though you think of yourselves as "free" you are are always obeying something. Your true freedom comes in being able to choose which thoughts you will serve and which impulses you will obey. Will you, through fearful choices and limited thinking, obey the dictates of your society, your culture, and your conditioning? Or will you choose to obey the still, small voice of love that rises up within you - the voice of God that wishes to guide you to a life more amazing than anything you have ever dreamt? Will you obey love, or fear? Will you obey limitations or endless possibility? Will you obey the spontaneous, passionate, and joyful impulses that touch your hearts in a given moment, or will you over-think them until the spark is diminished and the guidance has passed? Will you, like innocent children, obey the call to joy or will you push that natural delight aside as frivolous and impractical?
Consider a very practical example. Someone you love angers you. You have a fearful desire to strike back, to say something hurtful, and yet deep down in your heart the true desire is for comfort for yourself, for understanding, for greater connection, or at a minimum a longing for peace. Your conditioning teaches you to strike back. Your heart teaches you to seek peace. Which will you choose? Likewise, say you have an impulse and a desire to study something that seems to have nothing to do with income or "usefulness" in your life? Will you listen to your heart and enjoy this activity, or will you reason it away?
God loves you no matter what. We love you no matter what. There is never any judgment in the heavens. We simply know that obeying the deeper and more loving truths in your own hearts will make you happier. You may have to overcome conditioning to do so, but learning to condition yourself to obey the truth in the depths of your hearts will bring you indescribable joy.