December 22, 1985

Samuel: … candlelight, eh? This is fine. Can you not just see the energy better, eh? It’s to your advantage, darlings, not mine.

Well, merry, merry, merry, dear ones. Greetings. Gifts, eh. ‘Tis the season.

Yes it is. Just piles of gifts. I recently made a trip, and there are so many in there that I’d take the whole night, but one in particular to me points out things spontaneous and trusting. What I did was I left on my trip just forgetting very important equipment to take with me. It had to do with my paintbrushes. And I realized this after I was on my trip. “Well, I guess this is all going to work out.” And it did, so perfectly. I was guided to the perfect place to find paint and some brushes, and in that I selected a brush that turned out, when I went to work on this painting, it just made all the difference in the world, and I would not have had that brush if I had remembered. Anyway, it was just spontaneously trusting, one gift followed another and another and another.

S: Gwendolyn, darling, you’re not meaning to say something dreadful could be turned into something wonderful, now, are you?

I’m hinting at that. It was perfect. It was so perfect. At the end, when I realized how perfect it was, it was like … oh. As I worked on the painting, I realized that was the perfect thing.

S: Gifts, eh.

J— and I had an unusual gift. We got a post card from our landlord, and he told us to take half off our rent next month.

S: I’d say that’s a very fine gift.

The meditation and the solstice, that was a real good gift for me, to get into my own energy. That was wonderful. That was a wonderful gift. Thank you.

S: Oh, darling, it was not my work. It was yours.

You helped.

S: My honor. My pleasure.

Well, I had sort of along the lines of what Gwen was saying in terms of things not working out on the surface, but working out. It’s the end of the semester, and it was really busy, and nothing was going as scheduled. I mean, I’d have forty-five minutes to study for final exams where I really needed to kill them to do good in the course. In a general sense, I did the best I could and relaxed and tried to create that it was going to turn out all right. The specifics aren’t’ that important, but it turned out all right. I sort of pulled it out. It was not nearly as stressful as it usually is.

S: Amazing, eh?

Amazing. It was great.

S: And you can relate to the same thing, darling?

My gift was, I had put in the gold box the last time I was here that …

S: The Golden Crutch, eh?

Crotch? [Laughter]

S: There is not one of those here.

That raised the energy. It did mine.

S: You did put into the …

Anyway … my finals and a research proposal that I was doing to work out. And it did, wonderfully. The other thing: two people that are important in my life were going through a conflict before the holidays, and I don’t know how much of that had to do with it, but, by listening and talking to them, I got the gift of giving of myself, and I think it’s one of the finest gifts you can receive. Letting things happen for other people, and just being your form. And I know that I got a lot back, more than I was giving.

S: Now, would you say that she has been somehow sneaking in on the meetings when her physical body is not here? Certainly that’s a part of last week’s message.

And the other gift was, last time Gwen said it was kind of like pulling teeth to be up there [to get us to talk about gifts]. I had about 1400, but I’m only going to give three. The other one is a matter of letting go, which I’ve known was a part of the meetings I’d attended. And I recently had a relationship that hadn’t exactly ended, but the person moved away, and it was a friendship that I had created while I was at Morehead, and it was a major loss, and instead of—I went through a period where I thought, why is this happening? And then I just let it go, and through letting go I found that I hadn’t really lost anything. I’d gained. And that is a bit of a change.

S: Aye, dear. ‘Tis a fine gift, indeed. Of course, if the cup is full, you cannot put more in it, eh? Sometimes that means emptying out a bit.

Two more, eh.

Well, that was my gift. It was almost painful in a way, coming to the awareness that you need to empty out the container. The awareness gets to a certain point and you need to empty it out and fill it back up with something new. It’s one of those things that’s not easy to deal with, but it’s one of those things, one of the responsibilities, to try to stay in your awareness, […]. What comes to you tells you about yourself.

S: Tripp, darling, you mean when you give a gift to yourself you’re responsible for it? Oh gracious, that makes it totally unacceptable, eh? You mean to tell me that when something good comes into my life, I must be aware that I’m responsible for it, too? Aye. ‘Tis the beauty of it, for it is responsibility, dear ones, that allows you to grow.

Aye, dear. One more, eh.

I found, after the meditation the other night, that, for a while there, sitting in the circle, I didn’t know who I was. I was S—, or two or three others I felt like I was, and that has persisted, and I am no longer reminding myself of my story to any extent like I was. There’s a nice empty spot in the middle. It’s just great.

S: Aye. That is a gift, dear.

Homework? What have you been learning about sending energy this season, this time of year? [Pause] How sad.

In my day-to-day work this last week, I had a trial in which I was dealing with my clients and opposing clients, the opposing witnesses and the jury and the judge, and I felt that—I really worked at sending love and understanding to the witnesses. It was a criminal trial, and in those cases, especially, you always end up with witnesses that are saying things that are totally contrary to what my witnesses are saying. And rather than getting caught up emotionally with the negative energies of lying, etc., I really worked to send love and energy as I cross-examined them and dealt with them, and love and energy to the jurors, not trying to make them hear things my way, but to just send love and energy so they’d be open and they would do the right thing. And I truly, in this case, thought that my client was innocent of it, and the jury determined that he was. It was a very wonderful experience. My client and his father were very happy. It just seemed to work out very well. The jury was very happy with it. They were a happy jury rather than a sullen jury, and I really noticed that sending love and keeping myself a channel and a vehicle for love and understanding helped other people accept love and understanding and deal with it.

S: There is a lesson in that about the way he sent the energy.

Unconditional.

S: And that, darling, is quite the hard one. It is so easy to send a creation of your choice, but then what are you doing.

You’re putting limitations.

S: Exactly. Then you are limiting. You will never know what you may have had, because you do get what you ask for. So it is very good to keep it quite open. You send love that the best and the highest will come to pass. You do not send it for a particular project, for perhaps you could have had even better.

“Well now, Samuel, how is that creating your reality? How can you be specific about what you’re creating there? What are you saying here?” Deliver that energy. This is energy for healing. May it be the best. This is energy that this work situation, or whatever it may be—I’m not saying blanket it. Just send love, that’s all. You will create what is the best that way. It is sort of taking into account the limits of the form.

Taking into accounts that there may possibly, just possibly, be something around which has a broader view than you from your little position.

S: No!! Aye.

Homework, eh.

I got a greater awareness of something that was talked about before about sending love. It changes yourself; it doesn’t change other people. People come in the store with all different realities and all different spaces, and instead of getting upset or angry with the state they’re in, saying, “I wish they would raise their consciousness,” or whatever, instead of thinking that, I would just send love and accept where they were at, and just send love and understand that, by doing that, I was actually changing myself. I was changing the way I viewed the space that they were in, and it was changing me.

S: Well then, it’s a trick, eh? You send love to another that they may function at their very best, and it changes you instead, eh? You mean to say that your sending love changed you? Aye, dear, exactly. ‘Tis the grandest gift of all.

Accepting the space that people are in. Ignoring it. It’s okay.

And it changes their response to you, when you change.

S: Aye. And that is not limited to this world. So. One more, eh. Jana, dear.

Just in general, people were so excited this week, it seems, I mean not everyone was, but just generally people were a lot more responsive if I would talk to them, wish them a merry Christmas or whatever. Everybody has their plans, and everybody’s doing things. Everybody’s busy. I think that accounts for a lot of the energy. Probably not all of it is real good energy. Some of it is kind of stressful energy, but still it’s just a lot of exuberance going on, and people are real willing to talk to you and communicate with you.

S: Why is it so? Let us hear it. Why is it so?

There’s a natural change in the energies. The physical planets and the universe, and that makes a difference on us, as well as all the socializing and culture, the excitement we all gear up each year, which starts building up this time of year, and our own thought-excitement and building of energies goes with the solstice that comes this time of year. And the other changes in the universe help bring up the energies.

S: Aye. Good.

Well, who did greet the sun this year, eh? [One hand goes up] Aye. You did. I’m sorry that you believe you are the only one.

I tried to get a group of people to, and they all left.

S: Exactly what are you surrounding yourself with, eh?

Well, an unreceptive crowd, I suppose.

S: Then perhaps you are not putting out the proper …

Well, I mean a person can only do so much now and then. That’s okay. They had dreams about it last night.

S: I’m sure. And of you, too.

I’m sure of that.

S: It is a very amazing time. The energy is different this time of year. It is not just the solstice. There are points of energy during the year in which this planet draws and you benefit, but, as Frank said, it is more. There is also the energy of the holiday.

What is Christmas about, eh? What is Christmas about?

A time for sharing.

S: Aye, sure.

Communion.

S: To commune.

I think what we talked about last Sunday, about all the different elements that are pulled together to create the Christmas we have now was done to reflect that energy change, and that it’s pulled from a lot of different cultures and different …

S: But the holiday time. It is sharing. It is communing.

It is celebrating.

S: It is celebrating. It is based on what you are speaking about, dear one, but it is manifested, that energy that you feel is manifested in a greater sense of love and brotherhood, a greater connectedness, one to another, with your planet and with one another. You bring the outdoors within. You pretty it up. You decorate yourselves. ‘Tis the season. It is a time of love.

So I am very delighted that you, dear ones, are here to celebrate now this holiday with me. My energy is honored that your energy is here. I have said, “There is not a one of you here that is not of a certain level of understanding, not a one of you here that has not made certain adjustments in your socialization. Gracious, darling. What are you sitting here doing?

Talking to a dead man.

S: Or a crazy woman. Or a dead crazy man.

You are here for a purpose. And this special time is a very wonderful one to share together with such a grand group of souls such as you.

Well, have we made arrangements to sing this year? I believe that a major part of the holiday is to join voices.

How about “Silent Night”?

S: I seem to remember that we’ve tried that one before.

Maybe we’ve made an improvement.

S: That’s right. Well, let us sing. Let us celebrate a bit with the instrument of this form. It has been written before to sing a joyful noise. That’s not saying make a pretty word. That’s saying make a joyful noise, and unless it gets a bit too rash, shall you go for it, eh? Go for it.

[The group sings “Silent Night”]

A little improvement.

S: I would say. Have you been practicing? Good work. Well now, should you get a bit more peppy, eh?

“Jingle Bells.”

[They sing “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer”]

S: Oh, darlings, the songs that you have serenaded this night with—do go home and think about them. You’ve come from a very silent night and a holy night to a deer with a red nose that saved Santa Claus. But you do it well, and that’s the important thing. Those of you that are aware of such things, I’m sure you were quite aware of the change in your energy, and that’s quite good. And all of you make an approximately like sound. And that is fine, too. That helps the vibration somewhat, and it is such a major part of the tradition of this season. I’m quite proud of you. Perhaps we should put in to do this once a week, eh?

If you could stand it.

S: Oh, darlings, the Second Annual Samuel Christmas Show. We have red-nosed reindeers, we have the chorus, we have our dancers, eh? ‘Tis a very fine show.

There are very many traditions to this holiday, and in this society the basic tradition is that of celebrating a very important birth. And so that is what our Christmas show is about, celebrating that birth. So stop for just a moment, and take yourself a very deep breath. I want you to be able to pay very good attention this night.

Take yourself backward, back, back … to the time of the origin of this Christmas tree, at the time of the birth of Jesus. Good. Now, with that floating around in your head, let us have our program begin, eh.

Who can tell the basic story? Gracious. Aye, dear.

Joseph was to take his family around to register, and his wife Mary was to have her child pretty near at that time. Anyway, they traveled through the countryside, and when they got to the town of Bethlehem, they tried to find space to stay at the inn, and there was no room, and they were told to go to the barn where the animals were kept, and that is where the child was born. It occurred to me, as I was thinking about it, that the energy of the animals was very appropriate, being a higher energy for this occasion. There was a star that three wise men from the East, it caught their attention, and they travelled, also, to honor this special birth. And while there were kings bringing fine gifts, there were shepherds, also, that were attracted by this star and came to honor this birth. Angels, heavenly hosts, announced this very special occasion. The energy that was going on at that time was pretty incredible.

S: Pretty incredible. Good words.

Last year, we set the stage for this play, and discussed the main class of characters, Mary, Joseph, the child, the wise men. Frank, darling, very briefly, will you discuss that class of characters as we did?

Mary was cast as the individual in the mother role, to create her … a bringer in of new life, new ideas. And Joseph was a protector and the support behind the mother and that new idea, that new life, and he had that role. We also had the innkeeper, who was cast as a character we booed and a character we didn’t sing. The innkeeper, on the one hand, was going by his business, and did not allow them in, but he did do what he could to find that the family did have a warm and clean place to stay, rather than cast them out on the open road. And that was the character we need to look at, and realize that in all that appears bad, there’s also good. He was not the evil innkeeper; he was the generous innkeeper, who, even though his inn was full, he found room for this family in the stall.

The wise men were open to ideas, and they were searching, and when they saw a star, an announcement, they followed that to see what there was, and they were open to new ideas, and they came and recognized growth and the promise that was there.

S: And it’s all related to you, dear ones. You are each of those characters, and when you think about that story in that manner, it must change the whole acceptance of it. Why should you not be Joseph, for in your life, right now, you are a support for those you love. He is a very key individual, so often neglected in light of Mary and her work, or the child. But so very important, the job of support where it’s needed.

Mary. You are Mary. All of you are mothers, creators. You have gifts to bring into this world that no one else can do, and you are Mary.

The child. “Well now, Samuel, you could not say that I am the master of this age, eh? I am not the child.” But, darling, you are a child, you are a child growing and learning. Do you think that that young babe did not have to learn to walk, to talk, wasn’t growing, just as you are? Learning to function in this world just as you are? And as that child, you have the opportunity to learn what you are and grow, because of that.

You are the wise men who see the signs, who learn what they can to be able to use that to see miracles. You are the wise men.

But darlings, this year you are the shepherd. This year let’s reset our stage, eh. You grew up in a wee dusty town, and your parents didn’t have very much money. Sometimes it was very difficult to get things to eat. What your family did was take care of sheep and goats. And about the time that you were old enough to walk, you started going out with your papa, following him around learning the sheep and learning the grave responsibilities of being a shepherd. How you looked forward to the day that you were old enough to take care of the sheep on your own. It was an honor to take care of them on your own. And the time did come. Well now, as you look on it now, they were just wee lasses; what would you say?—eight or nine, starting out taking care the sheep, large groups of sheep. Well, sheep have a reputation for being not quite bright, eh, so perhaps it’s not such hard work. But it’s not the sheep you need worry about so much, it’s the predators of those sheep, and there are plenty of things you must keep your eyes open for. Sheep get themselves tangled into fences. The little sheep get themselves into too much food, and they overeat, and they bloat—like some of you.

Little sheep trust everything. As a shepherd, you are as a mother to many of those sheep. As the shepherd, you are God to many of those sheep, and it is a very important responsibility to take care of them, because those sheep are your livelihood.

So you’re taking care of your sheep, and you stay with them day and night, for their grazing, and you’re taking them to the best grazing spaces, sometimes elbowing out your friends to get to the best space first. And it’s boring, and it’s lonely. And so you devise little ways to pass the time. At night it’s so warm and nice you lie out in the grass and you watch the heavens, and you begin to notice that the heavens are changing, that there’s a very bright light in the sky, and it attracts your attention. And you play little games in your head about it, and you think what it might be, and you feel so drawn to it. But what do you do with the sheep, eh? You cannot leave the sheep. But you feel compelled to follow the light. And so you do. You follow that light. Your sheep children may follow you, but for the most part they stay and graze, and so perhaps you look to make sure that things are pretty safe, that they are in a sheltered area—after all, you’re a very responsible one—and then you leave them to follow that light, for it calls you as a beacon.

As you go, you wonder if you are very brave to go against everything you always heard to do to take care of your sheep, or if you are very foolish for leaving them. You arrive at a very quiet spot where there are others gathered, and you hear word that what has drawn you is what well may be the answer to prophecy, but you do not know what that is all about. You know little about that. You know simply that you have been drawn and you have come.

“Well now, Samuel, what sort of Christmas story is that? It leaves out all the main characters.” No, darling.

Is it different with you, for, immersing yourself into the story is what makes it real for you. So is it so different for you? Each of you was born in a very simple existence. Oh, darling, what are you? You are energy, energy connected with the highest of all powers. You have the ability—to leap the tallest buildings. You have taken on this form in order to better learn. You were born. You were not born to kings and queens, but as who you are, the entity that you are, within this form. There were things for you to do, jobs to do. You had sheep to take care of. And as you grew, you learned all about those sheep. Your sheep were to go to the right school to get the proper education, to get the right job. Your sheep were to have the right family, to go and worship at the proper church. Your sheep gave you certain standards that you chose to take on you, a certain existence that you had to follow. And, like that shepherd so long ago, there came a time that it got lonely and a bit dull. The time in your life, when you said, “This cannot be all there is; there must be more. Am I the only one who thinks this way? Am I the only one who feels like a misfit? Maybe I should just try harder, get to know these sheep just a little bit more, eh?”

Shall we hear it for the sheep? Baah!

[Audience] Baah!

S: “… And try again, because this has taken care of my family, those of like form, for a very long time. There must be something wrong with me. Perhaps I’m not taking care of the sheep right. Let me try this new method.” And it didn’t work. “Well, perhaps it is just me. Let me try this new grazing area.” And it made little difference. “Perhaps it is just me. Let me look for the answers that I need in this world about me.” And it does not give you what you need —until you look up, and you see that the heavens are changing.

What does it do when you look into the heavens. It makes you feel somewhat different when you—you will do one of two things: you will stay very closely connected, or you will feel very small and alone when you look into the vastness about you. It is a teacher on its own. And that young lad very, very long ago did look up and begin to say, “Well, there is more than what I see about me here. There is all this that I know nothing about. So I know there is more,” just as you did. “There is more. I’m going to find out what it is.” And it called you. It called you, dear shepherd, dear shepherdess. You felt drawn.

What to do?! Gracious!! That presented quite a challenge, eh? Young lad, just getting the hang of what it’s doing, comes across just a few wee questions in his life and decides to just pack it all in and follow a star? How very foolish! He should be thrashed, eh. Can you imagine?

Or, how very brave, how very wise, to have the courage to follow what is within. He marched forward. What did the sheep do? Well, a few followed. Most stayed. Did the sheep follow because they understood this was a grand adventure? Baah. The sheep that followed did so because they were his children, to them.

Well, what are you still lugging around with you? What are your sheep lugging around? Which of those wonderful sheep do you carry with you? I suppose it made the going a bit rough, having to still worry about a few of those hangings-on, but, when you’re driven, you can put up with most anything, eh. And, besides, you get attached to those that feel so good that you don’t think it too much of a hindrance until, of course, you get to where you’re going, and then you’ve got to worry about these sheep hanging about you. And then, perhaps, you finally let go. In the life of each shepherd, there stay near a few favorite sheep. What would be one of your favorite sheep?

One of my favorite sheep is what I eat.

S: Aye. And you, S—?

Old beliefs in what I am. Limiting myself by those.

S: Aye, true. You are but a wee young child. You have not the experience to make this perilous journey. You have not food to take you on the way. And gracious, no, you have no ability to work for it. You’re making a grave mistake.

What sheep, eh? But we love them. “Aye, you’re right. I’m totally incapable of this. I’m not sure why I’m doing it at all. No experience, and in fact I’m not even able to learn. Exactly as they said. No ability, and I’m not very smart. I’m a pretty mediocre person.” You would not feel the call if you were mediocre people. Louder? You would not feel the call if you were mediocre.

And so you go. And you arrive. And what have you found? More questions. You’re not sure what you have found, but you know that it’s hitting you in the right spots. But you’re not sure what it is, or even what that spot is. And there are those about you that seem to know what they’re doing. And they’re dressed so finely, and they brought gifts, and you didn’t bring a thing, not even a hostess gift. And it looks like a fine party. What are you to do? Well, you brought a few sheep, eh? Say it.

Baah.

S: Aye. Well, you know, last year we had a little chorus session. We had the donkeys, and we had the sheep. We had the cows. We had the cheering section and the jeering section. Perhaps we should have that again this year. And it’s sheep. They go “baah,” eh?

Baah.

S: That’s what it is. This is our sheep chorus, eh?

So you go in. In your own life you make that commitment to follow that drive within you. And you arrive where everyone seems to be who you believe knows what is going on, and it did not answer your questions.

It was not, darlings, a very beautiful thing in white light with angels hopping about singing lovely songs. It was a barn, a shed. Have you been in a stable lately? Do you know what it smells like? Have you been in a dirty one, where the straw is not clean? It has a greasy feel to it, you know, and you see peasants with a young child, and kings—hello, must be something there. What about you? You arrive to where people seem to have an idea of what they are doing, and it does not answer your personal quest. And these seem to be very learned people.

So what will he do?

Bow down and pray.

S: I believe that what he will do is say, “What is going on here?” And perhaps the bowing came later, but the first thing you must do is find out what’s going on, and see how it fits with your quest. Do you ask questions? Would you like me to answer? What are you doing to find out the answers in your own quest. “Well, now, Samuel, I come to your meetings where you teach.” And you do sit there, and you hear. Do you listen, dear? Do you listen? Do you feel? Do you know that there are those that have been coming to these meetings for over a year that yet do not feel the difference of the energy in the room? Sandpaper your fingertips, eh. What are you doing to grow? What are you doing in your own life to find the answers to your questions? Do you know what your questions are? Have you got room for a sheep here?

Baah.

S: Good, dear.

“What is going on? Why do I feel so called here? Why do the heavens light up? Is there something I can learn from this here? From this woman, what can I learn? From this man?”

“Wait a minute, Samuel. You’re not supposed to be learning from them. It’s the child. It’s the child, eh.” Darlings, if you’re not learning from every aspect of a situation, if you’re not looking for the answers that are not obvious, then you are missing them altogether, and you’re losing out on quite a bit. So look to learn from every aspect.

“Well now, I don’t believe that I’m going to ask these very learned people here, and I’m afraid that they’re quite out of my class, and they’ll probably just ignore me, and I’m ashamed to let them know that I don’t know the answers to the questions that I have to ask,” and so you will not learn there, either. So you will put little borders around yourself and make sure you never go beyond that, so you will not expand and change and grow. So you will miss the lessons from another’s experience.

So you ask. And you receive an answer. You ask first the person standing right near you, “What is happening here?”

“Well, I’m not sure, really. I’m just bedding my donkey down for the night. Looks like there’s quite a crowd here. I believe it’s just some poor people hanging out, left over from the census taking, you know. You know, these hangers-on, you never know what’s going on. It’s just a dirty lot of people here. Go on your way. Take your sheep with you.”

Baah.

S: Good, dear.

And you may hear that. “Oh, what you’re studying here is nonsense. It will do you no good. Goes against everything I ever heard. I’d say it must have very little meaning in this society.”

“You are studying evil things. It is against the law of God to study things that everybody else is not studying. Therefore, you must be evil. Be gone from here.” And you have heard that, too, dears.

Well, the shepherd says, “Ooh, all right,” turns around and goes his way. Well, that is an answer. You can be turned away by the first thing you hear. You can accept whatever comes your way, or you can ask another. If it does not fit, the answer is not right, you sense it. You dig further. “What is happening here?”

“A child is born. The rumor is that this could be the child that will save us, protect us. It is the answer to prophecy that we have studied so long. I am here to see if anything exciting happens.”

“Oh, me, too.”

A rumor, so you ask again. And by this time you’re up at the front of the crowd, standing next to a donkey, perhaps, hanging your arm to him, seeing the scene yourself. And you’re very close to the parents, and you say, “You seem to know what’s happening here. Looks like you might be in charge. May I ask you a question or two? What is happening? What is going on here? I’m so drawn to this place, and even now I feel very touched and filled.”

Have you the nerve to do the same? “I have an important question. I do not understand my personal response. Can you help me?”

“Well, lad, some would say that a miracle had occurred. ¶ will tell you that a very important thing has happened. A child has been born, and it is a very special child. It is my child. And I cannot tell you whether or not the things that are being said about him are true. I can tell you it is my child. And it is a miracle, for a birth is a miracle.” And you look at that wee arm, and you see a very tiny human form, and it is a miracle.

So you’ve asked you question, and you were told, “I cannot tell you, except for me.” “Oh, what kind of truth is that?” “I can only tell you what’s right for me. This is my miracle.”

So by then, you’re almost one of the inner circle, and so you go up and you say, “Pardon me, King, sir. What is it you know of what has happened here, and can you tell me why I seem to respond so strongly?”

And as any wise one would tell you, “I have studied very long, and I am aware of the old teaching. I recognized long ago that there were changes happening.”

“Oh, well, I did, too. I was lying out in the field, and I saw it in the sky. And this light, what is this light all about?” Well, they’d seen a comet. Is that it now, eh? ‘Twas the comet. All right, ‘twas the comet. Sure.

And I will tell you that here there is promise. You have followed energy, and you felt drawn, because it is what you are. You recognize your likeness to it. You were able to go beyond, you were able to be brave and foolish. You were willing to take many steps and arrive here with many questions.

“Come, let us go have a spot of tea—no, perhaps not. Let us go sit on this pile of hay here and talk. You seem very ready. I will help you however I can.” And the lad did learn. He listened; he was a ready student. He determined that this was the Christ child, and then he did bow and pray.

So you continue in your quest. You continue until you find the one that is your teacher. What do you do then? It is your responsibility then to be the student, to make every effort possible to learn what you can, to find your truth. That child, that Christ child, that infant, miracle, gift, was not the answer to the part of the journey. It is so with you, dear ones. The answer is within yourself. ‘Twas not the infant that is celebrated; it is the birth, the very fact that it happened, for it is the Christhood of Jesus that is His claim, and that is not what we are discussing. It is a celebration of a birth, a new beginning, and that is what that shepherd did find: that new beginning to his own self, his own quest, and that is for you, dear one, this Christmas. Your own new beginning, your own birth. Find the wee child within yourself, that is in your journey. Ask questions. Learn and grow. Be brave. Be foolish. Take your sheep …

Baah.

S: … and drop them off when they get in your way. Enjoy your journey, and go until you can start again. Christmas every day.

This Christmas you are the shepherd, in so many ways. Oh, darlings, be at least as bold as that eight-year-old. Remember where it took him. He found the path. ‘Tis not that child he worshipped. That was the start. That child was the start. It is not the child you celebrate; it is the start. This is the start.

So think about yourself. Think about this stage play. Relate it to the one so long ago, and let that perspective fill your mind. Is that shepherd such a minor character, after all? Are you, darling? Nay. You are strong. You are what this universe is made of. You are connected.

So make an example of that this night. Connect. [Everyone joins hands] And as you touch feel it connect through. As I touch, watch the energy. See where you are. What do you see? What do you feel? Should I take sandpaper and pass around, eh?

Your energy is good, darlings. Connect that through, eh.

“Samuel, what are you doing?” Manipulating the form. This night we play with energy, eh. This night we use what is available. We receive, we send. We use what we are. You now, dear ones, are the battery. Send that. You are the channel; send that. It is a form; it is energy, and that energy flows freely, blocked only by your sheep. Baah.

Baah.

S: You are gifts, and you are giving gifts to each other. You are showing your strength or being brave, in spite of what seems so foolish. Be strong. Aye. be strong. Miracles, my dear ones. Those of you that have felt a rush, send it onward, eh. Touch. Pass a Christmas charge, eh. Like this.

Now let us say Merry Christmas, and I will remain like this, and we will delight the form, eh.

[Audience] Merry Christmas.

S: Merry Christmas. Christmas is love, you know. Do love.

Why don’t you do the song again, eh?

[The audience sings “Silent Night”]