“To him that overcometh, I will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
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Each of us is a distinct flower in the spiritual garden of God, each of us watered and shone upon and filled with life, for the sake of his completed being, which will blossom out of him at last to the glory and pleasure of the great gardener. For each has within him a secret of the Divinity; each is growing towards the revelation of that secret to himself, and so to the full reception of the divine. Every moment that he is true to his true self, some new shine of the white stone breaks on his inward eye, some fresh channel opens up for the coming glory of the flower, the conscious offering of his whole being in beauty to the Maker.
What an end lies before us! To have a consciousness of our own ideal being flashed into us from the thought of God! Surely for this we may well give away all our paltry self-consciousness, our self-admiration and self-worship! Surely to know what he thinks about us will pale out of our souls all our thoughts about ourselves! And we may well hold them loosely now, and be ready to let them go.
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Commentary
by Leah Morency
After reading yesterday's commentary by Jess, I immediately looked up my own birthday verse, as I'm sure others of you did. It's an intriguing thought, the hint of a secret word only meant for each of us, mystically linked with the date of our birth.
I write today personally, intimately not as a theologian. I write in midst of a new revelation, God's writing of my story as I live it. Rich in imagery, so much comes to mind.
After meditating on the words of this inspired verse we study, I felt most curious to understand "overcometh" and began to cross reference but was not satisfied with Searching the already revealed words, I thought again about that... to understand these words and this one in particular, Overcome what?! I must say, how can I find revealed already what God is still working in me?...to overcome is for each of us as personal as the dragons we must face in this life and the tale of our struggle and the knowledge of our pain in the battle.
If we are so blessed to fight a dragon, it is because our Father has seen fit to give us a journey of Overcoming. The mystic in each of us can look through the surface of our path in the landscape, and begin to engage with the deeper revelation, and if seen clearly, sees that we each are living a fairy tale. Fairy tales are our aid, connecting the spiritual truths and realities with the very real physical, the opening of our eyes so light may enter in.
As a visual artist I function entirely on the core knowledge that all is symbolic of deeper truth. Every artist works in a medium to express a substance of self, to form a truth of self, for the purpose of sharing what was before hidden inside. How much more are we our selves the expression each of us of what was once hidden in our Father and is now being revealed in us. And finally fully to the us revealed, ourselves finally safe with our self, when we are completely of Him.
The white stone symbolizes at once the culmination of Gods work of revelation in and through us, one that He began in each of us, and the beginning of a new life of revelation.
Overcoming is so personal, essential in our very formation, it will be the day of our new birth, our resurrected life. He brings the one to full life and reveals this new name to one completed being, from the most intimate perspective, face to face flowing of life from Father into the one.