Achievement

Elyon: As you know, to achieve something is to master it, to attain it by your own efforts. It is not something granted to you as much as it is something you have worked towards and through your efforts you have gained a control over, a mastery of. Your lives are filled with all manner of achievements. You have achieved
adulthood; you have achieved material possessions to surround you. You have gained these through your own efforts, and these, as well as many others, are your tangible results of these efforts. You achieve the mountaintop through your physical efforts, and the vista you view at the top is your achievement. It is your reward for having pursued this goal to its completion. Once having achieved this success, you then possess this as an achievement as part of your composition, your resume, in this life.

We all now can agree that no achievement is made without prerequisite effort. I would go so far as to add that all effort meets with certain success, certain achievement. The end result may not be the original desire of pursuit, but the pursuit provides you with the achievement of its own description. Spiritual effort when expended also meets with certain achievements once you have put in the required effort you then possess the achievement from that effort. Spiritually you build one success upon another. Each one adds to your resume, your foundation, upon which more achievements may be assembled.

It is right and good for you to occasionally take stock of where you were and where you are and even where you may be going, to see this as a progressive movement through effort to success.

You are also aware that larger accomplishments require larger efforts, but the fruits may be sweeter. Your success at long term efforts is all the more satisfying when you reflect on all the effort that was required to arrive at that success point.

I suggest as an exercise for you to count the achievements: tally up the efforts, the successes, the rewards; the ambitions of future undertakings, the expectations. Take stock of this ever-flowing pattern. At once you are resting on the foundations of many previous achievements while at the same instance you are providing the required effort for future accomplishments to be yours. In this cyclical pattern it is helpful to step outside and view it as a pattern, cyclical, and see where you fit in. Note what you have accuired and the effort you still offer. Grow to expect that this effort now in cycle will come to completion as will your achievements.

Merriam: The idea of achievement is one which enables you to access your capacity to consider yourself as a child or as an adult and calls to mind the need for balance. While you are urged to put away childish things and grow into spiritual adulthood, you are also encouraged to remain a child in your faith, always open to future learning. Adulthood is a lure, on the one hand, because of the acknowledgment to the self that one has gained sufficient self mastery, insight, appreciation of the fruits of the spirit, and so forth, to feel effective and a part of a growing global community from the vantage point of the spirit and the flesh.

You feel like a contributing member of your society whether it is a material society or a spiritual society. It also brings with it a sense of responsibility, a knowledge that the courage to clarify advancing perfection is
an opportunity for you to embrace as a service or as an adventure in, not only your career, but in the eternal career of your fellows. Engaging in mindful intercourse in the many arenas provided gives you an opportunity to exercise your skills, your accomplishments, in such a way as to prevent stagnation in yourself and others and to enjoy the stimuli that comes through associations, a mutual stimulation of the imagination as well as the energetic charge coming from the exponential aspect of community. In particular it entails a recognition of your individual voice in matters that concern the masses, the whole of mankind, many of whom have made great material and educational advancements but remain spiritually unaware, ineffectual.

So you recognize a responsibility in being that might daunt the timid soul. Be advised that your inspirations come from on high and your "callings" are heard from that still, small voice within. Thus, when you are called to active duty in the arena of humanity, you are also provided the materials, the rations, the backpack, and the uniform that will enable you to fulfill your assignment, rendering another and mature accomplishment in the advancing tide of humanity toward Light and Life. That too is your reward, for that is your great accomplishment individually and communally, that you in your recognition of our Father have embraced Him and your fellows as brothers and sisters. Your individual worlds are illuminated, but this accomplishment, while being realized for you, is still only potential for many. As you assess your accomplishments also look you well to our goals of introducing our Father and His ways and mercies into the hearts of those who remain ignorant of His blessings, His personal hand in yours. Even while you grasp your responsibilities and recognize maturity and assess your accomplishments, remember your childlike nature that allows you to err, that allows for laughter, that appreciates rejoicing, that embraces goodness, beauty, and truth as its greatest happiness.