"Now try again and again and again," cries the soul, "O thou
miserable halfhearted shallow worldling!" And the creature tries
again, and, doing better, gets a very slight warmth about the heart;
and, doing it again, gets a little comfort, and so, gradually
progressing in the way of true love which is all giving, at last one
day the creature does it perfectly because it has altogether forgotten
itself in the fire of its love and is completely set upon God. Then
automatically the door opens, and immediately in through it there
rushes the breath and the blisses of God. And the creature, weeping
with excess of happiness, cries, "I never asked for such delights, I
did not know such happiness was to be had; and if I did not ask, how
is it that I have received?" Then the soul answers, "Because thou
hast learnt to give to God, and that is the key which unlocks the
garden of His joys. Thou hast just three things which He desires to
have--thy love and thine obedience, and thy waiting fidelity. When
thou dost conform to His desire with all thy tiny unadulterated
strength, immediately heaven becomes open to thee and thou dost
receive more than thou didst ever dream or think to ask for. This is
His lovely Will towards thee. But first always do thy part, and until
thou doest thy part I cannot begin mine, for thou couldst receive
neither blessings nor blisses did I not receive them first from Him
and hand them on to thee; so each are dependent the one on the
other, and only together can we enter paradise. Think not I do not
suffer as much as thyself and far more. I know thou dost suffer with
thy body and with the losses of thine earthly loves, but I suffer far
more with the loss of my Heavenly Love. At first I could not
understand what had come to me, buried and choked in thy strange
house of flesh. I despised thee, I hated thee, thy stupid ways, thy
dreadful greeds, thine unspeakable obstinacy and unwillingness;
thou didst give me horrible sicknesses with thine unsavoury wants,
thine undignified requirements. I thought thee foolish and now know
myself to be more foolish than thee, for thou hardly knowest the
heavenly love whereas I knew and left Him, seeking other loves.
The Fall was not thy fault, poor human thing, but mine. I am the
Prodigal, and thou the means of my return, for if I can but raise thee
to true adoration of our God, then I shall pay my debt of infidelity to
Him and together as one glorious radiant spirit we shall