Book Excerpt

From I am the Door by Paul Ferrini

Reader Comments about this book

Thank you for taking the time to be silent, to listen, to write. Your words opened the door to my heart, to the essence of my higher spiritual Self, my I AM. As I read these words of Christ, I came home at last. I am whole. I am complete.
I am a full circle of Love and Light!   V. Denning

The Doorway

I have told you that, no matter how many times you have refused to enter the sanctuary, you have only to knock and the door will be opened to you. I have said to you "Ask and it shall be given you," but you refuse to believe in me. You think that someone is counting your sins, your moments of indecision or recalcitrance, but it is not true. You are the only one counting.

I say to you brother, "stop counting, stop making excuses, stop pretending that the door is locked. I am here at the threshold. Reach out and take my hand and we will open the door and walk through together."

I am the door to love without conditions. When you walk through, you too will be the door.

The Gift

God gave you one gift for your journey and one gift alone. He said: "My Son, remember, you can change your mind at any time."

He did not say: "Do not leave, Son." He did not say "Son, you will be miserable until you return to Me." He just said: "Remember, you can change your mind at any time."

You can change your mind about every painful and unforgiving thought that you think. You can question each unhappy thought and think another thought that releases you and brings joy into your heart.

God did not say: "I will not let My Son make mistakes." He said: "I trust in your return and I give you a gift to see you home."

All your mistakes mean nothing to God. To Him, you are but a child exploring your world and, through trial and error, learning the rules that govern it.

God did not make those rules. You made them. You forgot only one thing, and God gave that to you with his blessing. He said: "No matter where your journey takes you, Son, remember, you can change your mind at any time."

With a single loving thought, He made temporal what you would make final. He made unreal what you would make real.

You created the ashes of death. He created the wings of the phoenix. To every unhappy thought you would think, God gave a single answer. "Remember, Son, you can change your mind at any time."

Like Prometheus, you tried to steal the fire of the gods. But He did not punish you for this. He did not chain you to the rock where you would live throughout all eternity with vultures as your only playmates. He said: "take the sacred fire, Son, but be careful, and remember you can change your mind at any time."

Like Adam and Eve, you stood in the garden and became curious about good and evil. When He knew your desire for knowledge would not pass, He sent the sacred snake to you with an apple and invited you to eat. Contrary to popular opinion, He did not trick you into sin and then banish you from the garden. He just said: "Be careful, my Son. When you eat this fruit, your perception of the world will change. This garden may suddenly seem a dry desert where nothing grows at all. Your body with all its innocent grace may seem to be a home for dark desires of which you are ashamed. Your mind, which now shares my every thought, may seem to think thoughts opposed to mine. Duality and feelings of separation may seem to enter your consciousness and experience. All this and more may arise from this tiny bite you would eat, but remember, Son, you can change your mind at any time."

Not only does God not condemn you for your mistakes, He is not concerned about them. He knows the child will burn itself with an open flame. But He also knows the child will learn to keep the flame carefully and use it to warm himself and light his way.

He knows that your decision "to know" will bring you into dangerous situations, situations when you think your happiness depends on the way another treats you, situations in which you forget you are not a vulnerable organism in an arid and hostile land.

He knows that you will forget your origin, and that there will be times in which the Garden seems but a distant memory, whose very existence is questionable. He knows that there will be times in which you blame Him for all of your troubles and forget that you were the one who chose "to know." But all this does not concern Him. Because, before you left hell-bent on your journey of separation, He said: "just a minute, Son. It may be a long time before we meet again. Won't you please accept this simple gift from me, and keep it wherever you go in remembrance of me?"

Most of you do not remember answering "Yes, Father." But I assure you that you did. And so the voice of God went with you as you went into exile. And it is still with you now.

So, when you feel forlorn and lost, when you forget that you chose this journey, remember "You can change your mind at any time." I am here to help you remember that.

This is not my gift, but God's gift to you. Because I received the gift from Him, I can give it to you. And if you receive it of me, you can give it to your brother or sister.

But I caution you, do not be concerned with the identity of the giver. I am not important. I am not the gift, but the one who extends it, as indeed are you. Let us remember the origin of the gift so that we can give it and receive it freely.

God gave you the gift of forgiveness. This gift travels with you wherever you go. When you do not trust it, he sends His Son to you to remind you of the gift.

Many beings of light have come as the Christ, bringing that simple reminder. All have the same purpose, for Christ is not a person, but a keeper of the flame, a giver of the gift, and a messenger of love. Light comes from him, because he has remembered light in the darkness of the world. Love comes from him, because he has received the gift and learned to give it unconditionally to all who would receive it.

Paul Ferrini reading from The Gospel