A Lesson from the Spirit

I walk along the street, my hand touching a living hedge that comes up to my waist. I enter an archway where the grass is clipped and there are various topiary sculptures. The Spirit is trimming a sculpture in the shape of a heart.

"Deadlines."
"What about deadlines?"
"Deadlines push. They hurry you. To give this plant its shape you need time and regularity. If you think that taking shape once is enough, you are mistaken. Over time that sculpture will begin to lose the form you gave it. Then you will have to take up the work again.
This is a lesson that you must not forget to labor.
Working on yourselves, you repeat this process with a certain regularity. To shape something at first is far more difficult than to maintain it. Isn't that so?"
"Yes."
"You often hear this truth from gardeners, from doctors. Things like, prevention is better than cure. Right? Why do you think that does not apply to your soul?
You must constantly watch yourselves, track your thoughts, your actions, correct and guide yourselves along the path of your soul's development. If you stand and wait for it to happen by itself—you will continue to grow new branches and only make things more complicated.
Observe yourselves. Only the proud will say that they are absolutely clean, that they are ready, that they have risen above. You must watch yourselves daily. Track your thoughts, track your feelings, your motives, become aware and work on yourselves. This is a continuous process.
Can you be certain that you are ready, that you have fully opened to the knowledge of yourself? The more you come to know yourself, the more you work on yourself, the more discoveries will appear to your sight, the more truth will open to you. Do not grumble and do not boast. The process of knowing is long, painstaking, and tender. Be united in your thoughts and in your actions, fill yourselves with the true unconditional love of the Creator for you, go in full trust toward yourselves and toward the spirit that leads you. So be it.