Perhaps the most visible example in the Gospels concerning the possible manifestation of spirit guides took place on the Mount of Transfiguration.  The disciples, Peter, James and John, decided that the two appearing apparitions were Elijah and Moses, representing the Prophets and the Law.  Jesus neither confirmed nor denied these personality designations.

     What we do know from the scriptures is that Jesus conferred with them without showing any signs that  something extraordinary was happening.  It was the disciples who were frightened by this experience, particularly when they heard a voice giving clarity to Jesus’ identity. Jesus remained unaffected by this communication.

     Most of us would enjoy having both the sensitivity and the recognition of our guides without any undue disruption to the flow of our lives.  This can be achieved incrementally by building a relationship with them.  There are countless stories of people who have experienced their angels or spirit guides in a rather dramatic form, a form that has inspired as many doubters as believers.  What others think should not matter to us.

     For example, one woman was having a conversation with a very engaging gasoline station attendant. This intriguing discussion made her late for work at the Pentagon.  This was the day when terrorists flew the jetliner into the section of the building where her office was located.  She survived when those who had been at their desks at the time of the impact were killed.  After moving through the shock and her intense grieving, she returned to thank the man who had saved her life.  The manager of the service station told her that no one by that description ever worked there.

     There was another example when a woman felt restrained after getting out of her car, as though someone was physically holding her back.  There was no one behind her.  When she made another attempt to move forward, a voice communicated in her mind using her thought pattern, “Do not enter the bank.”  She stood looking at the bank wondering about the significance of those words.  Nothing was out of order.  Within minutes, however, the building was surrounded by police.  The bank had been robbed and a patron was shot.  She would have been in the bank at the time of the robbery.

     In these instances, both women had learned how to read the symbols, heed the voices and both were able to allow life to be what it is without caving into the urgency of, “I need to get to work as soon as possible!” or, “I must get into my bank!”  These women both believed that circumstances happen for a reason, so each brought no judgment to having their routines interrupted by others or circumstances.

     They were tuned into the possibility that something was coming through that was designed to protect them, a thought pattern that would only be available to people who live life very patiently and have become aware that a break in their schedule may have an unrecognized meaning.  In both cases, this sensitivity spared their lives.

     To confer with our guides daily will enhance our relationship with them.  As mentioned earlier, guides are not cosmic vending machines to be used when we cannot choose between choices that we believe have equal value, or when we are in the midst of a personal crisis.  When we have a daily relationship with them, a trust enables us to receive answers without asking.  Psalm 139:4 says, “God, you know what I am going to say long before I speak.”  So do our guides.  They provide guidance because we are operating on a frequency where a dialogue exists.

     Jesus used the metaphor of a vine to describe that to which we need to remain connected.  This vine is like a pipeline that connects us to the realm from which our guidance comes.  We picture angels as men and women with wings; we need to think more in terms of what is being communicated through our intuition, our promptings and our circumstances.

     There are times, for example, when we are prompted to enter a book store where our browsing pays off -- we find the perfect book.  We read what is on the dust cover and become intrigued.  Once we open and read some of the book’s pages, we cannot put it down.  We have to buy it.  The book gives us guidance by providing insight into an issue that may have gone unresolved for years.  The words we read reacquaint us with a forgotten memory or a skill we had neglected to use.

     Never be hesitant about using intuition, imagination or day-dreaming as tools for discerning guidance.  It cannot hurt to take risks with what comes through.  The impulses may prove to be nothing or they may lead you to find the mate you never thought would show up.  Each of us has to venture forth, talking to our guides as we constantly ask for clarity.

     When clarity of guidance does not come, assume that the judgment call you must make is yours alone to make.   Your guides do not want to become a source for your decision-making.  They are not training wheels for you new bicycle.  Dependence on them is not their goal.  Their goal is a relationship with you, but it is more than that.  Their purpose for being with us is to guide us to live confidently and to express our loving energy patterns without fear that somehow we are disappointing God.  Disappointing God is impossible.  Our guides want autonomy for us once we learn to use the tools with which we have been equipped.