Less than two weeks from this writing, Tobias will have already given his last channel, spoken his last “And so it is,” and reminded us one last time that we are never alone. This dear angel has been with us through thick and thin, whispering in our ear in the stillness of night, joining in when we belt out a song in the shower, laughing with us at our silliness, wrapping his love around us when we just can’t take it any more. And now he’s taking off his wings to join us here.

I can almost remember the conversations between us all when he agreed to “stay behind” and hold the connection to the memories of our journey. He has been the story keeper, the one who reminds us where we’ve been so we can remember where we’re going.

So it’s interesting for me to remember one of the first things Tobias told me during a Q&A several years ago: “It’s time to let go of your story.” That hit me deep, because until then a huge part of my waking up had been remembering my story – who I’ve been, who I’ve loved, where I’ve walked and what I’ve done. It was an amazing and beautiful thing to remember, to recognize old friends and realize that my life does have more purpose than just to survive. My stories were beautiful and I loved them, which, as Tobias said, is why I lived them. And yet it was time to let them go in order to keep growing and creating.

Tobias has told us many times that the future is the past healed, and to heal the past is simply to accept it completely and let it go. So, like the good Shaumbra that we are, we do our best to accept the “mistakes” we’ve made and the hurts we’ve felt. But you know, it can actually be more difficult to accept and release the good times – the joys, the creations, the loves and the stories – and hanging onto the good memories can hold us back as much as running away from the bad ones.

Today, Shaumbra, we are faced with a really big story to let go of, and it’s not just Tobias. There are amazing connections between us all, intense bonds we have formed over eons of time, cemented by the common purpose we have shared. Through the ages we have been the ones searching for the answer to the energy gridlock of creation.

Each one of us said goodbye to our own angelic families and agreed to take on a most amazing and far-reaching responsibility – that of finding the solution to keep us all from going out of existence – and we have taken our job very seriously. Through all the many lifetimes, whether dark and difficult or prominent and successful, we have always had an underlying drive to move forward, keep going, keep searching. Somehow we managed to keep that flame alive, always knowing there was something important we were looking for.

Dear Shaumbra, in this lifetime, this year, in this moment, that something we’ve been searching for since forever has finally been found. Our search for the answer to two fundamental questions – “Who am I?” and “How can I get home?” – has driven us for eons of time, and every choice we’ve ever made, every experience we’ve ever had has been part of the answer. This search has been the undercurrent of everything we’ve ever done.

Now comes the question – are you ready to let it go?

Are you ready to have found what you were looking for all this time?

The search has been your identity; are you ready to be without it?

The search has been your reason to keep going; what will happen if you let it go?

The search has brought Shaumbra together once again; are you ready to let us go?

We are letting go of far more than Tobias this year. He is leaving/returning because we don’t need him any longer. And after eons of being in service to humanity and All That Is, we aren’t needed any longer either. We’ve done it, the mission was a success – and yet that mission is what has held us together. It’s what has kept us coming together, reconnecting over the ages, and finally surging back to Earth one more time.

What will you do without this purpose that you’ve carried for so long?

Who will you be now, completely sovereign and on your own?

There is a lot to do now, if you want to. But within the heart of Shaumbra is a deep sense of completion.

In a way, we are back in the Void. Leaving the familiarity of family and Home again, this time far wiser and full of compassion and understanding, but once again the future is unwritten and unknown. We have no rules, no guidelines, no great cause to live for. It’s no wonder that Tobias just gave an incredible retelling of our story (Journey of the Angels), so that we could remember and understand our journey, because in a very real sense we have come full circle. We are back at the beginning and this time, instead of trying all kinds of ways to get back home, we have Home within our hearts.

So what’s next Shaumbra? As the “Class of ‘09” receives its diplomas, are we ready to embody the true Shaumbra heart, strike out into the void once again, and CREATE?

Only you can know your answer, but one thing is true: As we let go of our stories and our past, the future now is wide open. And it is fully yours.