I awoke this morning wanting to ask God the question, “Do you love me now?”
In the well known story of the prodigal son, we hear the story of how we sometimes choose to separate ourselves from God. We say, “thanks for the gift of life, I’m out of here,” leaving our father’s house, to live as we will. To live as if it is just us, as if we were somehow separate from the great love that created us, separate from the stream of providence, separate from one another. We hear the story of how living with this belief of separateness eventually leads to isolation and spiritual depletion.
And some of our motivation for going away seems to be a need to push the boundaries, to see if that great love will follow us no matter how far we go.
It’s like the Push me, Pull you game in love, “Do you love me when I’m like this? How about now? If you see me at my worst will you love me?”
While human love is rarely unconditional and often cannot withstand these kinds of tests, God’s love is big enough to handle our antics.
Yes, God still loves me now! No matter how ugly it gets, no matter how much I make myself miserable, no matter what, in every moment that love is pouring forth beyond measure and inviting me to come home.
June 02 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
“[Divine] peace is like the morn or dawn in springtime, when once the night is done, all things of earth begin to live anew from the rising of the sun; the scent of the leaves is wafted here and there, awakened by the dew that falls from heaven; the gentle warmth of spring makes fertile the soil and grants as well a joy to human minds. This is because morning and dawn in springtime correspond to the state of peace of angels in heaven.”
From Heaven and Hell #289
Peace. The bursting buds, the sprouting green, the colors and scents of Spring that are so quickly overwhelming the landscape correspond to the “peace of angels in heaven.”
I am struck by this today because I must admit to often associating peace with stillness, truce, quiet time and inactivity. Spring is beautiful, joyful even, but it is certainly not still! There are bees mating outside my window, there is creation growing and changing all around me! It is not a time of stillness but tremendous activity! And this is what heavenly peace feels like?
Well, perhaps it is? Perhaps true peace necessitates activity, living out our love in the world, being useful one to another, being in the flow of offering our skills and gifts and passions to one another.
Of course this would be the peace of angels.
My prayer today is to look for peace within the activity of my life, not as something I must step away from my life to find, but that peace that exists within being of use in the world. The peace of heaven.
April 25 2008 | Angels and Uncategorized | No Comments »
