Christians fully accept, and perhaps, at times, take for granted that the Triune God loves us, both individually and collectively, unconditionally and without exception. Young children in Sunday school through the ages have been taught: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.... We see memes on Facebook, banners carried by Christians, and signs posted in front of churches that read: God Loves You. (often with the addition of No Exceptions.) God's love for us is expressed doctrinally in the work of the cross... and in the words of the Gospels... God so loved the world.... (Jn. 3:16) and in the teachings of Paul. One could rightly say that the foundation of the Abrahamic faith traditions in the canon of sacred texts is rooted in God's outpouring of love for the whole of creation. One could also rightly state that the persistent dogma of Christianity rests squarely on the doctrine: God is Love.
But most often the phrase, God Loves You, becomes an adage of the intellect more than a visceral moment to moment reality. We may accept it is true for others but how do we know this is true for ourselves? How do we experience the love of God? This post offers some suggestions to help us move Divine Love as an idea to a tangible experience, from the head to the heart, as we dare to acknowledge and receive the love of God.
1) Sitting with Love. Sitting quietly with eyes closed, say to yourself, I give myself permission to feel God's Love in my life. In order to receive the love of God we must first believe that we are worthy of it. The church can proclaim God's Love for God's people day in a day out but it will fall flat on those unable to accept it. Many carry wounds of shame, guilt and a deep, unconscious belief that they are not worthy, they have fallen short, and cannot possibly be loved so profoundly. However, the question is not, what can I do to be in God's favor, to be worthy of God's love, rather the question is how can I acknowledge the unconditional love of the Divine as a reality in my life? It comes down to conditioning. Keep before you this verse from Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Is. 55:8-9) Humans experience love as conditional much of the time; in fact, it is rare that it is not. But God's ways are not our ways, thankfully. God's thoughts are higher. Any assumptions about how God deals with us is based on our thought, which is not in the realm of divine thought - generated on a higher plane, not on the physical plane. Though we cannot imagine it, we can only acknowledge that God's Love is beyond our understanding and that it is good and without fail. Condition yourself to simply accept, without understanding, that God's Love envelopes you, guides you and supports you each minute of each and every day. I give myself permission to feel God's Love in my life.
2) Ask and you shall receive. Start a "Conversations with God/Jesus/Christ/the Divine/the Creator (whatever name you wish to use) Journal." Consistency will be important for this practice. At the top of the page write: "Holy One, what would you like me to know at this moment?" Then add: "I give myself permission to receive the voice of the divine who loves me and resides within me." Begin to write and keep writing without pausing until you feel you have received what you were intended to hear. Do not expect to hear words or a voice, but trust that you are receiving what you need through the act of writing. Read over what you have written. If anything you have written is negative, critical or not loving it simply means that your ego, your inner critic, slipped in. The words of the Divine are always loving and kind, supportive and encouraging, that is how you will know it is authentic. How do you know it's not just YOU writing to yourself, you writing what you want to hear? The Divine is speaking to us all the time but we have not been trained to discern this voice, much less to trust it explicitly. This practice assists us in understanding the closeness, the immediacy of God; the intimate care and guidance we are receiving all the time whether or not we are aware of it. Call Love into your awareness and it will materialize there.
3) Read the mystics. Meister Eckert (d. 1328), Rumi (d. 1273) or Hafiz (d. 1589) are solid mystics to start with. These poets, who are as popular today as they have been through the centuries with Christians and non-Christians alike, express their ongoing relationship with Divine Love in playful and beautiful ways. They have taught people through the ages how to see God in every part of creation and to understand that every expression of Divinity in an expression of Love. To see Divine revelation is at once to become a part of it. Here's a sample from Hafiz:
How did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its Being,
Otherwise, we all remain
Too Frightened.
(The Gift, Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master,
translation by Daniel Ladinsky)
Thank you for reading my blog and walking with me in the path of spiritual grace; for your willingness to spend this time with me as together we learn how to see and be Christ in the world. Rowena +
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