The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that Love is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, Love is under the porch as well as on the top of the mountain, and JOY is both in the front row and in the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.
Each person who enters our life, every experience we have, is a teacher. Some things we learn amaze us, some trouble us. Everyone we have loved has become a part of us ... And no relationship created in love can ever die.
Blessing offers us a personal consciousness-raising practice, a spiritual adventure bringing sensitivity and gratitude into the foreground of our lives. While we all have moments when a blessing rises spontaneously to our lips, the path of blessing can become a way of life. Through the practice of blessing we develop an ever-deepening receptivity to the abundant love and joy flowing through creation. We learn to accept that love, absorb it into our souls, and offer it back to the Source with joy. In this way we come to feel the Presence of God move within us and through us.
"Is there enough Silence for the Word to be heard? "
WARMEST GREETINGS, dear friends! The Love-quotient of our world needs to be heightened. Remember: Love is who you are! May our lives become Love-in-action. Authentic Love is not limited, but a blessing that so enhances our beingness that we are compelled to Serve with integrity and right action. This is not an impossible dream; yet, it does take commitment, prayer and practice moment by moment in thought, word and deed. Silence and solitude are ever friends to guide you on the road to Love, to being a beneficial presence in the world.
Love is spirit incarnate: powerful, courageous, and splendid. It is light in dark times, a spring in dry times, a fire in cold times, and a gathering of allies in the fearful and questioning times. It is not ignorant of consequences or uncaring of effects. And, it is passionate and disciplined, wild and domesticated, a demanding task and a delightful play … a paradox, a presence with many faces.
Holidays are about families, and families can be a bit of a mess under stress. But the love that will gather is much more important than anything else on earth, and bigger than anything else on earth, too. Because finally, that love is sovereign.
When the two shall become one the one is still the two: sound and silence together thrill the flute — Each heart must have its mind or the circle is not true. When the One has seen the Other — a voice not his, a passion not hers — together in God they are now, as such, written on a single page in lines not made to touch.
An individual sitting in an emergency waiting room noticed a man in a wheel chair in considerable pain with his wife by his side. For a half hour the couple never exchanged a word; they just held hands, looking intently at each other. Once or twice the woman patted the man's face. The person watching said the feeling of love was so tangible in the room that she felt she was sharing their silent communion. Their silent love was also joyful and portrayed the fullness of a human relationship. That's what spiritual silence is all about. Love does not necessarily require words. It often requires silence.
~ from "Contemplative Silence" by Paul Harris in Schola (March 2001)
Love is the WILL to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth. Love is as love does … both an intention and an action.
