Wednesday, Dec 23 – DAY 26
As we draw closer to the celebration of holy love’s arrival within our lives, as honored on Christmas Day, we may reflect on how our human experience of love has already shaped us. Who in our early lives offered us models of love? What forms did that love take?
Often we see God through the lens of the primary relationships from our childhoods. This doesn’t imply that there’s a right or wrong way to relate to God, simply acknowledges that our lived experiences inform the way we connect to God.
Is your relationship with God one that is intimate or distant? Is God, to you, a faraway deity who observes, but doesn’t get involved? Or is your connection to God one of friendship and immediacy? Do you find God in nature or through action and volunteering?
How is love expressed in your life? What face does it wear? What language does it use to reach you? How does it illuminate your life? — Rev Gail
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. — Psalm 86:5
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. — John 15:9
Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. — Lao Tzu
We are shaped and fashioned by those we love. — Goethe
Love is not really an action that you do. Love is what and who you are, in your deepest essence.Love is a place that already exists inside of you, but is also greater than you. That’s the paradox. It’s within you and yet beyond you. This creates a sense of abundance and more-than-enoughness, which is precisely the satisfaction and deep peace of the True Self. You know you’ve found a well that will never go dry, as Jesus says (see John 4:13-14). Your True Self, God’s Love in you, cannot be exhausted. — Richard Rohr