The Good, The True and the Loving

We will disagree about what is good and what is true. There is only one best in a given situation, and only one truth, but our viewpoint on that changes somewhat from the perspective we look at it. To pursue the good or truth alone is to engage in endless arguments.

The closest to truth we will ever achieve to place love first in our lives. The closest to good we will ever see is allowing love to become more and more prevalent in our actions.

Pursue love, not truth.

Springs

Love is not a still well, waiting for the thirsty to dip in and be quenched.

Love is a spring that flows into a stream, always emptied, always filled.

Should the emptying cease, the flowers would be flooded.

Should the filling cease, the land would be desert. 

***

Each of us seeking a life of love must recognize that we are not love.  Love flows through us. We must seek a source of love and an outlet of love.

Our source might be divine, it might be a community of support, it might be powerful writing, it might be meditation.  We must seek our source, or else our love will wither.  This source is Spirit, it is that outside of us which enlivens the best within ourselves.

At times our source will wither, and we receive nothing from our once-dependable flow of love. We must seek another.  We must not demand a source to continually provide us with love.  They gave us love as long as they had it.  A specific source must be allowed to be re-charged or, at times, to pass away.  Then we seek another source.

***

It is just as essential for us to find a place to give our love.  We must allow the love within us to be firmly attentive to others who need us as a source of love.  We give because we can give; we forgive because we wish to heal; we protect because we are family members.  Love is action that says, "Live! Live and thrive!"

It is in this giving that love flourishes. If we receive love in gallons, but offer it in thimblefuls, then we do not ever know we have love.  We are constantly feeling a lack, always seeking to be filled.  We must have a balance between receiving and giving.

***
To be a spring of love is to both receive and give, to be a container through which love passes.  We take from one source and so become a source to another container who then passes on to another.  True love is not a loving person, but a community of springs, all providing for one another.

Devoid

It is seeking refreshment
in an ocean of salt.

It is looking for truth
on a flat, black canvas.

It is lingering hope
in a hangman's knot.

It is piercing one's heart
and all pass by.

It is deep conversation
at a drive-thru speaker.

A life devoid of love
is less than a shadow in a mirror.

Reacting to Hate

It is not enough to be reactionary. 

Criticism, protest, satire points out what is wrong, but cannot, by itself, create what is right.

In order to make a better world, we must form community based on love.

Don't Stop

Love everyone. 

Love your neighbor. 

Love your family. 

Love the irritating guy on the bus who won't stop talking. 

Love the b***** that stole your boyfriend. 

Love the idiot who has immoral political views. 

Love the jerk that made you lose your job. 

Love your abusive parents. 

Just don’t stop loving. 

That’s the only way to show how much you love God.

Art

"I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people." Van Gogh

Wild, Wild Life

Our spirituality is not about doctrine, or churches, or avoiding bad things in your life. It is a growing path of love that God invites us to participate in, led by Him. The best thing we can do to revive our spiritual walk is to embrace the mystery of our future, which God opens up, little by little, everyday.

To Love our Neighbor is to Love Ourselves

The west wind stirs the pine tree,
Releasing it from ice
And the branches moan, "Spring is here"
Not knowing the maple's bows next to it
Remain bare.

Love is Not Against the Law

Love-- the meeting of the needs of the person in front of you-- is not the Law. 

The Law tells us what love is in every specific circumstance. Love allows the spirit of God to tell us how best to love. Law opposes the true work of love by relegating it, no matter what the specific circumstance.

Us and Them

"We will confront our enemies for crossing our fork, but approve of friends that lick our plate clean." -British saying

It is shown that humans have a tendency to put people in categories, "us" and "them" and that the same actions that we condemn "them" we not only forgive, but often approve among "us."

Perhaps our goal should be to question our tendency to condemn, and offer forgiveness even to "them".