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“The
spiritual meaning of love is measured by what it can do. Love is meant
to heal. Love is meant to renew. Love is meant to bring us closer to
God.” - Deepak Chopra
This
week Valentine's Day is celebrated in most Western countries, and it is
celebrated in many other countries throughout the world. And, as
most of us are aware, it is a celebration and recognition of Love.
In modern culture Valentine's Day has become a day of romance and the
giving of gifts to those we love and who love us. The Power of
Love is unequalled in the world in which we live. Romance novelist
and poets have understood this Power and have written novels and poems
that attempt to explain Its Omnipotence.
Testimonies of "true love" can
be found in the world's spiritual/religious literature; the Bible, the
Torah, the Koran, the Tao, and the Bhagavad-Gita. In the New
Testament writings of the Bible we can find the statement, "Faith,
Hope and Love ... and the greatest of these is Love" ... and
history has certainly proved this to be true. Even during the most
seeming horrendous periods of history, Love has thrived and survived.
Since Love is of God, It is eternal, Omnipresent and Omnipotent.
Those who have surrendered to the Power of Love, have long-outlasted
those who worship the love of power. Saints and sinners alike have
acknowledged the Power of Love and have benefited from this recognition.
Love, like God, is both impersonal and
personal. Love graces us whether we personalize It or not.
And even though the world continues to attempt to limit Love's Presence
in All people, its effect on the Life of each of us is undeniable.
Even in instances of personal rejection, it is not the separation from
our object of Love that pains us ... but our feeling of being separated
from Love. Our sense of Love and our sense of God are so
intertwined in our souls, that feeling separated from either is uniquely
the same experience.
Love is never dependent on the physical.
We may live a thousand miles away from someone we love, but we feel that
love for them nonetheless. Love is never dependent on experience.
We may have faced separation from those we love, but our love for them
does not change. This past week I was reminded of this in a
striking way. A woman came to me and told me that she and her
"soul mate" had separated so that he could take a job in
another country. He was gone for years attempting to be successful
and prosperous before asking her to marry him and come to live with him.
During this time her family had convinced her that he was not going to
send for her and so she married another man. Upon finding out that
she had married, he married another woman. Almost fifteen years
later, they began to communicate via email. The love between them
was just as strong as it was fifteen years earlier. Now, they had
a dilemma, both have children and both have a contented life with their
respective spouses. If we were in their shoes, what would we do?
And as we think about our answer, we can recognize that the Power of
Love is Present in this situation ... and It is not experiencing a
dilemma. There are no right and wrong answers, there is only our
individual responses to Love.
Love, like God, Infinite Spirit, can never be
limited. Love does not respond to our selfish or self-centered
thoughts. Love is not hindered by race, culture, religion, or
gender. Love Is ... it is that simple. And however and
whenever It is revealed, we must respond ... with gratitude, kindness
and care. It has been said that every negative condition that we
experience is created because we are not expressing a greater measure of
Love. But, to express Love more freely we must have a greater
awareness of our relationship to the Infinite. We are never giving
Love to anyone ... we are always giving Love from God ... and expressing
it out into our world of experience to people, places, and things.
And as we have this understanding that the Love that we are expressing
is God's ... not ours ... then we realize that we express Love both
personally and impersonally ... but always, we are to give from this
infinite Source of Love, God.
Deepak
Chopra writes that the spiritual meaning of Love is measured by what It
can do. And in the Science of Mind we know that Love works for us
by supporting us in our Good in all things. But, we must recognize
that this is so and we must trust in It by keeping faith with It.
It is Love that provides for us, heals us, renews our spirit and brings
us closer to God. Every thing that happens to us, happens so that
we may come closer to God. Every dilemma that we find ourselves
in, can be resolved by contemplating the Power of Love that is within us
and around us ... expressing infinitely. It is our experiences of
Love that create our "true love stories" ... and these never
have endings for Love endures through all things ... Faith, Hope and
Love ... and the Greatest of these is Love.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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