Love, God. Deborah J. Simmons-Roslak

a quiet space and relax. Breathe in deeply and exhale. Breathe in again deeply and exhale. The mystery of our relationship with our Creator is only a mystery when attempting to qualify or quantify it. Breathe in deeply again and exhale.

      There is no mystery in a ‘mystic’. There is however, honesty, truthfulness and total trust in an undefined relationship that has been ours from our very beginning. This cannot be reasoned, qualified or quantified. It can only be experienced. This is called ‘mystical’ because the mystery of the depth of love between creator and created cannot be reasoned or logically attended to. It is the mystery of reciprocally experiencing the depth of a relationship without explanation.

      You not only have the ability to feel and experience the love of your Creator, but are also able to extend that love to all you touch within your day-to-day life. Sit with God and soak in the indefinable and filling love and gentleness from which you were created. It is freely given. Receive it freely and extend it as such.

      Your Thoughts/Experience:

      “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. . ..Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

      Thomas Merton

      Pure trust in that which is unseen may seem to be a precious commodity in this time of instant gratification, social media, show me, I can prove it to you, facebook, youtube video, instagram society that whirls faster around us each day like a vortex of social refuse. Societal acceptance, indeed its embrace of the available kaleidoscope of opportunities we are presented with in order to form basic relationships is astounding, given the face that upon occasion, it is the same accepting society that capriciously condemns the usage of those same social management tools. We continually place our trust in a capricious society though, just as we so readily trust the many forms of electronic relationships which pander to our need for community—albeit at a distance.

      Electronic relationships and electronic communities do not require any level of human vulnerability or trust basic to human relationships. While we are safe from vulnerability and safe from developing trust, we are also safe from experiencing deep and lasting relationships that require both vulnerability and trust. We then are well on our way to making ourselves safe even from God.

      “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

      Jeremiah 17:7–8

      Take a Moment to Listen:

      Precious child, you are the light of heaven itself, and the glory of the Love of the Father. He who breathed life into your spirit, wraps you in sweet embrace delighting always in your rediscovery of the depths of your very being. Child, there is no space where Love could not dwell within you. Breathe in all that you are and were created to be and know that you cannot and will never walk the pathway alone.

      Guided Meditation

      We experience darkness within our relationships, within our thinking and within ourselves personally. The absence of understanding or of trust in any of those relationships invites darkness and confusion to fill that absence of understanding and trust.

      Find a comfortable space in which to relax. Breathe in deeply and exhale. Fill your lungs with sweet air and blow that air into the world. Allow yourself to feel the unconditional peace that surrounds you. Breathe in that peace. This peace can and will begin to dissipate the confused sense of darkness.

      Take in another breath of peace and allow it to fill your heart and touch your hungry spirit. Let yourself hear how God loves you. Listen for Him to tell you that this divine love is a surety no matter how uncertain you feel, or the world presents itself to you. His guidance is always sure.

      Sit in that Love allowing it to surround and embrace you. You are loved totally and completely without reservation without judgment. Darkness cannot exist within this Love.