Living Love

“True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us.”

– Mary Baker Eddy

I listened to an inspiring podcast today about learning to love and utilizing the love that God has given us.  Even the fact that this Q&A chat was taking place was heartwarming to me. Sincere questions were asked and responses were given about the general question “how can we love more?”

In the face of disease, limitation, violence and fear, love is the great healer of all. The New Testament refers to this “love” in Greek as agape love. Agape love is the unconditional, divine love with which God loves us.

Does this mean that God sees us a frail, limited humans with many faults, but loves and pities us anyway? I don’t think so. I feel that God sees us as His image and likeness, totally spiritual, living completely above and beyond the frailty of matter. God sees our true, spiritual identity before any human history, limitation, or mistakes have been assigned to us.

And the more we align our view with God’s, through humility and quiet confidence, we can see ourselves as innocent; as unfallen; as the pure, spiritual creation of an all-loving, infinite, creative Deity.

It is actually our original spirituality – you could say our spiritual perfection – that enables us to love – to express the tender, heartfelt compassion of God – towards others. This love is powerful and healing because it is the “utilization of the love wherewith He loves us.”

So, if you are feeling down today or a friend is sick or any other circumstance is going on, consider expressing and feeling the love of God surrounding you, embracing you, healing you – and your friends, neighbors and family.

The good news

We hear a lot of news that isn’t so good these days. Some is troubling, some induces stress while still other news is just shocking and troubling.

Each of us probably craves to hear more good news. For instance, when I shared good news with a relative recently, she sighed “thank goodness, we were in need of some good news.”

Is there reliable, practical good news that we can turn to everyday? (Here’s a hint: the word gospel means good news).

I love and cherish, more than anything, what Christian Science has revealed to me about the gospel: that heaven isn’t a far off place, but it is here and now with us; we are each spiritual beings right now made in the image and likeness of Spirit; we are living eternal life now; we have an inseparable relationship with our loving, perfect Creator; God is our Father and our Mother who nurtures, comforts, protects, sustains and leads us; each of us has a perfect, indestructible relationship with God.

I often breathe a sigh of relief when I remind myself of this Truth every day.

We have the duty and privilege to protect and love our consciousness. Have you ever thought of your consciousness as a place to protect and love? Even if you are not someone who watches or reads much news, we still get “news” coming into our thought all the time. When you are driving it might be an image of an accident; or when you check your bank account, it may be a feeling of stress; or when you hear someone cough, it may be a fear of sickness.

It’s important to  your life, health and well-being to guard your consciousness. And one way to do this is to take plenty of time each day, to refresh your consciousness with the good news that makes up the fabric of your being and is life everlasting. This will sustain and satisfy you and each of us more than anything else can.

Humanity and consciousness

I was praying for humanity this morning and as I was affirming God’s goodness and care, I  realized that God also protects each individual consciousness from thoughts of depression, bad memories and fear.

I had an experience several weeks ago that showed me that what we would term our experience is actual our consciousness.

I was lying in bed with a cold, and I was praying and affirming different ideas about God, divine Love and my relationship to this ever-present Source of Love. I’ve found that allowing a greater understanding of God in my consciousness brings healing, even from physical ailments.

I was listening to an online church service. And because I was participating in this church service virtually, I became so aware of how our experience really is in consciousness. I realized that there is no “over there” and “over here”. In other words, we don’t live in a world of things, we live in a world of thought. God is the only real consciousness and we live, move and have our being in His (or Her or It’s) consciousness. So the only real “place” is God.

This thought was such a relief to me.; and I saw that I could always have what I need because I am always dwelling in divine consciousness. There is no time, separation or lack in this consciousness. There is only eternal, ever-present good, peace, and harmony.

I was relieved and refreshed by this new insight. And as a result the physical symptoms of a cold abated. I was healed and ready to return to work the next day.

This experience helped me see that I can pray for the consciousness of all humanity and know that a realization of our oneness with divine consciousness is natural and normal to each of us. This gives us peace, a sense of family, harmony and love that can’t be taken away by “outside” circumstances.
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“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa 55:8-9

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer 29:11

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Phil 2:5