Tag: love

Love, relationships, and being you

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

 

Relationships seem pretty complicated sometimes.  How do you meet the right person?  What makes a relationship last when some don’t?

 

I just listened to this great podcast (the one I mentioned the other day), and I’m so impressed with the wide range of questions it answers.

 

Some of the issues it addresses are:

 

How do you find Mr/Miss Right?

 

How can you stay focused during the excitement of a new relationship, so that you don’t go from bliss to bad traits when the newness wears off?

 

How do you know if you should marry this person?

 

How can you stop physical attraction from impairing the higher qualities you want to see expressed in this person?

 

 

 

There was great inspiration shared.  And it certainly answered a lot of questions that I have experienced or have heard before.

 

I received some of the best relationship advice I’ve ever heard in a time of great need.  It was short and sweet: “Just be you, you’re great.”

 

What did this advice mean to me?  Well I was having a hard time hearing/knowing what God was saying.  Is this relationship going to continue, etc?

 

When I got this advice, I realized I felt like I had to change to be in this relationship.  And, even worse, that maybe God wanted me to change.  But when I received this rich inspiration, I immediately saw that who I am is ok, and is in fact great (it’s who God made me to be), and that I should stick to being myself and trust in that.

 

Well it was clear to me that the relationship couldn’t continue and I felt peaceful and happy about breaking it off.

 

This guidance has stuck with me to this day and I still think of it when I’m in a meeting, giving a presentation or in various relationships.

 

And when I did meet my husband, I felt absolutely comfortable around him; I felt like myself, could be myself, and realized he enriches who I am.  This is something I have loved and appreciated.

 

So, I hope you enjoy this great podcast, stay true to yourself in your relationships, and that the ideas in this blog and podcast bless you in many ways.

 

 

 

Celebrate love that is all around us

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

 

I’m enjoying spiritual resources on love, companionship and marriage  in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

And I appreciate the cards and Facebook status’ I’ve seen, which show that today is more than a romantic holiday, but really an opportunity to celebrate the love that is around us all the time.

One person on Facebook wrote “enjoy all whom you love and realize their love comes from God.”  Folks are enjoying dinner with families and I’ve appreciated Valentine’s Day cards from church and family members.

 

The Bible says that “God is love” (in fact, John 4 is pretty much a chapter on love), and when we see that there isn’t love that is separate from Him, then we know that love has to be honest, just and pure.  Perhaps you are dealing with a false sense of love – a relationship that includes dependency, insecurity or violence.  We never have to earn love; it is freely given to us by God.  God loves us unconditionally, abundantly and provides us with that which is pure and good.  God is our real Mother and Father who is giving us infinite blessings including companionship.

It’s interesting that the first two “great commandments” both include love: to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22).  You might say this is a true Valentine’s Day wish! 🙂

 

And, of course, I Corinthians 13 is a great description of what real love is and what it does (not the Hollywood kind) and is worth a perusal.

 

Here are some spiritual articles and resources I’m enjoying.

 

A ‘union of hearts’—where harmony in marriage blooms by Kevin Graunke offers insights on how to value your home and spouse.  The author refers to Paul’s statement in the Bible “be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24, Amplified Bible).

 

In addition, there is an audio chat tonight with two people who prayed about marriage before they met.  There will be a diverse range of ideas about being single, dealing with pressures from family or friends to be married, meeting the “right” one, and being married.  Listen in and/or ask a question!

 

This is a live event at 9pm EST (8pm CST, 7pm MST, 6pm PST), and you can join here.  If you can’t make it tonight, it will be archived and you will be able to replay it in a couple of days.

 

 

I hope you will feel love that is filling all space — spiritual, divine Love; the  love that is enduring, eternal and unconditional.  We are the expression of this Love.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 

 

Praying for Our Representatives and World

Published on by lindseybiggs2 Comments

 

 

On the evening when I read about Gabrielle Giffords being shot, I felt compelled to pray.  At first I wasn’t sure how to pray.  I knew I didn’t want to pray about specific human circumstances, so I started to think about God as Love.  And I instantly got a sense and a vision in my mind of Love being all – filling all space, the only Creator and manifested as Creation.  In this image all is happy, healthy and peaceful because all there is is Love.

 

Why is this image important?  If Love is all there is, then there is no hate.  If Love is all, then there is no cause of anything that is unlike Love.  Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of the universal science — Christian Science, teaches that sin and the sinner are both unreal.  (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 472)  God’s creation is entirely good, spiritual, loving, happy and eternal.  Where, then, is the sinner?  Where then is the source and cause for the incident?  No where.  And as this healing takes place in our thought, there is also healing and transformation in the physical.

 

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Yancey illustrates how necessary grace and forgiveness are in our personal and nation-wide experience.  When a situation is redeemed or healed in our heart and thought, we can go on with new views, unity, and work for progress and blessings for everyone.  He depicted many nations who are in conflict today based on challenges centuries ago.  Many people today don’t even know why their nation is fighting, it’s simply because they always have.  He labels this as “ungrace”.  I love this term “ungrace” because it makes things so clear to me — if it’s not grace we are thinking and expressing, then it’s ungrace.  What a help this is in being proactive about healing our world and individual thoughts and hearts.

 

Eddy states, in her compilation of Miscellaneous Writings, “A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God.” (p. 354)

 

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about the Stanford University studies on the correlation between health and forgiveness.  I see it this way: we are a window for God’s light and love; if the window is filled with dirt – resentment, hate, revenge, fear – then we experience as much of this substantial, healing light which is the source of all health, happiness, and peace.

 

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22 NIV)  This healing spirit of Truth and Love has profound physical effects and certainly leads to transformation of mind, body, soul and the world.

 

 

For an additional article on this incident check out: “She does not have that permission from me” by John D. Clague.