Part I. Love is Natural

(Below is my writing based on a randomly selected prompt, a passage from scripture and one from the Morovian

 book of prayer which those participating are asked to reflect on these passages and write less than a page for people in the church

 to read during lent. It was tough to keep it to one page and I kept reflecting and new thoughts came, so here is my revised and

 expanded version of my reflection which has been broken up into several posts….)

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. 

1 Corinthians 13:13

Where divine affection lives
there the Lord his blessing gives;
there his will on earth is done;
there his heav'n is half begun.
Great example from above,
teach us all like you to love. (670)

Dear God, whatever we as a world are doing is not working. We talk about peace and love, yet it still evades us. I would prefer it if we didn’t have to hit rock bottom, to change, but I know that it may be the only way the world changes. Thank you, God, for providing us all the help we need, may we use it. Amen.

So, feeling this downward spiral the world is on, I pulled out my trusty survival guide from my mind and there in the section “How to Survive Rock Bottom: Love as God loves.” This sounded familiar to me so then I looked for another book from my youth, Radicalism 101 - and there it was: Love as God loves. And then I pulled out another book from ages ago - The True Progressive and there it was again: Love as God loves.

After all, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi, Bob Marley and others pushing peace and love were some of the most radical and progressive people of their time.

How to rock the world, how to transform the world, how to make the world a better place – Love as God loves.

But what is this love? 

Is this love similar to God’s peace Jesus and Paul spoke about in John 14:27 and Phillipians 4:7?

“My peace I give unto you: but not as the world giveth…” – “a peace that passeth understanding.” I believe Jesus and Paul could just as easily say the same about love.

My love I give to you, but not as the world giveth… a love that passeth understanding. 

This is not the everyday love of the material world that is conditional, can change over time, and is limited by judgment and expectations. I am or we, if you would like to join in on this discovery, are seeking something that passeth understanding but can be experienced. Not to be believed but to be experienced. 

What is this love the world does not give nor understand? 

Reflection I. Love is natural

In the introduction to A Course In Miracles (ACIM) it states, “The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” So here is a clue, it is our natural inheritance as a child of God which means we have it already and if we don’t have this love, then something unnatural is occurring. (Is this why this world feels so unnatural?) 

And what are these blocks that hide this naturally occurring love from us? Grievances, judgment, “my” opinions, “my” expectations, “my” perceptions, guilt, victimhood, attachment, loneliness, neediness and self-hatred to begin with, that form a cloud around the inner spirit, that keeps one from knowing one’s self.

But why do we allow this cloud to form?

The ego, darkness.  The cloud forms because the ego or darkness or some would call the devil is insidious, it will never just announce itself to you and say, “I’m darkness and here to destroy you”. If it did, we would address it. Instead, it will convince us it is here to protect and comfort us.

It wants us to think that these thoughts of grievance, judgment, etc are natural and then we live in the comfort of fear and safety. The ego is using the guise of safety to find comfort in our fears, and if the ego does its job right, we actually become more afraid of the light than darkness. Yet, true safety lies in this love the world does not give nor understand.

When we live in this comfort of our fears, the ego wins, when we live with grievances and judgment, the ego wins, but in the loud noise of the ego, it is the quiet call of light we hear that keeps us going. As the saying goes, “God is quiet for there is no conflict in him”.

Go to the quiet, deep within. This love is not in the noise of the world. 

Winston Churchill said “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”. I would tweak the quote to “Successful living is the ability to go from failure to failure, tragedy to tragedy, disappointment to disappointment, station to station without losing your enthusiasm.” It is this enthusiasm that stays through tough periods that is the light, the love that "passeth understanding".

The good news: This love is naturally occurring, there is no need to acquire it, earn it or being “worthy” of it. It is your natural inheritance.

Ben Phipps © 2024

Recommended song that came up during this reflection: “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls. (I originally wrote this piece using quotes of song lyrics in the writing, but that is not easy to do in a published writing, so I’m recommending the song whose lyrics came up during this reflection.)

Next reflection: Love is Freedom