A MESSAGE FROM REV. NICOLE |
|
In the month of May we will explore how our relationships with others offer us the greatest opportunity to have a direct experience of God and enter the kingdom of heaven. In May's book of the month, The Vortex by Esther and Jerry Hicks, we are invited to view our relationships not as obstacles to experiencing peace or joy, but to instead see our relationships as the playing field of God's love. I am sure many of us have experienced moments in our spiritual life when we want to sell everything we own and go to a solitary place to meditate and find peace. While it's always easy to have peace while we are alone and turning within, the true mark of spiritual development is not shown to us until we enter into relationship and are able to demonstrate that peace in the midst of an argument or in dealing day to day with others. We can say we know peace, compassion, forgiveness - all of the virtues that Christ called us to demonstrate-but we don't really own them until we can consistently demonstrate these virtues in relationship. What better time than during the month of May to demonstrate our forgiveness, compassion, kindness and love than with our mothers on Mother’s Day. Our mothers offered us our first experience of human relationship through their unconditional love. Their patience and compassion reflected for us the love of God and set the foundation for future relationships in our lives. Some people might say, "Well, my relationship with my mother was not a positive one. That's why I am unable to have a good relationship with anyone else!" Another way to experience that is to understand that a challenging relationship with our mother offers a soul growth experience. In The Vortex, the idea is that when we look at a person that we are in relationship with and focus on seeing the best in them, the more of the best of them we'll see. Likewise, the more attention we put on what is annoying or upsets us about the person, the more we will draw that out in them. The goal is to stay aware of the presence of God in the other - the more we can see God even in the hurt and the upset, the more we can call out God in that person. In our relationships with our Mothers, we sometimes project our negative experiences on her character. We insist that, "She did this wrong!" or, "She didn't love me enough! or “She didn't let me follow my dreams!" As long as we hold this perspective, we can never get to the place with our mother where we see what God sees about her. We often hold a one dimensional view of our mothers. But when we open ourselves up to seeing as God sees, we allow room to have experiences with our mothers that we never thought possible. We come to know whole aspects of our mothers that we never knew existed. Please join us this month as we enter "The Vortex" of relationships. The challenge for the month is to see the one we are in relationship with as God sees them - perfect, whole and complete - and to experience the kingdom of heaven through our interactions with them. This month, let us hold fast to the idea that we don't enter heaven alone, we go two by two. Rev. Nicole |
