Love Restores Joy

Love restores joy.

Loss is defined as a failure to keep (or to continue to have) something, but if "every good gift" is "from above" -- all originating in the one Source of Being, God, -- then in reality, nothing can ever be lost. Love can never be lost, nor can we be separated from Love.

Take a moment with this spiritual fact. Put aside the personal sense for just a little while in favor of realizing Love's presence with you right now, right where you are -- full and complete and pure. Let yourself feel the embrace of the gentle Light of Love. This Love of the universe fills all space and consciousness -- it waits only for us to be silent momentarily and listen -- and feel after it.

Love is infinite. You cannot get away from it. It cannot be lost. You are stuck with it.

Love comforts and uplifts. It makes you all right. It helps you to function in first days of grief. It replaces grief with consoling tenderness and finally, joy. The joy is in the presence of Love, and if you are worried over another who may be having difficulties, or who may have passed on, take these quiet meditative moments to consciously realize him/her in this Light of Love, this tender ever-presence -- safe. There is no place where Love is  not. It's warmth is absolutely everywhere throughout all time and through all space.

Love swallows up the black hole; the black hole does not swallow you. Jesus said, "Nothing shall by any means hurt you," and nothing shall by any means separate you from Love, Love, and more Love.

It is your job to reflect and express this Love and spread it freely through a smile, a gentle word, an unselfish deed. When you feel most down, reflect and express Love more. Lift up another and you will be lifted up yourself. Love restores joy.

Scope of Grief and What to Do

Scope of Grief and What to Do

We grieve all kinds of loss, not just death, but loss of job, career, home, family, friends, a car, a cherished possession, and so forth. Loss of harmony in a relationship or loss of a marriage is incredibly upsetting. Not only this, but everyone that has to do with the situation feels the impact.

We cannot take grieving off like we can take off a jacket and leave it at home. It seems to be stuck with us. Therefore we need to find ways to handle it, so it does not take over and overwhelm us to the point of debilitating hurt. In many cases, especially soon after an intense event, it is normal to find ourselves in tears or in a state of depression, but if we build a strong base  spiritually we can withstand and overcome that which would otherwise seem unbearable.

In the case of a death, moving away from emotional agony actually honors the individual who has passed and who more than likely desires that you will be "all right" and that you "recover." Giving your consent to function normally at right activities, to take care of yourself and others, and to move forward with purpose and joy again -- allowing for these things -- opens the way for recovery.

It was and is important for me to realize that my husband, who passed away ten years ago, desires that I live happy and full days with purpose. Would you not want this for ones you love? I was able to consent to recovery and begin to act more freely in everyday life by holding to this thought. Perhaps if you think about this in your own case, it will help you too. Emotions will run up and down during this process, but it is a stable base to accept and hold to the fact that we wish for happiness and well-being for those we love -- whether here or hereafter -- this truth remains because it is grounded in universal divine Love.

There are times it will be good to be left alone. There are times when screaming into a pillow is good therapy! There are times when forcing yourself to be still, pray, meditate, and calm yourself in silence, is the best. Try to align with the divine, with Spirit and Love, and feel after His direction, feel after His comforting.

These ideas work as well for loss of job, of reputation, of money, home, a friendship -- whatever it is that causes grief or upset.

One should not be alone altogether, however. We need opportunities to share memories and emotions, to share fears and hopes, to be with a positive supportive person -- friend or professional -- but someone who actually cares. Be careful that you confide only in those you feel you can trust and who are naturally positive -- not negative.

Support must continue for a long time. If you are supporting another who has suffered loss, remember to check with that individual over a period of months, and even years. Just the fact that you are there and accessible brings an element of Love that is healing and comforting.

Resolution Sure of Success

My New Year's Resolution is to assimilate and express the qualities of love as found in I Corinthians 13: 1-13. Reviewing the past series on the healing power of Love, including sage insights from Henry Drummond's, The Greatest Thing in the Word, equips us for this resolution. You will see Drummond's specific challenge to us in the last paragraph of this blog. Let's resolve together to take him up on it and see what happens.

Know that today Love is ready to complete its healing action within you in some particular situation of your life or condition of health. The greatest healer in the world, Christ Jesus, instructed us to ask and to believe that we receive. Ask for the endowment of Love through the Holy Spirit. Ask that it permeate consciousness and overflow from your heart. Conform your words and actions to this Love. I Corinthians explains the ingredients of Love. We have them all for the expressing!

Put your pure desires, requests, and wishes in the Father's hands and affirm that He is caring for us perfectly through His law with harmonious and wise adjustments and precise timing. Trust and be grateful. Put your burden at His feet. Gratitude and expectation open the way for healing emotionally and physically.

 This blog post concludes our series on Love's healing based on I Corinthians 13:

1Cor. 13:1 ¶ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

1Cor. 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 

1Cor. 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 

1Cor. 13:4 ¶ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 

1Cor. 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 

1Cor. 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 

1Cor. 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

1Cor. 13:8 ¶ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 

1Cor. 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 

1Cor. 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 

1Cor. 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 

1Cor. 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 

1Cor. 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 

Henry Drummond, concluding his remarks on I Corinthians 13, in his short book, The Greatest Thing in the World, challenges us to take action. He writes, "Now I have all but finished. How many of you will join me in reading this chapter once a week for the next three months? A man did that once and it changed his whole life. Will you do it? It is for the greatest thing in the world. You might begin by reading it every day, especially the verses which describe the perfect character. “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself.” Get these ingredients into your life. Then everything that you do is eternal. It is worth doing. It is worth giving time to" (21). You may want to read over the past series of blogs focusing on the healing power of Love as herein described. Commit to three months as Drummond advises, and see if you do not have more joy, health, and peace in this new year! This is a resolution sure of success!

Drummond, Henry (2011-01-01). The Greatest Thing in the World, Experience the Enduring Power of Love (p. 21). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Practice Love

How do you become an expert on something? Isn't there a kind of pattern? If you want to be an expert at golf, isn't it highly effective to observe the best, the professionals -- to seek out lessons and practice, practice, practice? Is it not good to continually monitor yourself and/or have experts check your progress and the elements of your game? Yes. This same strategy for excellence in any given endeavor can be utilized to acquire and nurture the most important thing in the universe and throughout eternity.  -- expressing and being the pure expression of Love! There is nothing higher. It should permeate everything you do, every decision your make, all responses to that which comes into your experience. We are each given a talent of Love. We have it by reflection of Him who is Love. Jesus instructed that we do not "hide" our "talents" but take them in hand and work to multiply them (Matthew 25:14-30). It has been the purpose of this recent series of blogs to analyze this "greatest thing in the world" (Drummond) and perhaps inspire its multiplication.

Henry Drummond explains that talent "develops itself in solitude— the talent of prayer, of faith, of meditation, of seeing the unseen;" while "character grows in the stream of the world’s life. That chiefly is where men are to learn love" (14). He also notes that while the elements of Love can be analyzed for deeper understanding, "love is something more than all its elements— a palpitating, quivering, sensitive, living thing" (14). So to multiply this talent of love, we must first desire to let it take over our being, study it, and then consciously work to assimilate this living thing as seen in perfect expression in the life of our Master, Christ Jesus. Just as one who would become an expert at golf, or tennis, or another language, or in cooking, or anything else, must study the masters in these fields, we must observe Jesus' practice of love, as preserved in the Gospels and in the writings of Paul and early church fathers. He is the Way-shower and illustrates what this thing, Love, looks like in our present experience. Through spiritual sense we can discern the pure unselfish thought and motive behind his words and works, and make ourselves like him. Practice, practice, practice love. Meditate in prayer on this precious living thing. We each have this love within by reflection, as "image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26).

Drummond elaborates this point with the passage,We love— because he first loved us (I John 4:19). He continues, "Look at that word “because.” It is the cause of which I have spoken. “Because he first loved us,” the effect follows that we love, we love Him, we love all men. We cannot help it. Because He loved us, we love, we love everybody. Our heart is slowly changed.

ACTION STEP: Today, choose a portion of the writings about Jesus, and look for how love is expressed in your selected passage(s). Next, keep the lesson of love, the way he expressed it in the verse(s), and find a parallel in your experience today in which you can actively follow that example. Before going to sleep tonight, think over his example of love and review how you did with it during the day. What did you do that was like it, what could you have done better, and what opportunities might you have improved? Pray to feel Love and ask that His angels be with you to better express it tomorrow. Make a habit of love. This is the "greatest thing in the world," and the most healing and comforting.


Drummond, Henry (2011-01-01). The Greatest Thing in the World, Experience the Enduring Power of Love (p. 14). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Practice Love and Find Healing

I hope everyone maintains a beautiful Christmas feel in their hearts and souls today, December 26, and every day forever. The magical feel of this celebration in its spiritual sense has its source in Love.

Author of The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond, writes these motivational words that urge us to live in Love and practice loving: "Now the business of our lives is to have these things [the elements of love as analyzed in the past series of blogs, found in I Cor. 13] fitted into our characters. That is the supreme work to which we need to address ourselves in this world, to learn love. Is life not full of opportunities for learning love? Every man and woman every day has a thousand of them. The world is not a playground; it is a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday, but an education. And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better we can love" (13).

ACTIVE WATCH: take the above idea and act on three of the thousands of opportunities to learn and practice love that come your way today. You can do this whether you go out or are shut in, you can do this if you are among people or alone. Your thoughts, when laced with Love, go forth with spiritual power to help and heal, and this unselfish loves does not come back to you void, but blesses you as well. Is there a place, a person or situation, where the opposite of love is felt when you think on it or live with it? It is a claim that love is absent, but God is Love and ever present. In those difficult emotional circumstances, take your thought away from the trigger [that which incites the negative reaction or feeling] and simply anchor conscious thought to God, to Love. Leave the personal sense for a minute, turn your back to it, and face the Light of Love entirely. He will care you for and adjust the situation.

At the end of the day today, think back over opportunities you had to express love. How did you do? Did you find three times to consciously choose love? Try it again tomorrow! Find four opportunities. Create a habit. Practice love. Jesus reassures us, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light," (Matt. 11:30). Where Love is, the burden is light. Where love is expressed everything is eased.

Drummond, Henry (2011-01-01). The Greatest Thing in the World, Experience the Enduring Power of Love (p. 13). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Christmas Eve Healing through Love

Added note: One grace of Love is forgiveness -- and I ask forgiveness that I've been writing I Corinthians 15 through this series, when in fact, to my discomfiture, it is chapter 13! We will have to address the 15th chapter after this out of curiosity if nothing else!!!!  Love includes humility so here I am. Stuff happens, as they say.

So here is today's offering:

I Corinthians 13: 5-6

[Love] thinketh no evil; 

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 

Henry Drummond interprets thinketh no evil as guilelessness. He writes, "Guilelessness is the grace for suspicious people. The possession of it is the great secret of personal influence. You will find, if you think for a moment, that the people who influence you are people who believe in you. In an atmosphere of suspicion men shrivel up; but in that atmosphere they expand, and find encouragement and educative fellowship" (11). 

Example. A mother called me for prayerful support and help because her teenage son had been arrested for car theft. He pleaded innocent. He explained what happened to his mother, but she didn't really believe him. I told her to give him the benefit of the doubt -- what if he was innocent and his story was true but she did not believe in him? Bad all the way around. What if she believed in him but was wrong? That was the higher way -- and what if he was telling the truth? Either way, better to accept and believe in your child and be proven wrong, than to join the accusers and then find him or her innocent. If nothing else, the support rather than suspicion, is healing and shows highest love. As it turned out, this teenager's story was true, he was innocent, and this mother was so very happy that she told him she believed him and was on his side no matter what. The relationship was strengthened through this exercise of guilelessness. Show confidence, not suspicion, and nurture love in your relationships.

Drummond elaborates, "Love “thinketh no evil,” imputes no motive, sees the bright side, puts the best construction on every action. What a delightful state of mind to live in! What a stimulus and benediction even to meet with it for a day! To be trusted is to be saved" (12). 

Let's go on a Christmas Eve 'watch' and express the above concept from Drummond -- spreading that wonderful aspect of Love as a gift to all we meet or think upon. Merry Christmas Eve!

Drummond, Henry (2011-01-01). The Greatest Thing in the World, Experience the Enduring Power of Love (p. 12). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Love is Not Provoked

In further contemplation of the healing power of Love in our lives, let us consider the next passage in our series on I Corinthians 15, "Love is not provoked." Henry Drummond, author of The Greatest Thing in the World, calls the elements of love described in Corinthians, "ingredients." This would infer that the entirety is as a recipe for love that heals, comforts, saves, and produces peace.

Drummond asks that we consider this ingredient, love not provoked, to be synonymous with a bad temper. If one is easily provoked they may suffer an ill temper, be prone to quick anger. Many believe this misfortune simply to be built-in temperament, perhaps even inherited -- something that can't be helped and that is difficult to control. On the contrary, being easily provoked or angered is not the true nature of man, and certainly it is not something one would inherit from our heavenly Father, divine Love. Man is the "image and likeness" of God, and God is patient Love, tender and kind (Gen. 1:26).

Drummond writes, "For embittering life, for breaking up communities, for destroying the most sacred relationships, for devastating homes, for withering up men and women, for taking the bloom of childhood, in short, for sheer gratuitous misery-producing power this influence [evil temper] stands alone" (10). He continues to dissect the ill-temper, "What is it made of? Jealousy, anger, pride, uncharity, cruelty, self-righteousness, touchiness, doggedness, sullenness— these are the ingredients of this dark and loveless soul" (11).

There is an antidote, and it is the light of Christ in our consciousness, heart, and soul. It is the true nature of God that comes to us on eagle-wings! What are the exact spiritual counter facts of these elements of ill-nature? These make up your true and eternal nature. Not jealousy, but generosity; not anger, but patient loving-kindness; not pride, but humility; not uncharity, but love in good deeds; not cruelty, not gentleness; not self-righteousness, but humbleness in spiritual understanding; not touchiness, but Christly response; not doggedness, but pliable and open-minded; not sullenness, but joy. This produces the feeling and experience of a Light-filled loving individuality that blesses all and opens the way for healing.

Drummond has more text on this one ingredient than any other. I will add a final snippet of his wise counsel. To reach the core of the bad-temper issue, he explains that "the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This only can eradicate what is wrong, work a chemical change, renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner man" (11).

Drummond, Henry (2011-01-01). The Greatest Thing in the World, Experience the Enduring Power of Love (p. 11). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.