Whether you believe in Jesus or not, one can’t deny that the stories of His unwavering faith and trust in God are inspiring. I want that: To live in love, to act from love, to share love. Do you?
"Staying home" this Easter has allowed me extra time to reflect on the lessons of Love in the Story of Calvary. Jesus took away the sins of the world by dying on the cross—an innocent man, pure-of-heart, condemned. I think of a sin as anything we do out of fear. In the story of Calvary Jesus allowed all involved to dump on Him—their shame, their pain, their blame, their rage and even their love. It all came out through their behavior toward Him during His final days.
Jesus didn’t fight back. He didn’t change who He was to ‘protect’ anyone from their feelings. He let them all be revealed. And in the end, He asked God to forgive everyone who condemned Him for not being in their right mind. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” ~Luke 23:34 (KJV)
If we aren’t in our right mind where are we? Insane thinking. And since all feelings funnel down to either fear or love it must be fear that fueled condemning an innocent man. If Jesus had proved and defended Himself, as the priests and leaders had demanded, Fear would have won because He would have given His power to it. He would have made the priests and leaders false idols by bowing down to them—pleasing them to earn His life back. And what would He have had to do in order to maintain “that” life? It would have cost Him His faith and trust in God and called for Him to mislead others into believing that their fear-based behaviors were just fine. Fortunately for us, Jesus remained true to Love to the end. That’s inspiring.
During these pandemic times our fears are definitely being revealed. Some of us have enshrined toilet paper. Bottom line, it’s pretty easy to give into fear when we don’t know where else to turn. Watching all the chaos around has inspired me to bring some simple meditations for aligning with Love back into my everyday practice. Spending more time aligning with Love has allowed me to become aware of voices in my head that tell me I have more important things to do. Those voices have always been there. The difference is that I am observing them rather than giving them authority to make decisions, many of which I’d need to clean up later. The beauty of slowing down and staying home. An interruption of routine always has value—sometimes obvious and sometimes hidden.
If we know that we have a direct connect to Universal Intelligence why would we not think to consult it with all of our decisions? Just reflecting on the insanity of believing I could possibly know better than Universal Intelligence makes me laugh. Wisdom is born of experience though so my laugh is with affection. When revealed we’ve always got the choice to change or not. Those voices in our heads can be pretty convincing when we aren’t consistently aligned—thinking it's a good idea to condemn a man who is not only innocent as in not guilty but also innocent as in pure-of-heart in the Story of Calvary being a perfect example.
If living in love, acting from love, and sharing love are important to you, I’m right there with you—learning, healing and growing with every experience. Choosing to regularly align with Love (our natural rhythm) is bringing me some peace amidst the current chaos and allowing me to see and interact with humanity with a more tender, understanding and forgiving heart. It feels pretty wonderful and leaves me filled with gratitude. My hope is that in sharing my meditations you have a similar or even better experience. If we find ourselves slipping back into old patterns we can remember Calvary as a sanity check.
Thank you, Jesus, for being such an awesome guide and model. You truly are my hero.
Meditations that I'm finding helpful and enjoyable:
Rehab for the Heart (I also refer to this one as Gas Station for the Soul)
My heart goes out to those who find themselves struggling in the midst of this pandemic. Sending you love and blessings.
Happy Easter and Happy Passover!
Friends in this Love,
Trish
If I can be of further assistance you know where to find me. trish@trishwhynot.com
Good morning Trish, I appreciate you so much! Thank you for sharing this beautifully written article and for your courage to share your truth. God's ultimate goal, according to Dr. Charles Stanley, is for all believers to become more Christlike. That happens only when, through faith, we tap into the power of God. Many of us have been 'crucified' in the past for speaking our hearts truth. I feel that's all changing with this mass awakening and ascension. The more we quiet our minds and follow the impulses of our hearts, the more we remember/know who we were made in the image and likeness of. Jesus said Be like me, but do more. Thank you for being like Jesus and shining your light bright! Lighting the path for all navigating this challenging and exciting time by sharing your hearts truth. Sending love from my heart to yours, Nancy
P.S. Mathew 5:16 comes to mind, as well as the movie, The Shack with Tim McGraw. It's great! Have you seen it?
Hi Nancy!
Thank you for your thought-filled response.
Matthew 5:16 King James Version (KJV) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Beautiful! I'm always talking about shining brightly like a lighthouse to my groups. And there it is! Truth is Truth!
And I read The Shack when it first came out. I think it was 2008. I have also seen the movie and read the book again with one of my womens groups. So yes, I'm a fan! :)
I'm so happy to call you friend.
With love,
Trish
Trish,
Thanks for the gift of this writing. Eloquently written and so true.
Cynthia
Cynthia,
Thank you for commenting. Glad it spoke to you.
Friends in this Love,
Trish