I’m guessing that most Valentine’s Day greetings today will be from one person to another. I’d like to share what I think is a close approximation to the kind of love greeting that, if we were silent enough long enough, we might hear from our Source today.
For this greeting, I’ve taken a few liberties from the opening lines of one of my all-time favorite prayers whose authorship remains a mystery to me. I have no idea if it was written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, some other Jesuit, or Jacqueline Syrup Bergan & S. Marie Schwan the authors of the book Take & Receive: Love a Guide for Prayer (the book in which I first encountered the prayer many years ago).
If these words were in a greeting card, I imagine the scene on the card would be something beautiful in nature; a grand tree, an ocean scene, a wondrous flower, a delicate butterfly. It would be something pastoral that would set your mind ready to hear the following words from your Creator:
When my love spilled over into creation, I thought of you. You are from love, of love, for love. . . May your heart always recognize, cherish, and enjoy the goodness in all creation. It is my gift . . .My love created that too . . . especially for you.
These few sentences hold all we need to live in truth and freedom. We are the physical manifestation of the Great Spirit’s overflowing love. We were created out of love and we are designed for love. The Maker of all things had a loving thought, spoke the creative word, and all that we see in the universe spilled forth from love.
When we are able to accept that truth, we can cast off fear and live out of the love that flows naturally in us. We forgive, we have patience, we trust ourselves – others – life – Spirit.
Those of lucky enough to have created a child or those who have selflessly devoted themselves to the needs of another have an approximation of this kind of love. It is powerful. Awe inspiring. Generative.
None-the-less, in our imperfect humanity, our woundedness, it is hard to remember this deep well of love that created us and flows within us and out of us. We can forget this powerful energy and fall into criticism of ourselves and others as a knee-jerk reaction to the daily struggles of human life. We often don’t take even a moment to reflect on why we’ve lost that loving feeling; we simply react out of our disappointment, impatience, failure, or anger.
But days like today remind us of the enormous healing power of love. Love heals the vagaries of life. On this one day of the year devoted solely to love, it is a good time to remember that you began as a loving thought that could not be contained. Revel in this love and share it with anyone and everyone you meet.
Happy Valentines Day ♥