A Mom’s Wish, Let Me Die Alone

Refusing Divine Love As Our Center

I spoke with one of my best friends by phone the other day. She was seeking advice from my wife and me about a difficult situation in which she finds herself with her mom, who is older and essentially wheel-chair bound.

Her mom owns a house but is unable to live independently and care for herself. Seriously concerned about her mom's well-being, my friend welcomed her into her own home and began caring for her.

Unfortunately, this is not what her mom wanted. She insisted upon returning to her own home, even if it meant putting herself at serious risk. And being that my friend does not have a legal right to make decisions on behalf of her mom, and being that her mom is of the right mind to make decisions, my friend complied with her mom’s wishes, even though she believed that it was to her mom’s detriment.

She could not force or impose her will on her mom, even though she loves her mom, wants to care for her mom, wants better for her mom, and can visualize her mom living life in greater wholeness and fulfillment with them.

Her mom said she would prefer to go home in isolation and face death alone.

The truth is that no one can force a person to receive or reciprocate love, even when love surrounds them.

I believe the same is true in our relationship with God. We may begin to discover that God's true nature has been love all along, despite who we are or what we have done. We may even begin to understand that God's love can transform our hearts. But for some reason, we refuse to let Divine love become our center. 

And God can not force a person to receive or reciprocate love, or force a person to live in greater wholeness.

However, Richard Rohr writes that, “If we keep listening to the love, if we keep receiving the love, trusting the love- even with all our limitations, with all our unworthiness, with all our limited intellect or whatever we feel holds us back- we start to experience within ourselves a sense of possibility.”

This “possibility” is the hope that we might begin to experience, and then hopefully become, the love that surrounds us.

Questions

1. Why do you think it is difficult, at times, to let Divine love become our center?

Peace,

Brandon