An Epiphany in South Haven

Staying Present and Connected to Divine Love

I have been vacationing in South Haven, Michigan this week. The house in which I am staying sits next to a church building. As I went for a run on the first morning, I noticed a sign inviting others to join their morning meditation and centering prayer on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

I decided to go both mornings.

As I entered, I took off my sandals and walked barefoot into the sanctuary. Chairs and pillows were arranged in a circle around a candle. I sat quietly and closed my eyes. After a contemplative reading and the ringing of a bell, the room quieted for the next thirty minutes. Everyone had turned off their phones. Every distraction, save a lone growling stomach, had been eliminated.

After a few moments of mindless wandering, I began to think about how difficult it is to love, or how easy it is for me to love those who are loveable and how difficult it is to love those who are unloveable. It seems loving is much less black and white than it is gray, I thought. It is not what we become instantly overnight, but what we are becoming daily.

This line of thinking led me to ponder how one can become more loving in all things and to all people. I wondered how love grows in a person from conditional to unconditional. I despaired thinking about how difficult this process is and how intentional one must be in this pursuit.

But then I turned my head to look at one of the stained-glass windows. At the center were grapes on a vine.

I immediately remembered the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, "I am the vine. You are the branches. Continue to be present, maintain unbroken fellowship with me, and you will bear much fruit."

That is when it clicked for me.

Our ability to love is finite. But Divine love continually invites us into the possibility of this love being our center. This unbounded and exhaustively immersive infinite source of love desires an unbroken relationship with us. The promise is to remain connected, stay present, and our love will grow.

It is only Divine love that can break through the clouds that occlude our vision, that can pierce the veil shrouding our true reality. When this love becomes our source, we discover the Divine image in all things and how we are all intimately connected.

Question

1. If Divine love is our constant source and center, how might it awaken us to the Divine image in all things?

Peace,

Brandon