“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”
I John 4:16
Thanksgiving is traditionally the time we gather with our family. We are used to travelling across town or across the country to be together, to feel the warmth of home. We are well aware that this year is different. Risks and benefits must be prayerfully weighed. That unwelcome task is often accompanied by many conflicting feelings. At bottom I think is the concern that without our usual ways of gathering we may lose our connection with love. If we can’t get together with family will the holiday be empty? Will we be unloved? And what about our family members – will they wonder the same thing? This is all normal of course. “Hello human!” Yet an understanding of the spiritual nature of love reveals a deeper reality and gives us a new reassurance. No matter how our relationships with people get disrupted or rearranged, love itself can never be lost.
Love is the spiritual power that is our unceasing connection with all that is. We, as all creation, are literally love in expression. Whenever it seems that you are deprived of love, it is simply because emotions, like clouds hiding the sun, are temporarily blocking the flow of light. Feeling lonely or isolated is a sacred call from your soul to address an old wound at a new depth. Taking time to talk with your inner Christ initiates the opening of a space in the clouds. With that Divine companionship nurturing you, you will find guidance to the next step for your healing. Following that guidance, you will once again connect with the love that you are. The living water within you will stream forth in your mind and heart, and you will know for certain that you belong. You will see the people in your life in a new way, no longer as sources for love, but as companions on the road of love. You will cease making demands of them, and simply allow love to move through your open heart.
Let this Thanksgiving be your best ever. Whatever the outer arrangements, know that love is who you are. Its joyful flow is always available to you. And on the mundane level, express love to yourself and all you meet in this simple way – wash your hands, wear a mask, and keep your physical (but not your spiritual!) distance.
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
