Changing forms, constant love

I’m writing this Thursday night during the lunar eclipse. I’ve always loved the moon. I often think about the fact that for centuries and in countless lifetimes, I’ve looked up and admired its same light and presence. I’ve reveled in the beauty it reveals as it casts its soft glow on the otherwise dark landscapes.  I have sat out under the full moon, slept under it, and spent hours contemplating the beauty of life as it shines overhead.  Tonight, it is shining brightly, and in spite of the chill of winter’s last hurrah, I’m out at midnight taking pictures. An hour ago, it looked like an acorn with a cap of light. Now, it is a pure red pearl in the starry night sky.  So beautiful. I don’t mind the kink in my neck that comes from pointing the camera straight up or the chill in my knees from the cool grass. The moon’s beauty is a constant that spans lifetimes.

So much of nature was here eons before us and will be here eons after. I stand with my back against trees that were born far before I was and who will outlive me.  I have visited places rich with forgotten history and mysteries, and I’m sure I now walk in places that will be the curiosity of future societies.  Our forms are temporary, but the love we create is a note that sounds through eternity.

So, as we watch the circus in our world right now, there’s no need to fear. A power so much greater, richer, and more loving is our Source and the Source of all creation. As I like to say, “Aligned with the Divine, everything is fine.” I see this time and again in my life and my client’s lives. Someone loses a job but resting in the faith that they are loved, they’re guided to a better one. A spouse cheats on someone. It hurts beyond words, but by leaning strongly on the One who will never betray them, the person is guided to love themselves in a way that opens them to more love than they could have ever imagined.  A child leaves this earth far too early, and yet in reaching for them, grieving parents often find that their child becomes their teacher, offering them a glimpse into a love beyond reason as they grow forward together. These things are unthinkably hard, and that is an understatement. No one in the heavens expects us to feel warm and fuzzy about them, but as we move into greater awareness and connection with the Source, we find the love we seek in all things and all beings, even after the toughest of times.

I go to the Divine all the time for all things great and small. “I know you know where my keys are. Please help me find them.” “Would this warranty plan be helpful for me?”  “How do I cope with this anger I see in the world? With the pain? The loss of life and jobs and security.”  “How do I help my very dear ones who have come close to death recently?”  Resting in the awareness that we are loved, the answers come. I find my keys in the kitchen. I realize the warranty plan isn’t necessary. I hear, “Rest in my love. Look through my eyes. ” I sit, breathe, receive and once again feel that peace and Presence that surpasses all understanding.” I am given a nudge when to call my dear ones when they need prayers the most.  All may not seem “right” with the world right now, but all is right in my world, even with its highs and lows. Aligned with the Divine all will be fine.

Here are some ways to tap into the constant and eternal love when you feel anxious or concerned about life, the world, or anything you are experiencing:

1.  Look at nature

No matter the challenges we face, they are temporary. No matter how we cannot even fathom a solution, there is a power that can offer one. The things that seemed insurmountable in our past are behind us now, and all challenges we face today will also fall behind us in time. The most devastating loss can lead us to reach and stretch to connect with dimensions of love we never would have known otherwise. We will all reunite with our dear ones. We will all move beyond the current situations.

As we look at nature, we are reminded that while change is inevitable, the force of life keeps flowing. Plants die in the winter and burst into glorious new life in the spring. The flowers that bloom today might be gone tomorrow but give way to fruits, seeds, and berries. The animals come and go in their visits to the yard, leaving me in a constant state of curiosity about who will visit next, and the trail I’ve known and loved for decades has been reshaped by a flood within hours, offering new twists and turns and paths to be discovered.

Life keeps on lifing. Spring follows all winters.  All that challenges us today will pass. Nature is a beautiful reminder.

2. Quiet the mind

Eternity is found in stillness. We can wrap our thoughts around a problem and dance with it for decades, or we can quiet the mind and find a peaceful moment in which we allow the stillness to speak vibrationally to our hearts. We can watch the clouds, take a few deep breaths, nap, or meditate. However we quiet the mind, it is a useful way to tap into the eternal – that peace that lies in the depths of the ocean of love rather than the turbulence that grabs our attention at the surface.

There isn’t one right way to do this.  Use whatever works for you. On occasion, it has been a glass of red wine for me! More often it is my practice of sitting in ice water. Naps are nice, too.

However you quiet the mind, it is a quick and kind way to tap into the eternal peace.

3. Look for the good

Love is eternal. The pains, challenges, and problems, although they seem huge at times, are only shadows dancing in front of a constant light.  Look for the good anywhere and everywhere. You’ll find it in the smallest ways. A whiff of rain in the air today felt like love. The chilly night with a beautiful red moon feels like love. The stars twinkling look like love. The smell of a candle burning in my dimly lit kitchen feels like love.

These are such small things in life compared to the turmoil and contentiousness going on in the world, but love is real, and all the shadow dancing in the world cannot dim the truth that love is what lives beneath and within all things. It is worth looking for it, wherever you find it, because when you tune into any love, you are tuning into the One love.

The fleeting forms on the surface of the ocean come and go, but in its depths, there is stillness and peace. The fleeting situations on earth come and go, but in the depth of the Divine, there is love and guidance around all obstacles. A dear one worries about his retirement plan being taken away, and I gently remind them that “God is still God.” God is my retirement plan! God is my source of all that I need.

Though the groceries come from the store today, they could come from a farmer’s market tomorrow or from an independent gardener.  Though the money to pay the bills comes from your job today, it could come via a gift tomorrow (I’ve seen this. happen to people!).  Though the answers come from a trusted friend today, they could come from a total stranger tomorrow.

As we loosen up our control over how we feel life and others must look, think, and act, we allow the Divine to deliver the essence of all our desires in many ways. We begin to see the waves of love flowing into our lives in many ways, no matter what others choose to experience.

So many I talk to these days are worried about our world, our country, our bills, you name it. Yet our grandparents lived through wars, and most of our great-grandparents lived through the Great Depression. I’m sure they thought the world was falling apart, too, but here it is, still held together by love. Here we are, still moving forward in love.  

So, while we watch the ebb and flow of the world’s forms, remember the eternal ocean of love lives beyond all we see on the surface. Take comfort in the fact that this love is reality and the only thing that will last for all eternity.  You are this love.