Love is a force more formidable than any other. I
t is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured,
yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment,
and offer you more joy than any material possession could.
--Barbara de Angelis
Love to faults is always blind,
always is to joy inclined.
Lawless, winged, and unconfined,
and breaks all chains from every mind.
--William Shakespeare
Greetings from Heartlight Central,
These past few weeks, we’ve been looking at a particular idea from different angles. We can do that because we have a passion for perspective; we aren’t willing to entrench ourselves in one place and make the world come to us and be examined from the ego mind’s often narrow and limited viewpoint. No, we learn, we expand, and we evolve. The way we accomplish all that is by continuing to clear out anything and everything that obscures our vision and our innate ability to ‘channel’ God.
This month, generally speaking, our focus has been ‘heaven’ and ‘hell.’ Obviously, we know these are not literal places, though they have been treated as such in various literature, and some people still cling to those stories. But that is what works for them. We have chosen to relinquish the limitations of other people’s ideas in order to welcome greater and broader ones.
So…our mission is to ‘get the hell out.’ This, too, can be looked at in more than one way. We are working to get the ‘hell’ out of ourselves (the anger, judgment, resentment, and all the negative thinking that goes along with those choices), and simultaneously we could also work to get ourselves out of hell (circumstances, personalities, and other aspects of life that do not resonate with our true Selves). Now, the latter approach is not always possible, is it? There may be people around us whose ways of beingcould make us angry, or hurt, or resentful, and we might not be able to alter their proximity to us (think family, co-workers, neighbors, and so forth). There may be circumstances we simply cannot change, not at the moment, and perhaps not ever. The world is full of events over which we have no control, and inhabited by people just being who they are. But we DO have absolute control over what we choose to feel, think about, say, and do. So the first approach, getting the ‘hell’ out of ourselves, is the surest path to lasting and unquenchable joy.
Recently, someone was describing to me a personal definition of joy, and saying that it doesn’t mean being jolly, or giddy, or bubbly every waking minute. It might not even mean being particularly happy all the time. Joy is something deeper than surface emotions. It is a beautiful blend of gratitude, peace, trust, and at-one-ment. It is a joy to be alive, to be aware, and to know that we can get through any experience or situation our human life shows us.
The more we clear out the ‘hell,’ the more room we have to make a permanent and expansive home for joy, and, in the process, really BE the expression of God that we are. We can do all the things that we believe God does—love without condition, release the negative issues we’ve hoarded, heal our wounds, and project pure peace wherever we are. In other words, we know what the “gold standard” is in terms of how we conduct ourselves, on the inner planes, and in the outer world. So… this week, the last installment in our discussion of exchanging the hellacious for the heavenly, and learning all the steps to the dance of joy. Eventually, you’ll feel so light on your feet, they won’t even touch the floor.
See you Sunday,
Much love and peace,
Rev. Lauren
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