Resting in Love

I hesitate to use anthropomorphic language when referring to God for concern that I will reinforce an image of God as a being with human characteristics. This perspective of God as personage was imparted to us from traditional Christian theology, and many of us, including me, have worked to overcome it. I have long ago rejected the concept of God as personality. Further, I usually go to great lengths not to refer to God as ‘he’ or ‘she’ and often cringe when I hear others do so.

However, in an effort to further my Lenten lesson series, “Loving the Self,” and explore this week’s topic, “Resting in Love,” I will use such metaphorical terminology in this post. I do so because it captures a more relatable image of God, one that we can experience rather than one of which we can only have an intellectual comprehension. The master teacher Jesus made use of similar metaphorical language when speaking of God as “Father.” Jesus knew God as Being itself, yet he experienced an intimate connection with God as reflected in his use of the affectionate “Abba”¹ when referring to God. He also knew that in order to convey his message about God to his listeners he needed to use language and imagery to which they could relate.

As I indicated, I have developed a comfort zone around the concept of God as Principle rather than thinking of God as having human traits. However, through the conscious practice of living with and contemplating the idea of “Loving the Self” during Lent, I have enjoyed a more personal experience of the Divine. Therefore, I have chosen to use terminology that reflects a more intimate, personal experience of God in order to provide a more apt depiction of the connection I feel while “Resting in Love.”

H. Emilie Cady in her book, Lessons in Truth, assures us that while God is Principle, eternal and unchanging, that

            “[God] does become transformed into infinite love, which is Father-Mother, with all the warmth and tender helpfulness that this word implies, when it becomes focalized, so to speak, within the human body…Every metaphysician either has reached, or must in the future reach, this place – the place where God as cold principle alone will not suffice any more than in the past God as personality alone could wholly satisfy.
            The whole business of your Lord (the Father in you) is to care for you, to love you with an everlasting love, to note your slightest cry, and to rescue you.
            God (Father-Mother) is a present help in time of need; but there must be a recognition of His presence, a turning away from human efforts, and an acknowledgment of God only (a single eye) before He becomes manifest.”

As I contemplate the idea of “Resting in Love” the image that comes to me is one of being held in the embrace of another where I feel safe and at peace. I have experienced, as I am sure most of you have, the sweet embrace of a loved one. Oh how good it feels to be held by another human being whom you trust, someone you know will be there with you and for you even in the most painful or frightening moments. For some of us that person might be a spouse or lover; for others a parent or a friend. That warm loving embrace can come from various people at different times in our lives.

While being held by another person is often nurturing and healing, being held in the everlasting love of God is the sweetest embrace I can imagine. As I have spent time using my power of imagination to envision being held by God, I have witnessed a flow of love that appeared as waves of energy completely enveloping me, similar to arms enfolding me. I have felt the synchronous pulsing of my heart within the sacred heart of God. I have heard the voice of God speaking to me, “You are as I created you, and I love you with a love that is beyond your understanding.”  In the arms of God, I know what it means to truly experience “Resting in Love.” God, the one who created me, loves me just as I am. God does not demand anything of me. God invites me to rest in his loving embrace without condition.

Resting in Love, I am inspired to accept, embrace and love myself for who I am. In the arms of God there is no need to struggle. I do not need to find love or try to be loved: I am loved. I know Love. I am Love. Resting in Love I am open to a new perspective. Not only do I see myself through the eyes of Love, I am able to see others from that perspective as well. From my transformed perspective, I am able and willing to extend love to myself and all creation.

I invite you to spend some time resting in love. I offer the following as guidance.

• Breathe into your heart space, located to the right and just behind the physical heart.
• Focus your awareness on your heartbeat.
• Allow yourself to imagine that your heart is beating within the Heart of God.
• Surrender to the breath and imagine that God is breathing you. You are the very breath of the Divine.
• Envision the energy of Love filling your heart space. You may see it as pink, or possibly red.
• With every breath see the energy of Love extending beyond the heart space to fill your entire body.
• Continue to extend this energy until you feel it completely surrounding you as if the arms of God are wrapping around you and holding you close.
• Rest in Love as you surrender to the everlasting Love that is the life of God in which “you live and move and have your being.”²
• Stay in that space for at least ten minutes and feel into it.
• Feel the ecstasy of being held in the embrace of unconditional love.
• When you feel complete, bring your awareness back to the breath and then to the heartbeat.
• Take a deep breath and ground your renewed awareness right where you are.
• Gradually bring your awareness back to the body by focusing on your physical senses or gently moving your body.
• Speak or gesture your expression of great-fullness for your experience.

Through engaging in this spiritual practice you open to the awareness of God focalized as you, as Emilie Cady taught. Further, in alignment with her teaching, God as Principle is transformed into Infinite Love that meets your every need. God is not a person, but through our conscious recognition of God as our very life, God becomes personal to us.

Practice “Resting in Love,” and please join us for our service on Sunday at 10:00 as we explore this concept in greater depth.

¹ Mark 14:36

² Acts 17:28