Encountering this Love, being transformed by it, is a mystical experience. And as I’ve noted previously at The Wild Reed, there are many mystical traditions and paths that can lead us to awareness of and union with the Divine, with the “great Love” of which Richer, whose mystical path is that of the Quakers, so eloquently speaks.
I would have to say that the single most valuable thing that I have received from my Quaker practice is a greater knowing and feeling for what the Spirit of God feels like, both within me, and around me.
Within my hour of silent worship on Sunday, after about fifteen minutes of centering down, I start to tune into the loving presence of the Holy Spirit; a practice where my worldly cares, troubles and even persona, are lovingly put aside for a complete immersion, communion and encounter with the great Love that dwells at the center of all being.
I have learned that this Love speaks, and have learned how to listen, not with my ears, but with my heart and soul.
I have found that the voice of Love is often subtle, and to hear it, we must listen with Love, but sometimes I encounter God in other ways, like I did this morning at work.
It was one of my early deliveries,and I had pulled my truck over on the side of a remote country road where my customer resides and has his welding shop.
After a fifteen minute offload and pleasant chat with him, I returned to my cab to catch up my paperwork and unexpectedly, I felt that same familiar Spirit of Love that I feel in worship, and with that, I heard a voice of God.
I looked down next to my cab to see an elderly woman who had paused on her walk, smiling at me, radiating a divine Light and Love, who greeted me with a sincere, “Good morning; I hope you have a great rest of your day, and stay safe.”
With gratitude and love, I wished this kind stranger the same, and in that moment, that of God within me recognized that of God within her. This morning Christ was present and at work in the world in the guise of a friendly elderly woman whom I may never see again, who had no other motive than the betterment of the world, starting with her.
Have no doubt that God is at work in the world my friends, and that no matter any darkness, that the Light of Love will always triumph in the end, or it is not the end.
Just as this mysterious child of Light who greeted me on the road, and then walked on displayed, we encounter God daily, we only need eyes to recognize the One who’s been with us and loving us all along.
God is Love and there is that of God within everyone.
May we abide in Love, and let Love work in us, to bring about the loving world that God intends for us.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Many Manifestations of God’s Loving Embrace
• The Mystic Jesus: “A Name for the Unalterable Love That All of Us Share”
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• Michael Morwood on the Divine Presence
• The Light Within
• No Stranger Am I
• The Source Is Within You
• Like the Sun
• Cultivating Stillness
• Blue Yonder
• Jesus: Our Guide to Mystical Love in Action
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Marianne Williamson
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Eckhart Tolle
• Diarmuid O’Murchú on Our Capacity to Meditate
• Thoughts on Christian Meditation | II | III | IV | V
• Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee: Quote of the Day – February 8, 2013
• A Season of Listening
• Eckhart Tolle on Silence and Stillness
• Eckhart Tolle on Going Beyond the Thinking Mind
• Eckhart Tolle on Being “Conscious Without Thought”
• To Be Still
• Stepping Out of Time and Resting Your Mind
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Resting in the Presence of the Beloved
• Prayer and the Experience of God in an Ever-Unfolding Universe
• Toby Johnson on the Mysticism of Andrew Harvey
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