“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.”
~Elbert Hubbard
Spring has sprung where I live. It’s nearly Mother’s Day which is a time to reflect and savor reminders of love in our lives-from people and our Earth Mother.
Lately, I have felt drawn to the story of the prodigal son from the Bible. (shared below) What a powerful teaching about love.
In this story it is a father’s love but love knows no gender limits. The son squanders his inheritance and creates quite a mess of his life. Then he ‘comes to his senses’ and decides to go home, hoping his father will allow him to be a hired servant. But his father has been watching for him and welcomes him home with love and celebration. No lectures, no blame, no shaming. His father knows his son is sorry so he wipes the slate clean and showers him with love.
We are all surrounded by love. I think an important question is, can we receive that love and believe that it is ours unconditionally? The father in the story is happy that his son is ready to be loved, not cowering in shame and fear. Often we struggle with feeling unworthy or undeserving and don’t allow ourselves to be loved as fully as it is available, particularly from the Divine.
Let’s come to our senses and open our hearts to the love that surrounds us!
Blessings, Mary
From Gaia, May 9, 2020
My beloved ones,
My mother heart reaches out to you, loving you and celebrating you just as you are. If you are in a far off place, it is time to come home. You are in earth school and no one is expected to be perfect, never making mistakes. Love is like the air that surrounds you at all times. It is not withheld if you make a wrong turn. It enfolds you and cheers you on as you learn and grow.
Always and forever, my heart and my arms are open to you. I will not force you to come into my embrace but I rejoice when you do. I wrap you in a tender hug that need never end. Look at my face. I am smiling at you, not frowning. I am patient and kind and understanding. I know that life is hard at times and the challenges can be very difficult to navigate. Ask for help from the Divine Realm and it will be given freely and abundantly.
I whisper words of love, encouragement and guidance. Slow down, take some moments to listen and you will hear the sounds of love. Sometimes it is the cheerful bird’s song. Or the soothing sound of the soft rain upon the trees. Or the wind rustling the tree’s leaves.
My love is yours always. I need your love and care, too. We are partners and co-creators. Together we can restore the earth to beauty and abundance. Let us do this together with joy and laughter.
I love you, dear ones, with an everlasting love, only love, always love, love overflowing. I am Gaia, your Earth Mother, your friend.
The Parable of the Lost Son
Jesus said: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
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