Love

[InLove]

Hi Everyone--

This is such an interesting thread. I have been meaning to post here for a while now, but I've been rather busy on another one. There is some really good reading here.

Star Sarellia, please accept my belated welcome! I have been reading your posts, and they ring out in sincerity. Thank you.

I see that St. Francis is making the rounds on the boards lately. I love that prayer. I have it sitting right here on my desk. Thanks, lunamoth. You mentioned the Trinity (you are very brave). When I type the phrase, "The Spirit of God's Love", it is my way of embracing this concept with words.

wil--that was a cool post.

{(Tariki and Family)} Lifting you in Love and the Wisdom it holds. I don't think I will ever see another flock of birds without thinking of you, earl, and Thomas Merton.

Well, I could just keep on going here, chattering away at everyone individually. But that would make for a very long post.

I just called to say "I love you".

InPeace,
InLove

[Tariki]

Originally Posted by InLove

{(Tariki and Family)} Lifting you in Love and the Wisdom it holds. I don't think I will ever see another flock of birds without thinking of you, earl, and Thomas Merton.

InPeace,
InLove

InLove,

This made me think of the so called ripple effect, where it has been said that when a butterfly flaps its wings in America the weather is effected in the UK. Well, only those whose knowledge of science is deeper than mine will know if this is more poetic than hard fact, yet the "ripple effect" certainly applies within the field of spirituality. The Buddha "awakens" beneath the Bo-tree 2500 years ago, and people sit in meditation classes in San Francisco in the twenty-first century...............Jesus speaks in parables beside Galilee 2000 years ago and millions pray in churches around the world. And hopefully the prayers and meditations issue in acts of love and kindness, in an ethics of empathy towards all others. (Perhaps we just have to make sure that the ripples never become mere circles of self-enclosure, locking ourselves within doctrine and creed)

...anyway, the ripple effect, and the dustbin of my mind throws out the following words, the ending of a poem by Philip Larkin......

.....and immediately

Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.

[Dondi]

Originally Posted by wil

2nd Peter 1:5-9

Peter in instructing Christians that are perseucuted and enslaved...does not tell those so constrained to hate, condemn or be judgemental...does not tell them to worry about others...but to work on themselves...and how to get from faith to love... and at the end of 1 Peter ...interestingly, 5:12With the help of Silas,whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

KJV
5And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

wil,

I've always viewed these verses as a progression:

One builds of the foundation of faith...faith in God. Faith that says, "Here am I, Lord, What will thou have me to do?" It is giving permission to God to change your life.

One adds to faith, virtue, which is a character trait...that something we don't realize in ourselves in the beginning, but is available to us through His Divine Presence.

One adds to virtue, knowledge....knowledge in the form of experience of that Divine trait.

One adds to knowledge, temperance...which is the practice of moderation, learning to exercise control of it, and incorporating that trait into our lifestyle.

One adds to temperance, patience...for we are going to fall short of that trait sometimes, until we form the habit. How imperative it is to get back up from where we fall and keep right back at it.

One adds to patience, godliness...that trait now becomes part of us, we are actualizing the divine quality of it in our lives.

One adds to godliness, brotherly kindness...we turn that trait toward the common good of man, using it to bless others. Brotherly kindness is not automatic, but by allowing God to use us we can see the blessing of blessing others.

And lastly, one adds to brotherly kindness, charity...which is the deepest form of Love. Whereas we couldn't of ourselves in faith incorporate that trait we longed for, now flows from us naturally. We struggle less to be kind and can love with a Divine love wrought in us through that progression of what we weren't....to what we are.

"Sow an act...reap a habit; Sow a habit...reap a character; Sow a character...reap a destiny." - George Dana Boardman

[wil]

Originally Posted by Tariki

... when a butterfly flaps its wings in America the weather is effected in the UK. .

lol in here in the states the butterfly is referenced as being in Australia...wonder where everyone elses butterfly's are flapping. I still think it is more metaphor than science, that flap would be accelerating or decellerating a breeze that was a culmination of all the flaps which flapped it that way...

Originally Posted by Dondi

wil, I've always viewed these verses as a progression:

I read it that way as well...each a springboard to the next, each larger than its predecessor.

KJV...For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you

NIV...For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective

The Message...With these qualities active and growing in your lives

How about some L O V E acronyms?

Living Our Values Everyday

Lets Overcome Violence Everywhere

And me just trying to hard...

Luminous Ontology Venerating Ethers

[Star Sarellia]

Thanks Luna, I haven't seen that prayer before, but will certainly have a look around for a nice copy of it. It was especially interesting as I have been recently reading some information on the St Francis of Assisi. A nice co-incidence.

Thanks for the welcome InLove

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Very powerful cyberpi, yup that one has teeth for sure. Very glad you posted it. Being a God Is Love Christian is not for fluffybunnies. *please read in light-hearted but yes this points to a truth manner*

That is the actual depths at which man's love can achieve in a moment. It is not a love of the heart but of the soul. There is a huge difference between the two, (even though they may be along similar lines).

However the day to day "love" is according to Paul a selfless love described in short as:

longsuffering, kind, lacking in jealousy or pride, modest in behavior, not selfcentered, tolerant, non suspecting, honest, enduring, trustful, winning,

and the greatest when compared to faith and hope (also endearing virtues).

Emotional love waxes and wanes, but agape love remains steadfast regardless of personal feelings.

v/r

Joshua

[cyberpi]

I submit that a soul does nothing here without the heart. All action goes through the body, and all action in the body requires the heart. Every ounce of energy that I have ever moved, the smallest muscle or brain cell, was first moved by my heart.

Not to say that a person can't pull the twig out from under a pile of rocks, or step on the gas to burn external fuel, but doing so required the body and every bit of energy that the soul directly touched was first pumped through that heart.