MY NEW YEAR’S EXPERIENCE – 10

Change through Love

Today when I began to write I had the idea to make the title “I am not immune.”

On one level of understanding the experience that I had on New Year’s Eve is because I am not immune. I am not immune to such things as tooth aches; nor am I immune to the deterioration of the physical body. I am not immune to the death of my body. One day I will die. I am not immune.

But to say that I am not immune is not to tell the whole story. The rest of the story is that there is something much greater happening in my life. The fact is I am much more than I presently realize. I am a child of God and I am constantly being changed through a process of God’s love.

Though it is true that it is God’s love that is changing me, nonetheless, it is completely dependent upon me and my choice. To be changed through love – the highest love – is not automatic. It involves willingness and openness to be changed by love. To be changed through love requires a desire and longing to be changed.

We are not creatures without free will. Free will is one of the greatest things about us. When we look around us and see the pain and suffering of humanity, we like to place the blame on God, that He made an imperfect world. Closer to the truth is that we are seeing man’s creation and expressions of our free will.

God’s great love can and will change us and our world, that is, if we desire it. It is our free will to invite change, or to reject it. Yes, we can and often do reject love.

I feel personally responsible for what happened to me on New Year’s Eve. Yes, it is true that I am not immune to the death of the body; but I no longer believe that I have to die through a process of pain and agony such as I experienced New Year’s Eve. There is a better way. It is the way of my willingness to be changed through love.

So once again I ask: If I believe in being changed through love, how then did I get myself into the situation I found myself in New Year’s Eve?

I keep dancing around the answer, and I realize this. Be patience, dear reader. Eventually I will get there.

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To be continued ….

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