I have asked of others – many a time – a definition of love. If anyone knows one comprehensive definition, please give it to me. And God is Love does not qualify. It’s too bland, and besides, before you can use that statement you have to know who or what God is about. Since none of us know that, exactly, we are precluded from using the statement sweepingly until we gain a better understanding. What love is, is pure and sweet and simple. Love, too, is dark and deep and complex. The dark is necessary for the light. Love is like a compound eye. It has that many facets. Love is not blind. You are not blind to another’s faults. You can pretend to yourself and whomever else you are trying to convince that they are not there, but the truth is you see them. And each one, though on some level it may disappoint, is not something for you to judge or criticise. It is something for you to celebrate. It means – thank goodness – that that person is like you. We share common traits. In effect, we are one. Find solace in our similarities, for they are there and they are too numerous to count. I never yet met a perfect person – and I am quite relieved. I do not for one minute believe that any god watching over us would expect us to be flawless. Is God flawless? Who knows. Maybe he made some mistakes in his time. I would like to think so, half of our human charm is in our imperfections. Our mistakes help define us as individuals, as much as our successes do. Take note of why you choose what you do – and take note, too, if you will not learn from your mistakes. If you learn something from each mistake then its job is done. But, if you fail to change something about yourself – whether it be your perception, your perspective or your opinion – the same mistakes will visit you time and again. They will roll around and trip you until you DO something differently. That is the cycle of life. We will be taught until we learn. So learn to think differently. That is in your control. If God is out there watching us, he is very patient. I think he is waiting for us to stop, and focus on what matters.
What can we shift in our own lives to make space for a change? What out-moded thinking can we get rid of? We can get rid of our determination to judge other people. We spend too much time being the guardians of others’ fates. We interfere in business that is not ours to comment upon. It is important to understand that in actuality we have nothing to do with another’s fate. Our fates are our own. We are the transcribers of our own scripts, the creators of our own landscapes. If you choose to bind yourself to another’s fate, that is your business. You reserve that right. We are bound across countless paths in our lifetimes and on each we can find freedom, we just have to see what it is that we have left to learn. And there is always, always, something left to learn.
C.J. Birch
C.J. Birch 