Bring 'em all into your heart

I always find it interesting to see what is going to show up when I make space for a quiet moment of reflection. Just now, I sat down to reflect on the loving presence that holds us all. And I was feeling the truth of Love being the strongest force of all - as A Course in Miracles puts it, 'Only Love is Real.'

So then, right on cue, the doorbell rang.

Two ladies were standing outside the front door. And one said, with a grimace on her face, 'Oh, hello, we were just delivering an invitation to you and we noticed all these marks on the paintwork by your door. What a shame for you.'

'Well, actually,' I said, 'these are very precious chalk drawings by my children. They would wash off easily but I choose to keep them because they are beautiful to me.'

(Oh how I love it when the plain and simple truth comes tumbling out in the moment you need it to rather than three hours later...)

'Oh,' she said, 'well, here's the invitation.'

I looked down at what she was handing me - it was an invitation to a Jehovah's Witness gathering in our area. And on the front, there was a picture of Jesus, one of my main spiritual superheroes, looking eerily like a tanned, photoshopped Hollywood actor with overly white teeth and outstretched arms.

'Um, thanks,' I said. And off they went.

And now I am thinking about that saying 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' - where one sees a 'shame' and a 'mess', another sees something precious and beautiful. And isn't it also true, then, that seeing with Love works that way too? We see some people as easily loveable, but others as so hard - even impossible - to love.

As I settle back into being with the loving presence that excludes nothing and nobody, can I see these old ladies, in their funny hats, with their very narrow ideas of who can and cannot have access to Divine Love and their strangely confident opinions about the artwork by my front door, as beautiful and perfectly loveable too?

The answer is, I'm certainly going to try. Because what I'm really interested in is the true message of the non-Hollywood Jesus and all those who have stood up for the Big Truth, whose true teaching I feel way beyond all the words and rules that have been created in his name.

And, seriously, it's so simple. No rules needed. Just do your best to love your brothers and sisters because we're all made of the same stuff. Love wins and Love rules and Love is our true nature. And, therefore, nobody is excluded.

Just bring 'em all into your heart.

I am going to leave you with one of my favourite songs. It is by Mike Scott. I ended my meditation by letting this completely blow my heart wide open - and there is now well and truly enough space for the old Jehovah's Witness ladies. I am about to put it on again to have a good dance on my own. No doubt the cats will watch me with that blank look on their faces, which will make it even more fun.

If you can create 4 minutes of space, have a listen and join me: http://ow.ly/v9EVr.