I recently had an experience with family at the wedding of my second cousin’s daughter that has caused me to consider the love that is already here for us – one person to another … each one of us.
The wedding was for a woman and a man whom I had never met. . The wedding was in Tucson and most of our family is out-of-state. I will say I had some inertia about going -- the drive, and the thought I might not know anyone other than my cousin, her husband, and her sister who’d be flying in. You know, I’d be “the cousin from Wisconsin” who had moved away after college”. My relationship with my cousin and her husband, whom I hadn’t seen for twenty years or more, had been renewed during a brief visit in the last couple years, since they had moved to AZ. Still, the image of sitting “alone” at a table of people would sneak in and I’d have to chase it away. You’ve been there. Right?
As the weekend neared I realized I needed to shift my thinking and open to the people I would meet and to whatever gifts this event would have for me. Lesson 25 in A Course in Miracles states, "I do not know what anything is for”. I know this one, so I began to apply it to this situation. We know situations can bestow unexpected gifts on us. We’ve each experienced it.
And so, my preparation began. I believe it came because of my willingness to change my thinking. Friday morning a man who came to measure windows in the house spoke enthusiastically about attending a wedding of a dear friend that night. I felt his excitement and love for his friend. I began to shift. My goodness! I’d been invited to be a part of what would be one of the most important days of this couple’s lives. I began to want to be there.
And then, that evening I facilitated a healing session and our focus was “Family”. That topic came up via muscle checking and seemingly, “out-of-the-blue”. I had the opportunity with others to go beyond old, limiting ideas about family, and I opened and energetically aligned for the experience awaiting me … the very next day.
I had a great time at the wedding. Connected with cousins and with their adult children and spouses. I met a woman and her husband, the woman, with whom I felt an immediate connection and we visited much during the evening.
… and the love.
I was stunned at the acceptance, inclusiveness … the love we shared seemingly, “because we were family”. The human mind would explain this in different ways, I suppose. It would be natural, for example, just because we are family … we share relatives, have shared experiences, have shared blood and DNA. Plus, it was a joyous, celebrative occasion – a wedding. A big party with music, pretty clothes, good food and beverage.
And here was the “lesson” for me. Back home in Mesa, I heard myself telling someone about my experience and said, “They loved me already.”-- Before they’d even met me. And me them. Those words are profound for me still and I continue to ponder them. I believe it is a statement of our shared love and divinity. As you read this, if you’ve gotten this far, I wonder how those words touch you. Do they? I’d love to hear from you.
And so again, I ponder, “How do I experience the love that is here for me already with all my brothers … all my sisters … all of humanity who are my true family in God?” I believe this has been brought to my awareness in this wedding experience. The human mind again, would caution to be careful and to not be too trusting and open with everyone. And above all, don’t be a foolish idealist.
Really though, we can have this feeling of “family” in many groups in which we participate. I’ve personally felt it in differing degrees, being one of a staff of teachers and personnel in a school, upon joining an art gallery in Payson, at Interfaith CommUNITY Spiritual Center in Mesa, in trainings in The TRAGER® Approach, and so on. In fact, we often term ourselves “family” in these special groups. Next, is to go beyond all these “special groupings” and recognize the family we simply are.
I suppose I’ll keep it simple and allow myself to be guided and brought to ever more loving relationships, be they brief encounters at a store, at work or with people who attend Interfaith. All these can be a meeting and definitive sharing of love. I’m willing to increase my circle of love and my own ability to love. I’m willing to know myself and to know each of you. I’m willing to know what love is.
