Jun 22, 2025

Living in Unconditional Love (223)

 

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

 

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years after we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill (not COVID), and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down almost hoeffects are quite serious, and it has proven much more serious than flu.

06/22/2025                             Human greed and ignorance seem to have been with us since the dawn of humanity. I have a book of the psalms first published in 2007 that I use daily and an excerpt from Psalm 78 states it clearly:

How often they tested Love and turned

         Their backs to the Holy One!

They forgot the power of Love and

         The times they were saved.

When they were comforted by signs.

         And sustained through miracles.

Through all generations the rivers

                  Have flowed,

         Rivers now polluted by greed.

Through famine and floods, the Beloved

         Has brought forth new life.

All through the ages, the earth

                  Yielded its bountiful harvest;

         Yet, valleys and mountains, forests

                  And fields have been misused.

Yes, greed has become the great

                  Destroyer of life,

         Taking without offering back,

         Consuming the earth with abandon,

         Leaving death, disease, and destruction

                  In its wake.

We cannot be spared what we have sown,

Generations to come will suffer from

                  Our willful ways;

         Their lives will be a mirror to blind

                  And stubborn hearts,

Injustice, oppression, and greed will turn

                  Back upon hearts of stone;

         Children unborn will reap a harvest

                  Of lost dreams.

 

Even so, the Source of all life remains

                  Faithful,

Ever ready to lead us out of the

                  Wilderness,

         To speak to us in the Silence of

                  Our hearts.

Yes, You are our hope, our strength, and

                  Our comfort;

Our fears will not overcome us.

You will guide us to the New Jerusalem,

         To the Mountain of Hope, the

                  City of Light!

You will be an ever-living Presence

         To those who call upon your Name,

         To those who open their hearts to Love.

 

These powerful words have calmed my soul and given me hope for the future. I must keep remembering that even though nearly fifty percent back T, fifty percent or more do not and are horrified by the pain being inflicted on others. This may become more bloody and extremely painful before it is finished, but I have a glimmer of hope in the mercy of God at this time.

Summer has just started, and we should be aware that the days will become shorter for the rest of the year (almost). The blooming season has been delayed due to the cool weather and my peonies are just starting. I was watching a large fawn gamboling about the lower pasture, and this is one of the few times I can truly understand that word: gamboling. It was running from one end of the pasture to the other, darting among the woods at either end, and then doing it again and again, just enjoying the ability to run, once it ran towards me, and I am sure saw me, (I was standing on the deck) but then ran off and around some more. It was still spotted, so is very young. One of the young men that was weeding the garden this past week said that a fawn had walked up to him while he was weeding.

The bonsai group met for our annual picnic on Friday, and luckily the sun was out, and the temperature was just right, in the 70s. We had a great time. It is supposed to be very warm this coming week, so I mowed the lawn on Saturday instead of this Monday so I can stay in the ac when it is too warm.

Meditation

Gentle One, I lay my troubles into Your hands, trusting You will find ways to aid us in the pain that lies in the future caused by the blind greed and thirst for power of the one who leads us and those who follow him.