My question was more of an expression of wonder. I was not expecting an answer, yet a shooting star, like a big white horse, sped straight over my head. Images and actions give us stories, complete with nouns and verbs.
Proper nouns invite us to relationships; and whether the connection leads us to discover the movement of sacred energy depends on our willingness to evolve. Consider my tradition’s story.
There was a Father (Love), who had a Son (The Way to love). Mysterious happenings were the work of the Holy Spirit. Although each was verb-like, we focused on proper nouns.
What does a relationship with the verb, love, look like, but the many ways we contribute to the well-being of the whole?
Letting love break us wide open, allows us to see people differently. We recognize their wounded-ness and have hope, because somewhere during our healing, we gave way to purer intentions.
Love invites us to participate. It can speak to us through anything. Love may come as Father God, a native elder or perhaps a bird sitting on her nest. Ultimately it is not the noun, but rather what was done unto us and how an experience changed us.
We see a skin that a snake left behind and it is an exclamation point to the still, small voice we heard earlier that morning. Love encourages us to be present, asks to persevere, gives us courage to confront or invites us to quietly surrender.
We may ask for guidance from wiser ones, but in the end our choices are our own. Our responses are personal, because we are in a relationship with Love.
In time, we anticipate Love’s happenings, whether from an individual’s favorable actions, or the workings in and around their harshness. Though we once dismissed mystery as our imagination, we now understand how these strange and wonderful occurrences offer our lives wings to fly.
One morning, before dawn, I expressed my wonder. Immediately a white horse shot over my head. Love surprises us with all kinds of stories, complete with nouns and verbs.
Sacred Ruminations*
Would you rather hear someone say, “I believe in this particular proper noun,” or see love in that person’s life?
God is a verb.