In February, after the UMW now named “United Women of Faith,” Valentine’s Meeting & Lunch, I asked for some extra heart-shaped balloons to take to take on a visit to the hospital. (Thank-You, Tyra, for gifting us with these buoyant signs of love!) It was a very blustery, blue-skied day. The balloons had a life of their own. Tangling in the wind, curling in on themselves, I gave up trying to keep them arranged. At one point it felt like they were pulling me forward. Forward on the sidewalk, toward the door, toward our Beloved Cindy. I’ve always fantasized about having enough balloons in my hands to pull me off the earth so I might float free. The Disney movie “Up” plays with this idea and the love between an elderly couple that causes the widower to go on a huge adventure to South America. Their home is actually floated by loads of balloons! The closest I’ve been to floating like that was an actual hot air balloon ride with a friend. It was a magnificent experience! Adventurous and Calming at the same time…
Being pulled forward by a force that isn’t one’s own is a strange sensation. It means relinquishing some of one’s own power, giving into another’s power. It’s the same feeling I get when walking Nico. He pulls me forward, chasing one sniff of the 10’s of 1000’s of sniffs, he files into his brain with his encyclopedic nose. I can exert my direction- however, it frees me somehow, to follow Nico’s pull. I like that sense of freedom.
In a “Have a Great Day” tapping meditation by Tony Robbins, the self-help guru, author and philanthropist, discusses being drawn forward by a force not one’s own to greet the day. Imagine being drawn forward, compelled, even, to meet the day with wonder, hope, positivity. “Call it whatever you want,” Robbins says, “love, God or the universe.”
This un-named force not our own, I say, is Love. The Love of God draws us forward, pulls us, compels us into an unknown future with gratitude, hope, positivity. Love pulls us forward from love to love for love.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)
Grace and Peace,
Veranita