On entering myself I saw, as if it were with the eyes of my soul,

what was beyond the eyes of the soul, beyond my spirit:

your immutable light.

~Augustine of Hippo

for all lovers, lovelies, and love warriors…….

When we show reverence, we recognize a presence much more expansive than ourselves at work. When we reverence something, we wrap our hearts around it and allow it to become enfleshed within us. This practice of reverence is a way of approaching the texts in a manner where we are open to the possibility that they have something to teach us. Reverence is an ever-deepening and awe-filled encounter with the Sacred Presence. It honors words as holy and as revelatory. Life becomes more expansive and we discover the layers of possibility present to us. As you listen, see if you can release thoughts and respond from a heart-centered place.  ~Christine Valters Paintner

ode to love

We have come
With words yet untold,
And with faces full of mercy for people.
We have sensed the yearning of hearts,
And we have come with tongues that transcend any tongue.

We have come,
Taking the sky above us as our home,
And all people as our family,
And we have adopted colorlessness as our color.
We have taken the seventy two nations as our siblings.

We have come.
Others came and left
They lived, died, and disappeared.
We have been born, never to die,
And we have come, never to leave.

We have come,
In order to pour everywhere like the rain,
To enter every house like the sun,
And to touch our face to people, like the earth.
In short, to love and be loved,
We have come….

~Rumi