Sending prayers to Virginia Tech

Wow. I had just finished my previous blog about “Who cares for all of us?” when I heard the devastating news about the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus where there are reports of 32 people killed.

“Love is especially near in times of hate….” is a spiritual fact that I mentioned in my previous blog and that I rely on. This is a quote from a well-respected spiritual author, Mary Baker Eddy who knew first-hand what the age-old battle of love and hate looks like. She also writes about how Love, the powerful divinity of God, overcomes hatred at every turn.

So I am praying with this spiritual law even more right now. Love never leaves us alone, in spite of what the situation appears to be. Right now Love is embracing the students, the parents, the law enforcement personnel — and yes especially those dear ones who have been killed. They are being completely enfolded by Love right at this moment while we are still shaking our heads asking “Why?”

Just about every spiritual believer asks at times like these, “Why did this happen?”, “Did God let this happen?”, “Where was He then and where is He now?”.

To some folks, these questions might be considered “unanswerable.” Not to me. These point to the very basic question of the universe: “Who is God and what is my relationship to him?” To be at peace, I must know the answer to this — it forms the basis for all of my spiritual practice.

To me, God is Love. He is omnipresent, omnipotent Love, unconditional and unfailingly good. As the Creator, He made everything like Himself: good and loving. (Ask yourself, Why would He make something UNlike Himself? How would He know how??)

Since He is Love, then how could God be hateful or harmful? Since He is all, then where does evil come from? Can His creation act independently from Him? How could that be if He is all that there is?

It is so hard to see the logic of the above when you see the evidence of tragedy. But that is the time when it is imperative to focus on the divine facts…”Love is especially near in times of hate…”

Several years ago, I had a similar discussion with a Muslim friend of mine about the nature of God as good. Omar was also having a very hard time reconciling the evil of the world with the allness of a loving God. Basically, I said, they were irreconcilable. It’s not logical.

“So where does evil come from?”, Omar asked. And I replied, “Heck, I don’t know — where do mathmatical mistakes come from?” Has anyone ever seen a book of mathmatical mistakes that you can study?

I asked Omar if he loved his son. Omar had the most adorable little boy who, when he met me said to his father in Arabic that I reminded him of Tinkerbell :-). I KNEW that he loved his son more than anything in the whole wide world. I was pretty fond of the little guy myself.

“But of course,” Omar said, sounding offended. “And you would do anything to protect him and care for him and show him that you loved him….and you would never hurt him?” “Yesssss.” By now Omar figured I was going to make some kind of point.

“Would not the God of all the universe, the power of all creation show AT LEAST the same kind of love for His sons and daughters? What kind of love from God could be LESS than man’s love?

We both agreed that, for now, we would focus on the love of God for mankind and look for evidence of that. There is no logic to devastations, mistakes, evils…they make no sense so there is no purpose served in trying to figure them out or assigning blame.

So here is how I am thinking. I can’t give all the love I have in my prayers for the Virginia Tech family if I am also spending mental time trying to make sense of the bad. These two efforts are incompatible. So I choose love.

Know what? In my heart, I believe that is what God does too.

Who cares for each of us?

Over the past few days I have been in a really reflective place. It’s not like I have been sitting staring out into space….it is more like having this constant stream of metaphysical conversations in my head, all the while performing the tasks of the moment.

I am not trying to figure out one particular issue. Rather, it is several things that demand I get to a spiritual foundation. Hmmm, betcha when I get “there” (the spiritual foundation) I will see that all these “things” are related in some way!

But I had a neat insight that made me realize that regardless of the spiritual “wrestlings” in my head, I am being cared for.

My cat, Dale, (her brother is Roy…yes, all you TV children of the 50’s will know why) was recuperating from a wound. She hung out in the closet, in a dark and cozy place. I would go in regularly and pet her (which she loved, evidenced by her purrs), plus I brought food to her, which she scarfed up (so not feeling too poorly!). Basically, I spent two days hovering over the cat, attending to her simple needs. (She’s fine now.)

At one point, it reminded me of my mom (good company, Mom! I love my cats). Whenever I was sick from school, my mom would hover too. Not clingy, just be there…bring me chicken noodle soup (still my favorite) and chocolate milkshakes (sigh, gave those up several gym memberships ago). Mom hovering like that made me feel safe and loved, regardless of the physical condition.

And that made me take a leap. If my mom did that for me, what about the Mother of us all? Would She not do all that — and more? If I am down, feeling alone, under siege by sickness or stress or depression, wouldn’t this Mother hover near me especially? Heck, I do it for my cat! There’s got to be something bigger for the rest of us animals, eh?

I have mentioned Mary Baker Eddy in previous posts, a really remarkable spiritual thinker. She wrote that “Love is especially near in times of hate…”, which I take to mean under siege of any kind. (Eddy uses Love as a synonym for God or Spirit.)

Think about it. Just when you think you are the most alone, that no one cares or even could do anything to help, right there is Someone, as close as breathing. Someone who really cares and can actually do something to adjust what you think you see.

Maybe you can’t see the evidence of the good, divine Spirit right away because you are preoccupied with the circumstance. But still, She’s there. And eventually the mist of doubt and fear drifts away and the day is brighter. Why? Because the Creator and Her creation is all there is. The rest has no foundation, no permanency.

And you realize, She is constant. She never left you….She has been right with you all along.