Folks, I want to tell you something. I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve learned that the secret to a good life isn’t about how much money you’ve got in the bank or how many companies you’ve started. It’s about a journey, a kind of treasure hunt, and the treasure isn’t a buried chest of gold coins. It’s something infinitely more precious, something the author of that wonderful passage you shared calls “God’s love.” I love this idea of our life’s path being a journey to find that love. It’s the loftiest goal, and as the text says, it’s a search we should never stop, even if it feels like we’re looking for a needle in a cosmic haystack.
It brings to mind a funny story. A while back, I was looking for my car keys. I tore the house apart, flipping cushions, emptying drawers, even checking the refrigerator—just in case they decided to go on a chilly vacation. I was in a full-blown panic. Then, I stopped, took a breath, and just looked at my hands. And there they were, in my left hand. I’d been holding them the entire time, lost in my frantic search. Our search for God’s love can be a lot like that. We get so caught up in the frantic search, the outward journey, that we forget to look inward. We’re already holding the key.
Now, the passage you shared says something that really resonates with me. It says, “You may have met God, but if you did not discover a love that is even more precious, then you have not made God your own.” I think that’s a real kicker. It’s not about just meeting the big guy upstairs. It’s about finding his love. It’s a love that transforms you from the inside out. It’s a love that becomes “my love.”
This is where mindfulness comes in, like a trusty GPS for your spiritual journey. When you’re mindful, you’re not just sitting still, you’re becoming a spiritual detective, investigating your own thoughts and feelings without judgment. And you know what? That’s when the magic happens. You start to see that the love you’ve been searching for is right there, within you. It’s in the quiet moments of a sunrise, the laughter of your grandchildren, and the simple act of breathing. It’s the love that connects us all.
The text also says that when we possess God’s love, our love becomes God’s love, and the internal and external become one. That’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? It’s a lot like baking a cake. You’ve got your flour, your sugar, your eggs—all separate ingredients. But when you mix them all together and put them in the oven, they become something new and wonderful. The same thing happens with us. Our individual love, when connected to this divine love, becomes something that can nourish and sustain not just ourselves but our entire community.
When this happens, you stop thinking about “me” and start thinking about “we.” You see the world not as a collection of separate individuals but as a community of hearts beating as one. As the passage beautifully states, an “ideal community” is born from this kind of love, where there are no upper and lower classes, just people. Just folks, living and loving together. It’s a tall order, I know, but hey, it’s a worthy goal, don’t you think?
My friends, let’s talk about the final nugget of wisdom from the text. It states that “Once you have love, there would be no problem even if God were not with you.” That’s a real head-scratcher, isn’t it? It’s a bit like saying, “Once you learn how to swim, you don’t need a life preserver anymore.” You see, when you’ve truly made this divine love your own, it becomes a part of who you are. It’s no longer something you have to seek externally. It becomes the very foundation of your existence.
This is the ultimate prize of mindfulness: to realize that the love you’ve been looking for isn’t some far-off destination but is right here, right now, within you. All the searching, all the worry, all the panic? It was all for nothing because you were already holding the keys to the kingdom. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on my cup of coffee. I’m pretty sure it’s a divine creation that deserves my full, mindful attention.
Do you ever feel like you’ve been searching for something that was right in front of you all along?
