Unconditional love in this world

The word trust has become highly suspect in our world today; having been let down one time or another we find ourselves questioning the motives of others and/or waiting to be disappointed by the actions of another.  Whether it be deliberate or subconscious, we wait to be let down almost to the point where we can say, "See, I knew this was going to happen".  In a world where backstabbing raises on to the top of the corporate ladder, lies succeed in the relinquishing of responsibilities and deceit lurk around every Facebook post, it is no wonder why trust is synonymous with suspicion.  Unfortunately, if we life our life always looking over our shoulder, always waiting to be let down, then we are not truly living our life, life is living us.   While trust can be frightening it, too, can be liberating.  I am not saying that we should blindly trust the random stranger who comes to the door asking us to purchase something that they may earn points for college or attend some random meeting because someone wants us to become part of their pyramid scam. There will always be swindlers devising schemes that they may come upon the money of others.  We must trust smartly and that trust starts with God.  God has promised us love, He has promised us life enveloped in His peace which, when truly accepted, creates within us a joy only experienced with God.  There are so many different definitions for the word love; it is used interchangeably with like, lust, adoration, need, want and the list could go on.  God has one definition for His love and that is unconditional; meaning: always, everything, anything, nothing.  Life is filled with challenges and sometimes we rise to the challenge and other times we fall short.  Conflicted by pride and ego we sometimes choose the wrong decision resulting in pain, heartache, anxiety and stress for both ourselves and others.  We are not perfect though we wrongfully strive for perfection.  Every time we fall off the horse, God is always there to help us get back onto the saddle.  There will be times when our decisions lead us far from God, not that He leaves us, rather our ego gets in the way as we are blinded by pride and valor.  God is patient and always calls us back, there is never a time He stops calling our name, stops holding out His hand that we may intimately walk this life enveloped in the love of God.  He love is unconditional, this His offering, this His promise.   Everything we do, whether it be walking down the street, helping a friend with a problem, deep meditation, athletic events or work, God is ever present in our lives.  Everything which surrounds us not only was created by God but has God living within.  Look to the beauty of a sun setting over the water and there is no doubt of God's presence or watch as the fog slowly rolls over the mountain, at first the entire mountain is encased in white...slowly green peeks through the whiteness uncovering tiny sections of green until it appears as though the trees have swallowed the fog.  God lives in  every aspect of His creation so we need not fear loneliness only distrust.  As the sun rises each morning we are reminded of God's promise of a new tomorrow; what reason can we give to distrust God?  I don't believe there is a valid reason we can give for us to toss trust aside when it comes to God.  If we but "take a chance" and delve into God's unconditional love we will become overwhelmed, for anything we need, we need only ask..."Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be open unto you."  We see this phrase in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke; do we think this is true for only certain people and not others?  God does not have favorites, He does not have a teacher's pet; however, some people are closer to God than others, this our choice, not God's.  Our connection with God can be as deep and intimate or shallow and superficial; this is our choice.  If at first we feel the overwhelming power of God's love in our lives and step back because the love was too much, we can always jump right back into God's arms for He is always waiting, loving and calling us back to our home in His arms.  Distrusting as we have become, we tend to disbelieve the truth of the power of God's love for it is like nothing experienced before on this earth.  We are use to conditions, if you bring home a good grade, you can go over a friend's house; if you speed on the highway you could get a ticket; if, at the end of the year, you have completed your job well and the company is showing a profit, you may get a raise for the next year.  Everything we know to be "true" has set parameters, so black and white others shades of grey yet; none-the-less there are preset specifications which we have learned to blindly follow.  Truth of God and His promise of love, unconditional love, lies within our heart, lies within our soul, we need to tap into this truth that we may experience the complete power, healing power of God's love.  As we know, our striving for perfection quickly becomes our own limitation as we are often blinded by an impossible goal.  God does not want perfection, God wants us just the way we are; whole, broken, lost, found, God accepts and loves us for who we are, why can't we do the same?  Our flaws do not keep us from God, they only serve as a reminder to us how much we need God, how much we need His love, His peace, His joy in our lives.  Nothing we do can keep God from loving us.  We will make mistakes, big ones, life changing mistakes; but, as long as we show true remorse and a genuine desire to change and be changed by God's love all we need to is ask.  Seek and we will find truth in God's promise of unconditional love; knock and the door  will be opened that our hearts may be flooded with love without condition.     This is how our life begins, trusting in God and accepting His promise of unconditional love.  Overwhelmed, we walk the dark path fearing no evil for the impairing thoughts of the mind have become deflated by the abounding love of the heart.  The epic battle of the mind versus the heart ceases allowing the two to coexist: one to rationally deal with a flawed human society a s the other to travel home and be saturated with love every second of every day.  This arduous journey often feels like the destination requires hikes up incline plains which defy the laws of gravity.  Fear not, God's love is not grounded by our laws thus each climb is driven by always, everything, anything and nothing. God will take our hand, lead the way and carry us if need be, we just need to trust.  Once we trust God, trust begins to get easier until we are able to fully trust ourselves, trust our heart and listen to the sound of God's voice.  Trusting ourselves is, in and of itself, its own epic battle for we learn to doubt our own instincts having been jaded so often by the cruelties of this world.  It is almost as if we are a character on "Tom and Jerry" when Tom wants to do something mean to Jerry and we see a tiny character of Tom dressed in white with a halo on one shoulder and the other shoulder has the same character only he is dressed in red with devil horns and a pitch fork.  Trusting ourselves need not be a multi-personality battle, if we but let the love of God overtake our being, we will quickly discover that our connection with God heals all wounds, that love heals all wounds...self inflicted or cause by another.  Accepting God's love for what it is, unconditional, we begin to transform into this love and life becomes more beautiful; the hues of the sunrise become so breathtaking that, for a moment, we become paralyzed in love which heals all hurt.  With hurt healed, we charge forward, energized in love, ready to love and prepared to be loved and though we are met with cynicism, sometimes hatred and often distain, we worry not for we know live, we have become love.  Sure, we will still be hurt but is isn't anything God's unconditional love cannot heal.  We do not walk put to the plate and say to the umpire just give me three strikes because I will not hit the ball anyway.  No, we go up to the plate and swing away, sometimes we will make contact, other times we will take the K but in both situations we gave it our best.  Our trust in God will always be rewarded with a grand slam home run; our trust in self can leave us with a single through a homer and our trust in others could result in a strike out; regardless if we cross the plate or walk straight back to the dugout, our walk back is enveloped in love, healing all wounds.  Trust God, trust in His love, accept His love as your own and life begins to change, life becomes more placid even when the path is overgrown with thistles and the climb monstrous.   If we are lucky, we will come across people so rich in love that they, too, are willing to offer unconditional love, they are willing to accept us for who we are, flaws and all.  To recognize such gems we must first accept ourselves that we may readily accept the unconditional love of a fellow flawed being and not regress to the dichotomy of mind versus heart where the mind "knows" this love is untrue, unreal and will disappear overnight.   Love should have only one definition...unconditional them trust would not be such a troublesome word.  The existence of unconditional love in this world rests on each of our shoulders, are you ready to trust, ready to bring love into a loveless world?  Take my hand, we will journey as one, one in love, one loved unconditionally by a Creator very much alive in His creation and if not my hand, the hand of another for unconditional love does exist though hatred would have you believe otherwise.  Unconditional love is real, it exists in you, will you share this love with the world?