Eva-Maria Hogrefe: LOVE

GOD IS LOVE;

and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

–The Bible, I John 4:16--

“God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more?”

--Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, (p. 2:23)--

“O learn to love! The lesson is but plain,

And one made perfect never lost again"

--Shakespeare—

LOVE UNDIVIDED

Separations of many kinds seem pervasive.

No wonder even a glimpse of the wholeness and oneness of divine Love brings healing.

Wouldn’t we all treasure a love that’s broad and generous? We yearn to understand the source and unifying power of such love and to be assured that we can’t be separated from it. We hope that it is all-embracing, caring for us and others permanently. This love certainly won’t leave us if we continue to look for it in the right direction and see love as a power that is unfragmented, undivided.

The wholeness of genuine love doesn’t have its source in human life, with its ups and downs, its expectations and disappointments. Real love doesn’t originate in people but in God, who is described in the New Testament of the Bible as Love itself (see I John 4:16).

The human mind assumes that it is its own creator of love, fulfillment, well-being, and that it is capable of finding and giving all we need. But we soon learn it isn’t able to do so. The limitations of human thought and effort underlie all the unhappiness we see around us. And these limitations arise from the belief in a life, love, and mind separate from God.

To recognize the true source of love and see love as ever flowing to us, never stopping, makes all the difference in our lives. It wipes away fear of being divided from good. However vivid or persuasive the belief of separateness may be, it dissolves before a realization of the actual fact of man’s oneness with God, Love, who is absolutely good.

Recently I witnessed a small instance of the powerful healing influence of all-embracing Love. Going up in an elevator with a group of people, I overheard a woman exclaim how miserable, sick, and tired she felt. Immediately the thought came to me that this sense of separation from good doesn’t need to be accepted for her or for anyone.

Christ Jesus saw man as not only entitled to God’s love but as permanently one with Love. All the misery of the world, however huge it might appear, is not permanent or ultimately real, because it isn’t found in divine Love.

As I was thinking along these lines, I became aware of a stillness around me in the elevator. Everyone had left except the woman. Perhaps she knew that a number of Christian Scientist lived in the building, and before the elevator stopped again, she turned to me and asked me, “Are you a Christian Scientist?” “Yes,” I answered, surprised by the sudden question. “Thank you so much,” the woman said, smiling lovingly.

God’s goodness is never absent … That is, … we see more of the might of Love in our lives, even when we may have assumed it was lost. This infinite Love unites its children in ways that always bless.

--An excerpt from an article by Eva-Maria Hogrefe, C. S.,

published in the Christian Science Sentinel, July 19, 1993--

He that loveth not knoweth not God;

for God is love.

– The Bible, I John 1:8 –

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. --Abraham Lincoln—

a small painting (1977) by Eva-Maria Hogrefe

Joy

Joy is prayer – Joy is strength – Joy is love – Joy is a net of love – God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude … is to accept everything with joy.

–Mother Teresa, from A GIFT FOR GOD (1975)—

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save,

he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
--The Bible, Zephaniah 3:17—

A little girl said to her small brother: “God is everywhere.“ The doubting brother replied, “Do you mean that God is in this room?“ Then he added, “Is He in this chair. I don’t see Him?“ The wise little girl said, “Of course you don’t see Him because God isn’t a see. God is a feel!“

God, LOVE, is first felt and then when we live by the love we feel for God, and for all of His creation, including man, woman, and child, we learn to express more of His unconditional love -- for each other, for our neighbor, for all of His children – that is, for all mankind. It's not always an easy thing to do, but certainly a worthwhile and great beneficial endeavor. And it bestows countless blessings, blessings which are often untold. –Eva-Maria--

Child ask: “Why do we pray?“

Child answers: “We pray to make us

know God’s love for us.“

The everlasting I Am is not bounded nor compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be understood aright through mortal concepts. The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?

--Science and Health, p. 256:13--