Dear Family of Love !

I hope everyone had a blessed and wonderful day! I certainly cannot believe that we are completing the 22nd day of July. What is tonight's blog about ? Well you already know that it will have something to say about loving one another. You already know that you matter and are loved. This blog is about you not we. On occasion this needs to be directed toward you at your deepest level. Your heart and heart home. You , Yes You! Tonight you need to go get a hand mirror! Please go and get one or use your phone with the camera turned to selfie mode. I'll wait until you get back! Do you have your mirror? Okay, good!

Let's start by placing the mirror with the reflection side face down.
Don't pick it up until I tell you.
Now , can you describe yourself in one word?
What is the expression on your face now.
Do you think that God loves that face?
What do your enemies think of when they see your face?
Who do you see in your enemies' face?
Do you see God in your enemies' face?
Do you think that your family members see God in your face?
Do you want to see God in your face?
Take time to think about these things.

Now, pick up the mirror and look at yourself.
Again repeat the following questions.
Now , can you describe yourself in one word?
What is the expression on your face now.
Do you think that God loves that face?
What do your enemies think of when they see your face?
Who do you see in your enemies' face?
Do you see God in your enemies' face?
Do you think that your family members see God in your face?
Do you want to see God in your face?
Take time to think about these things.

I'll bet that these questions are difficult ones to answer because they are directed to you not we. Sometimes we need to take time to focus on ourselves so that we may be able to make necessary changes in our lives at the heart and heart home level. Our face is the entryway into the heart. Our eyes reflect God to others and the eyes of others reflect God back to you. Our lips form a smile that invites God's family into ours and ours into God's. There is always reciprocity and reflection no matter what. We all need , You need, I need to mirror God so that we may hold the reflection of God to each other as we do when we do our candle ceremony: The light of Christ in Me Recognizes the light of Christ in you!

Do you see as God sees?
A beautiful child of God.
A person who was made in God's image and likeness.
A child who has beautiful and unique gifts and skills that God has given you.
A gift to others.
A family member in the Family of God.
A beloved brother, sister, mother, father, wife, husband, friend, etc......
A human being worthy of dignity, respect, and acceptance.
A person who without fear can live authentically and faithful to your own truth.
A person who is one of the least of these.
A person with faults who is loved unconditionally without reservation through and through.
A person who has been forgiven, loved, and made free by Christ's gift of forgiveness on the Cross.

Take time to think on these things as we meditate, listen to holy music, and pray.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon Rutter

Lighten our Darkness -Rutter

Tonight we pray 1st Corinthians 13 first.

1 Corinthians 13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Gift of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly,[b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

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God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts so that we may strive to be your peacemakers to your fragile and broken world.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts so that we may help heal the tender hearts of the least of these and those who are lost, lonely, and alone.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts so that we may lovingly accept all of your beloved children whom you have made.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts that we may with you heal and comfort our family members with our prayers and compassionate touch and words.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts that we may comfort those who are in grief's long journey.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts so that we may speak truth to power and be a voice to the voiceless.

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts as we pray and give thanks for_______________

God of Love, you taught us to love, now teach us to see love not only with our eyes but with our hearts as we lift these our prayers to your beloved Son Jesus. Amen.

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Good Night Beloved ones! I love you! May you find rest for your bodies, minds, and spirits this night. I give God thanks for you this night. Remember tomorrow is Being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday.

With a heart and eyes filled with love to look upon you all dear family of Love/God,

Sara