Scripture ~ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Romans 12:9
Spiritual Focus ~ “Love is the root of everything. All learning. All parenting. All relationships.” Fred Rogers, creator and host of “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood”, author, producer and Presbyterian minister.
Breath Prayer ~ Inhale, Love is, Exhale, relationship.
Devotion ~ January often brings up the subject of New Year’s resolutions, shifts, or changes in habits that are intended to make our lives better. Author Andy Andrews writes, “Every good thing that has happened in your life happened because something changed. A job, an address, a season, an outlook, and (of course) underwear. Anything changing for you today?” This year, however, instead of a new diet or exercise regime, we might reflect or “revisit” relationships we have that are becoming stale. In an effort to explore and revitalize a stale relationship, we might ask, “How have I changed from when the relationship began? Have I acknowledged the change? How is the vitality of the relationship affected by this acknowledgment?” Reflecting on our life experience highlights the changes that open us to new ways of being in relationship and loving one another.
The relationship with our faith and yoga practice could benefit from the same reflection. How has our life experience changed or informed our faith and yoga practice? Neither faith nor yoga were intended to be static. Both share the goal of union with the Divine, with something greater than self that we name God. New experiences of God revitalize and evolve our relationships toward love. When we acknowledge these changes, we enter deeper into divine, loving relationship, a pattern that is repeated in scripture. God’s love is foundational and consistently present in the trinity, the communion of saints, and the cloud of witnesses. God is love, the root of everything.
How does love show up when we reflect on life changes in our body, mind, or spirit? A fellow yogi recently noted that as she moves into her fifties, she finds her yoga practice changing toward yin yoga and gentle breathing. She focuses on the loving relationship with her body and paying attention to what it needs. Acknowledging change revitalizes our relationships with ourselves, others, and God and opens us up to the experience of real love.
