At the edge of your grief and the beginning of mine,

where his loneliness intersects with hers,

a little ways past our illusions about how perfect this life should be –

somewhere in the gorgeous, throbbing fullness of our humanity,

we are going to unite –

We just need to find that place

where our joys and sorrows dance together

under the same full moon,

where our children’s eyes glint

under the same star shine,

where her delight intersects with his,

where your peace crosses paths with mine,

where we all stand under the same oak tree,

rooted deeply,

shoulder to shoulder watching

the same Butterfly

rise up into the mystery

on delicate wings,

pure strength –

the simple realization of who we are at our core…

more alike than different.

More genuine than we behave.

Deep down, we are all souls created

out of pure Love,

fashioned by Divine Hands,

pristine essence masked

by the clothing of our beliefs,

politics, religion, race, education…

some privileged, others oppressed…

some conscious, some dangerously not so –

when we open our hearts wide enough to realize

it could have been me, you, us, them…

her success, his failure,

your praise, my lament,

his despair, your grace,

even the wisdom to say yes is a gift…

just past the fantasy of our own glory,

into the reality of God’s –

This is where we’re going to unite …

basking in unconditional Love like a sun,

our hot toes dipping into the same cool pool,

our splashes and joyful shrieks

rising up like a song,

like the laughter of children

mingling into the air we breathe –

solidarity, truth, fresh oxygen at last.

Just on the other side of your trauma, his blessing, her fears…

we’ll finally melt into the realization:

All roads lead into the heart of God,

every crooked path –

even yours, even mine.

We are all created in the image of the One,

who never let us go,

who has been leading us home all along.

Maya Angelou said “When we know better, we do better.”

When we experience Christ’s love for ourselves, we can do a better job of sharing that love with others.

When we connect with God through prayer and meditation, divisive mindsets like pride, judgement and fear begin to melt away until we become wholly one with the pure love of God and gain the ability to share that love with others. Through contemplative prayer, we can more deeply embrace the nuances of our own spiritual journey through life and realize how universal our human emotional experiences really are.

Prayer shapes us into heart-centered people who are humble, authentic, genuinely caring and willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

The mystical poet Rumi wrote:

Out beyond ideas of

wrongdoing and rightdoing

there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies

down in that grass,

the world is too

full to talk about.

As the mystics teach, prayer takes us into that “field” of unity with Christ and each other, which we all long for in our heart of hearts.

What are your thoughts on the divisive age we are living in? How do you think faith can help us rise above our differences to treat each other with more love and respect, realizing the heart of our common humanity in spite of possible different opinions? Comment below, and I’ll be delighted to hear your thoughts and keep you in my prayers.

Lord, starting in our own hearts through prayer, melt away the divisive mindsets which are causing so much conflict in our world today. Bring us into union with Your Divine plan for our lives, and work through us to bring Your peace and love to others, who are most in need of it. In Jesus name we pray, Amen