Edge Life by Cathy Combs

Love is All There is

The more I live my spirituality and develop my personal practice, I deeply understand at a heart level that divine love is all there is. I believe we are all divine love in expression. To me God is only Love.

I do not believe in the theology of the "white bearded man in the sky" image of a God outside of us directing our lives, blessing some and denying blessings to others. I believe in God as the immanent, divine expressive principle of love, wisdom, peace and joy in all of life. I believe God is all-encompassing, impartial Love. As expressions of that love, we can be only love. I believe we were all made to be one with that love for all time. Anything else is fear and I can consciously let it go. Fear is not the truth of who I am as a spiritual being.

I strengthen my personal vibration by using what Unity calls affirmative prayer. That is, I affirm the truth of who I am and I stay centered in who I am as a spiritual being. I use an affirmation such as, "I am the love of the Christ presence." That means I am one with the divine spirit of my life. I use this affirmation to stay centered in the present moment.

When I am aware of any kind of fear thought or negative feeling, I use what Unity calls a denial. I consciously release the fear thought and let it go. When I am focusing on the past or worrying about the future, I use a denial such as "I release all fear, all worry." I follow that with an affirmation of what I want in my life. "I am one with divine love." By this centering process, I strengthen my life and diminish any perceived negativity.

The present moment
I can only do something constructive in the present moment, so that is where I try to stay focused. I use affirmative prayer to slow myself down and to realize I have all the time I need to accomplish whatever is before me each day. It is amazing how much I can get done in a short amount of time when I stay focused. It is equally amazing how long it takes to get the simplest thing done when my attention is divided.

These simple prayer techniques are very powerful. These techniques of affirmation and denial greatly help me strengthen my life and diminish any negativity in my life.

I believe in a holistic view of life. I believe that duality is so strong in our present world simply because we, as a human race, believe it exists. I believe that all the "evil" that exists in the world is there because we believe it exists. In 1983, a poem I wrote, "The Lightness of the Dark Side," was published in Unity Magazine. My poem expressed my belief that "the dark side is simply the aspects of God we do not yet know." I believe that to this day. When we center our thoughts on love, it is amazing how calm we can be in the midst of any storm. When I remind myself that God is everywhere present, I can be calm in any emotional storm. I remind myself that I am one with God. I focus on love and peace, and I live from a centeredness of love and peace.

My prayer life is a daily, unceasing process. It is not something I do for one moment a day and then forget about it. I have to constantly practice the presence of love and peace and joy to maintain a personal presence of love and peace and joy. My personal and professional life is the best it's ever been, so I know this personal practice works for me.

Our own work
It's not something I can give to others. We have to do our own work. I believe that is perhaps our greatest spiritual lesson. I cannot live my life through someone else and expect to be happy. Life just doesn't work that way. I must value my own life. I must value my dignity. I must value my inherent self-worth. I must recognize my oneness with the divine in me. I must develop my own spiritual gifts and then share them with others. I must be the blessing I want to see in the world. As Gandhi said, "Be the change we want to see in the world." If I want love in the world, I must be love in the world. If I want joy I must be joy. If I want peace I must be peace. The world is created from the inside out! Choice by choice, I create my life. That's how love grows and negativity diminishes. That's what I have found to be true.

I believe that heaven and hell are states of consciousness created here and now. I create heaven and hell for my daily life by the thoughts I think and the actions I make toward myself and others. Each moment, I can affirm my belief in oneness with the divine or separation from the divine. If I want a life of peace, it is mine for the making. If I want a life of self-hatred, it is mine for the making.

I believe with all my heart our heritage is to rise to the level that all the great masters of all the spiritual traditions lived by example. We are to recognize our spiritual heritage, our divinity. We are to rise to the level of self-mastery that Jesus and Buddha attained. We are to be the blessing we are meant to be. That is my purpose in this lifetime. That is my commitment to myself and all others. When I fall short of my goal, I forgive myself and begin again. I learn the lesson in the moment. I give thanks for the lesson learned and I begin again. I recognize that life is a process, not just an event. I am to be actively involved in, and present to, my life. That is how I strengthen my life. That is how I am love in expression! That is who I am! I am love!

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