Traditions around the world speak of a deepening relationship with God, a marriage with God. This feeling for God as your all and all, your Beloved, is both dual in nature, of being lover and beloved, and also holds out a promise for complete mergence of two who become one.
Human love of one for another has so very many variations, but a romance includes physical chemistry and deep emotions of the heart. One of the great challenges of human love is to separate out chemistry (lust) from real love. Chemistry can be a powerful imitator of love, at least in the beginning. Chemistry can make you feel that you cannot live without another, you can only think of another, and in intimate moments that you are merging one into another. However, chemistry can be had with someone with whom you are not compatible on any other level. When the chemistry subsides, as it always does, and there is no friendship, no alignment of interests or purpose, then there is a sense of betrayal of “love.”
Real love endures and is based on respect and friendship–it is a feeling that resembles the patina of wood. Patina is created through years of usage, and even those things that can be not good for the finish, sunlight, dust and scuffs all add to the patina that give it a rich glow that cannot be created in any other way except through time and usage. There are times when love has to endure much, but in the end it creates a deepening glow that shines all the more with kindness, care and usage.
This human love, whether in romance, friendship, work or familial relationships is all preparation for our marriage with God. God is the consummate lover, ever attentive, giving and keen for your welfare. However, even as God gives all, so does He demand all. The principle of, “As you give, so shall you receive,” is never more true than with God. Human tendency is to withhold from another when hurt and disappointed. This tendency must be overcome, not only in human relationships (this is part of the preparation for the Divine Romance), but most especially you must learn not to withhold from God. There is a mathematical preciseness–exactly the way you withhold equals blocking out the flow of God; not because God is withholding from you, but because you have built a barrier through your withholding.
When you learn to surrender, to give your all, then the floodgates open and you receive the infinite nature of God–unending love, ever-new bliss, life, wisdom thoughts, expansive consciousness, unending gifts of Spirit. Now, as you receive, so you give. You give all that God gives to you back to God, God as Spirit, God as creation. The more you give, the more you receive, the more you receive, the more you give. The patina of Spirit grows and glows, and you are infinitely enriched as God gives to God. You give without thought of what you will receive, only knowing that it is God giving through you, and you giving back to God in whatever way He directs.
In that direct relationship with God, giver and receiver merge and are ultimately consumed, one into another. One becomes two, and two become One, a play of Spirit, not to create separation but enjoy the giving and receiving in its unending variations. Think what a dismal life of playing it alone results in, when compared to the wonder and beauty of being God’s expression and beloved. God, being the senior partner, is not unmindful of the wishes of His beloved, however His will is far reaching, wise beyond counting, and takes into account the good of all. Therefore, God is not going to cater to every wish of His beloved, but definitely compensates for every lash that may be received for His Name’s sake.
To enter into this Divine Romance you begin with giving, surrendering, serving, and loving. If you cannot find it in you to know how to do these things, then pray to your Infinite Beloved to show you how. If you stand back in indifference or fear, then you are withholding–with predictable results. Love can only be known through free will, love can never be compulsory. We ever stand on the threshold of a new beginning, and even now you may enrichen the patina of your Divine Romance and explore the infinite nature of your Beloved by stepping through that doorway.