I recently received a mailing about a church that is a faith community focused specifically on those experiencing homelessness. They not only provide shelter, but also meals, and bring their mobile “shower trailer” out into the streets of their community to provide the much needed dignity of a shower. They described their work as helping people “discover the love of Jesus.”

First of all, I’m sure we’d all say “good for them!” It’s awesome what they and countless other faith communities are doing for so many in great need. However, I’d like to pick up on that phrase “the love of Jesus.” Yes, Jesus loves those being helped, those doing the helping, and everyone. His love is beyond description and he wants us to call on it at any time.

But I have a knowing in my soul that what Jesus would most want us to discover is the love of God already within US!  He wants us to know that the Love that is within him is the same Love that is within everyone and everything.

Why is that so important? Because it’s much harder to live from someone else’s love than your own. When we only hear that Jesus or God is love, and never hear of our own love, one can easily get the message that Jesus or God is love, but I am not. I am separate from love and that can make it harder to love, not easier. We can actually be separating ourselves or others from our own Truth!

Yes you can be inspired by the love of Jesus or anyone else. That’s a fine thing. But when you are inspired by someone else’s love it can remain just that, someone else’s. And it’s staying power is limited. It comes and goes. It rises and falls, depending on whether or not we remember to focus on it. Let’s be honest, most of the time we don’t!

What someone else’s love inspires us, that love is raising up the love already within us. We are simply remembering our own truth! When you know in your bones that YOU are love at your core, love is never a should, as in “you should love or be more loving.”

You don’t need to should all over yourself! You already ARE Love. Love is your natural state of BEing. When we KNOW we ARE love we can more naturally love. We live from a knowing that Love is the same as that heartbeat that just happens, or that breath we take without thinking about it. It just is.

It is actually unnatural for us to feel any form of judgement, hate, or separation. That is precisely why it feels so awful when we are living and feeling from those places. We can feel it’s just not right inside. Something is way off.

The bottomless Well of Love is always within you. It never leaves you or is lacking in any way. It IS you. Draw from it. Jesus says in the New Testament, “the one who drinks of this water will never thirst.” John 4:14.

There is nothing more important to tell ourselves than “I am Love.” As we do so, it becomes the place from which we live. And that is everything.

Tim Tengblad

timtengblad@comcast.net