by Rev. Lynne Hinton
It took three classes of sharing the prompt before it actually landed for me. “Write a letter from Love to yourself,” Elizabeth Gilbert suggested in her essay, “Letters From Love,” in the book, The Book of Alchemy, by Suleika Jaouad.
First, it was with those in the young adult recovery unit and I did feel a slight stirring when I began writing. Then it was with the older adults and young mothers; but I was too concerned about whether or not they understood the prompt to let it settle deeply within me. Still, I wrote. Then it was the behavioral health crisis unit. Only one participant, and I saw how she struggled with the assignment, not because she didn’t understand how to reply to the prompt but because she didn’t really know what love was.
“Think of someone who loves you,” I said, and then wished I hadn’t. I know there are many in these programs who can’t call such a person to mind. I was met with silence.
Finally, she replied softly, “my dog loves me.”
And relieved, I responded, “YES! Write a letter from your dog!”
And she did. And it was beautiful and touching; and suddenly, I couldn’t stop the tears. It was as if she unlocked the gate, as if her words finally broke through the wall, as if I was finally able to receive a message from Love. And it splintered me and then healed me right back up. In a split second, in an unbelievable moment of grace.
I remember when a friend told me that she learned what it was to feel loved by God. It happened for her during a worship service in which the scripture reading was the parable of the treasure in the field found in Matthew 13:44-46.
“As I heard the story again, it dawned on me,” she said, “that maybe I could see this lesson from Jesus in a new way. What if I was the treasure in the field? What if I was not the one searching for it, the one who sold everything to buy it; but what if I was the treasure, and God sold everything to keep me? And with that thought, I sat in that sanctuary, weeping at such loveliness.”
Maybe Love has been trying to speak to you. Maybe Love wants to write you a letter. Or maybe Love just wants to remind you that you are God’s treasure and that nothing can steal away your belovedness. Maybe it’s time for you to let the message in.