Midweek Faith Lift
July 9, 2025
The Magnetism of Love
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
July 1, 2025
There once was a man who attended a “Master Your Mind” weekend retreat. On the first morning, the teacher said, “Before we can learn anything, we must unlearn what we think we know.” The man nodded sagely and whispered, “Ah yes, very wise,” while also secretly wondering how long until lunch. The teacher asked the group, “What’s something you’ve always believed that might not be true?” The man raised his hand: “That I can fix any problem by using a hammer or a wrench.” The group chuckled. The teacher smiled. “And how’s that working for you?” The man thought for a moment and said, “Well, last week I tried to fix my computer with a hammer. Now it won’t boot up at all, and it has a dent in it the shape of Minnesota.” Later that day, the teacher led a meditation on releasing outdated beliefs. The man closed his eyes and silently said, “I let go of thinking I always have the answer.” And immediately followed it with, “Although I probably still do.”
Affirmative Prayer for today: As I contemplate what the Magnetic power of love means in my life, create in me oh Spirit, a clean heart. Clear away the emotional debris of disappointment, the residue of hurt that clouds my vision and distorts my capacity to understand and express the spiritual power of love that is greater than I am. Amen.
I love that opening story because I am so right there with this guy who affirms in one statement that he lets go of thinking he always has the answer and then follows it immediately with what in his heart he truly believes! He always has the answer! Don’t we all?!? I am truly gifted at knowing what you should or shouldn’t do and I navigate that with the intention of being the most loving self I can possibly be! Don’t you agree?? Don’t answer that, not if you know what’s good for you!
I remember attending Unity of Overland Park in the Kansas City area when I was at a weeklong retreat at Unity Village. I wanted to hear Rev. Mary Omwake who was back from a stint in Hawaii. She had learned about the native Hawaiian Ho’oponopono forgiveness prayer practice and the native Hawaiian definition of love, which is: “love is to be happy with.” I had to write that one down because my brain could not hold onto it, there wasn’t room for it. Too many old beliefs about what love really meant. My version of love at that time was “love is to be happy when…” I will love my children when….my ex-husband when……my present husband when….my sister when…..you get the idea! How’s that workin’ for you Deb? I was living in the consciousness of “great expectations” for myself, and those closest to me, not really workable and usually guaranteed disappointment.
In the journey to really comprehend love from both a human and divine perspective, it was essential for the magnetic power of love to draw to me any number of “learning experiences” and “growth opportunities.” These were essential to really open my heart, mind and will to a deeper, expanded consciousness of what the true energy of love is all about. The most profound realization was that “love” is an energy, a “faculty of the mind and heart” not just a feeling directed to an object or person. Rev. Linda quotes Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving, p. 46 who writes”
Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person: it is an attitude, an orientation of character that the determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one “object” of love…love is a an activity, a power of the soul….
Love, ultimately, in both human and divine form is a practice; it is an art to be learned with patience, humility, forgiveness and grace. Love is an energy with spiritual depth and human emotion; both are necessary. Most frequently, the human aspect of love is what dominates the experience.
Erich Fromm was correct when he said that there is an art to loving, one that we can learn. It makes no sense to say that one can become a great painter, an artist, if one just finds the right object to paint. Likewise, it makes no sense to say that one can become a truly loving person if one just finds the “right” person to love. It is true that one can be with the ‘wrong’ person in a love relationship; physical or emotional abuse is not love. Sometimes in our human journey, we have to gain clarity about what love is not before we begin to understand what love is, true love. However, the bottom line is that love within an intimate relationship is an incredible learning laboratory with lessons that are neither easy or pain free! Learning to truly love ourselves is usually the start point.
What is required for us to persist in this “learning the art of loving” process? Well, we have already explored the Powers of Faith, Understanding, Will, Imagination, Zeal and Power, so that we have some kind of spiritual foundation on which to stand as we grapple with the confusing power of Love. Charles Fillmore, in Jesus Christ Heals, says this:
God does not love anybody or anything. God is the love in everybody and everything. God is love and humans become loving by permitting that which is God to find expression in word and act.
Pause and consider what a radical statement that is and how powerful. It gives
us, as human beings, incredible agency and responsibility in this learning the art of loving process. Fillmore doesn’t give us a moral directive in how to behave in order to earn God’s love, which is the more standard version of God. No, God love is as readily available as the air we breathe and available to everyone and everything, no exception, just like the air.
We, in our profound human beliefs, think that we can influence, control, manipulate others to get them to love us by withholding our approval, our attention, our love. Guilt trip, anyone?? But wait a minute! Can we stop the flow of air to them? Not unless we want to stop the flow of life, which is the direct opposite of loving. There is a lot of energy that is life choking in our world these days. It tests our capacity to remain in a loving consciousness, especially when everything that we would call “not love” keeps showing up with such energy and persistence! And one belief that needs to go is that we will only love those who love us in return. That is a hard one, but it is one that has to go.
The world we are living in right now requires that we use all of our spiritual powers to deepen and broaden our consciousness and become even more deeply rooted in our spiritual practices within our very being-ness, our very breath. It requires great resilience, which was described in Spiritual Passages by Scott Awbrey in this way, he writes:
Resilience is the tree that bends in the storm. It doesn’t resist the wind with brittle defiance; it yields, sways, dances if it must. Its roots dig deep into unseen soil, anchoring it through thunder and flood. And when the storm passes, the tree is still standing—not because it fought harder, but because it knew how to bend without breaking. Its strength lies not in rigidity, but in the quiet wisdom of endurance.
Anyone who has been in a committed relationship of any kind has experienced this kind of resilience and the quiet wisdom of endurance.
We are all in a committed relationship with one another here at Unity of Ames, for sure, as we celebrate 32 years of existence for our spiritual community. The law of attraction….that we are attracted to what resonates for us is what brought us here. What keeps us here is our deepening capacity to learn from one another and to grow spiritually and mature emotionally together. I can only speak for myself, but what I have learned from you all, as minister has been profoundly life changing for me. I have not necessarily enjoyed all the lessons but that is not the issue at hand here. When willing, I have learned from all the lessons how to be a better version of my human/divine self. And for that I am humbly grateful.
Rev. Linda describes the magnetizing power of love when she writes:
The good news is about the law of attraction is that love, the great magnet, is what pulls us in every circumstance, good and bad. Situations are not being sent our way by some other source. We, as love, go into all circumstances. We attract ourselves into the details of our life for love. The light of love wants to shine, to heal, to transform, to unify and to harmonize. Divine Audacity, p. 126.
Wherever we find ourselves, whatever life lesson we are in the midst of, we are assured that love is always there, just as real and present as the air we breathe. We have the agency, the power to let it have expression when we have the humility and resilience to do so. And we remember one of Charles Fillmore’s favorite scriptures from:
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."
May it be so….
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb