Friday, October 21, 2011

Developing Love Relationships

Are relationships important in our life journey on this Earth? Absolutely!

A very special man and wise elder, John Red Hat, spoke to me about relationships. He had awesome insight in spiritual matters such as love, compassion, and how to relate positively to others.

Red Hat shared with me the following information about how we relate to one another. He told me, "I remember when I was a little boy. I had dreams of being in the Nazi death camps. In my dreams, I saw the love the mothers had for their babies. When they were herded, naked, into the poison gas chambers, being told they were going to take showers, I saw mothers hold their babies so tightly that they literally suffocated them to death. They did this so their babies would not be at the mercy of the enemy. Then I truly began to understand the tremendous depth of a mother's love, and I wept with them."

There are so many ways in which we relate to one another. We have the material world which involves shelter, sustenance, and other issues related to physical survival. Then we have our emotional well being which can be built up or torn down by our interaction with others. No one stands alone in this world. Humans appear to be social creatures.

We learn and grow when we interact with others. Everytime we overcome negative energy, we grow closer to Creator. One of our greatest opportunities to overcome darkness and grow spiritually is through our relationships.

Every moment we have new choices to make. It is like millions of thoughts go by us on a conveyor belt and we get to choose which ones we will follow through on. For instance, if someone says words which are meant to hurt us, how do we choose to react?

Our first "automatic" response is generally from our subconscious. If our heart is full of love for others, then our first response will likely be a warm, kind, loving one. But if we feel anger and hate in our hearts, then our response will more likely be one trying to cause someone else pain.

I believe one of our main purposes for our life journeys is to grow closer to our heavenly Father. How we relate to each other can be a tremendous growing experience. Every time we respond to someone else in a loving way, we grow closer to Creator. Our opportunities for spiritual growth are tremendous in today's chaotic world if we choose the way of loving-kindness. That was the way of our great patriarch, Abraham.

Wonderful, warm, loving ways to respond to others is taught in the book, Red Hat Speaks, by Dorothy K. Daigle. This book can be ordered from any bookstore or online from Amazon.com.