In the spirit of Christmas, and to express what I believe is a tremendous reason for hope, I'd like to share an essay I wrote two years ago. It's below, with part of the text, plus the url.
Life Begins in God’s Embrace
~ a Christmas meditation on the gifts of love
“Deus est auctor amoris et decoris.”
I start with the premise that “God is the author of love and beauty.” The love that reverberates through the universe was not created by humans. It also could not have appeared mechanistically, formed from a random explosion without source or intent.
The provenance, the source, the chain of love is always at least one step above its recipient. A life begins and grows and in the best of circumstances receives love from something higher and older than itself. Plants are nourished by the generosity of light and warmth and water. Newborn animals experience love and security nestled against their mothers and sometimes experience a transcendent love from an animal mother of a different species.
The life of a human infant, conceived by parents who love each other, specifically begins in an embrace of love, and then grows in the loving home of the mother’s womb. When the child is born, and nestles against the mother’s breast to nurse and sleep, the nourishment of love provides the foundation of the child’s existence.
One might ask what all of this has to do with an unprovable and invisible God. We may have felt the embrace of love from our mother or father, or other humans. But how can that mean that we are loved by God?
. . . the full essay is posted here:
https://peterfalkenbergbrown.c....om/writings/essays/a
