FEELING THE KISS

‘Do whatever it takes to feel the kiss, for this
is what you came here for
to know yourself as the beloved of God
and to spend your time kissing the world awake’

You may want to read this blog alongside my related blog: THE KISS OF GOD

 What does it take to feel a kiss?

A willingness to receive it?

An openness?

A sensitivity to touch?

An awareness of what the kiss is conveying?

Kisses are about love and to feel the ultimate love of God breathing our world alive, we must first align our lives with love.

The kiss of life is a gentle caress. To feel it we must receive it in the manner in which it was given. We must become ourselves as gentle as the kiss, as soft, as loving, as caring, as free, as gracious, as joyful, as generous.

If we are hardened, embittered, cold, unfeeling, resentful, ungrateful, unreceptive, callous, cynical – if we are any of these things then it will be almost impossible to feel the kiss of life breathing us alive each day. A gentle embrace cannot be felt through layers of hardness and while we do not feel the kiss of God we remain convinced that we live outside of it, somehow separate from the Source of life and therefore somewhat lacking in and of ourselves.

I believe we need to soften and give ourselves opportunities to feel the subtle, gentle kiss of God.

                           ‘Do whatever it takes to feel the kiss.’

  Just what might this look like in practise?
Here are a few examples.

• Swallow our pride.
• Let down our defences.
• Be willing to forgive
• Practise relaxation, meditation, yoga, T’ai Chi
• Cultivate an open mind
• Breathe deeply
• Take a mindful walk through the forest or by the sea
• Connect with nature any way you can
• Slow down
• Be willing to be seen as wrong
• Be willing to let others be right
• Light a candle and say a prayer for someone
• Smile at a stranger
• Smile at ourselves

The kiss of God is life itself. It is the most beautiful gift of all. It is the only thing that can restore true sanity and health to our lives and receiving it is vital if we are to be able to give it to others.

    Only by knowing ourselves as love are we able to give out love.

To some extent we all carry a memory of ourselves as being love otherwise we would not be able to love at all, in any way, shape or form. The fact that the world has not crumbled into total chaos and destruction is testimony to the fact that the human race is essentially good. However our ability to express and give love is often far more restricted than it need be. Often we love only partially. We reserve love for the chosen few and find ourselves unable to love those who do not meet with our approval. We often love conditionally rather than unconditionally, attaching strings to our loving. Worrying about whether it is safe to love we love timidly rather than courageously, half heartedly rather than with our whole heart, we hold back and often wonder whether it is a good idea to love at all.
If we perceive that someone is unloving towards us we withdraw our love from them in an attempt to minimise the pain we feel.
            
                        We love inconsistently rather than consistently.

If we are to ever begin to love more consistently and fully then we must commit to rediscovering the truth about who we are as beings of love. The extent to which we can hold kindness, love, beauty, peace, gentleness, compassion, joy, and truth within us as expressions of that which we are, is directly proportionate to the extent to which we can give these qualities to the world.

The good news is that it is fun discovering who we really are. It is a wonderful feeling to begin to open your heart to love, to begin to remove the barriers to feeling that we have erected and held in place for so long. Taking them down is so less stressful than keeping them in place. Once down we feel how beautiful it is to sit in the ‘soft, green, beauty of the open field’ and to breathe in the fresh air rather than the cold, stale air that our own prisons have provided us with.

I leave you with these lovely words from Rumi

                             ‘There is a kiss we want with our whole lives

                              The touch of spirit on the body’

I encourage you to do whatever it takes to feel this kiss.

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