Those Three Little Words.

I said them.

I can’t believe I said them.

It was my turn, my turn to say something, and I could feel your eyes watching me, waiting, and I just blurted them out. It was just what came to mind as I sat there in those few silent beats, my thoughts whipping from one thing to another, the split second where a thousand things could have been said, but instead of anything else... I said those three little words:

“God is Love.”

Oh, god! Did I really just say that?? Did I really just say the words that for years, eons it seems, I’ve gagged at, rolled my eyes at, laughed at, scoffed at?

Did those words really just pop into my head and out of my mouth? Oh god, I’d take them back, but…

I have despised this phrase: “God is Love.” The first time I heard it, I think I vomited in my mouth a little. It was so despicably saccharine and hippie and idiotic. There have been few phrases in the whole English language that have caused such antipathy and revulsion in me than this one.

“God is Love,” ew. Really? Just, Ew.

But, the first time I heard it must have been nearly 8 years ago now. I was 24 when I first heard it; I’m 32 now, and apparently, somewhere in that time my rejection of that phrase, that idea, that sticky ewwy gooey warmth, has softened.

This is as much news to you, as it is to me.

I sat with a group of folks yesterday morning, and at the end of our time together, a piece of paper with affirmations printed on it is passed around. You can choose to say one of these, or make up your own, or simply pass. There are phrases like,

I am enough

I have enough

I do enough

There is enough time

There is enough love

There is enough money

I am right where I’m supposed to be

My life works

I am not my income

I am not my debts

I am lovable exactly as I am.

At various times since I’ve sat with this group, different phrases have appealed to me. Some don’t, sometimes I make my own up. Lately, I really like this line from another part of the literature which reads, We will come to recognize a power greater than ourselves as the source of our abundance.

I like this, because it means I’m not the source, I don’t have to wrench or squeeze or wrest things out of life. I also like it because abundance can mean so many things, and affect so many areas: The Source of my abundance of: The physical, financial, emotional, locational, material, spiritual, comedic, familial, romantic. Of my thought life, my priorities, my perseverance, travel, prosperity, boundaries, action. Abundance of my vulnerability, intimacy, sexuality, authenticity. My focus. My laughter, my joy, my health, my vitality.

A power greater than myself is the source of all these and more, because surely, I am not the one who makes my heart beat, the trees flower, or puts those two new kitchen chairs out on the street just when I was thinking of needing new ones. Something else, just the anima of life itself, or simply gravity that causes the moon to phase, is greater than me, doing things without my hand, and offering me more than I've begun to know. 

But. God as Love?????

Ick.

And yet, it happened. The sheet with the affirmations passed around to me, it was my turn, and as I scanned the list, none of them spoke to me, and I was in the act of passing the sheet to the next person when those three little words escaped my lips.

I was taken aback. I was shocked at what had happened, what must have transpired in almost 8 years. I said something I thought I would never, ever say. Didn’t ever want to be like those saps who say things like God is Love.

And yet. M’ F’er. I did.