Die While Alive

It is Valentine's Day. I can think of no better way to think about love but unconditional love. When we think about dying we are usually thinking about the end of our life, hopefully when we are old and grey. However, today lets think about dying while we are yet still alive. What does this mean? I think that it means that we begin to love others without condition. To love others without condition involves us denying ourselves. We no longer love others because we will get something out of it, or because there is some reward waiting. Unconditional love means just that - without condition. Truly loving others without condition requires a denial of our needs, wants, and desires. Truly denying our wants, needs, and desires means that we have to die. This is the only time that our desires no longer live. Can that truly be done while we are still alive. My answer is an unequivocal YES! Jesus said to us:

"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?"

Matthew 16:24-26

Does this kind of death require some suffering? Jesus says to us yes and embrace it! Jesus says to follow him and he will show us how to do just that! To die means to cease living, to become dead, to expire, to cease existing. This must involve some suffering to really allow our ego, our self, our desires to die. Jesus says here that you must lose yourself to find yourself. You must die to yourself while you are alive. This means that our lives become whole and we completely find who we are, our identity in Christ. Anyone that has truly lived out this spiritual truth and knows it, experienced it, will tell you that this is where perfect peace, joy, and contentment lives. Mother Teresa said "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." True peace and joy comes from letting go of our desires and having them become God's desires. To die while alive and allow God's spirit to take over. When God's spirit takes over, unconditional love rules. We act in loving ways, kind ways, and humble ways. We join with everyone on Earth in the journey of knowing God.

Die while you are alive. Allow someone else to meet their desire's first. Let them have their way. Show them kindness. Make room for their frustration and anger. See them as a part of yourself and a spirit created in God's image. Make Valentine's Day everyday. This may come with some suffering when we allow our desires to go and die, but will be replace by much peace and joy when God's spirit fill us full!

Namaste'