Resolve to Love

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
- Rumi

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a fabulous New Year celebration. Wanda and I spent time with some friends, enjoying adult beverages and games, including football.

Note: Shameless self-promotion ahead ...

This coming year holds some exciting things for me including the release in September of my first book, Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians. This book is the culmination of nearly 15 years of experience working for the full inclusion of GLBT people in the church and society. GLBT people are constantly under attack by religious people for who they are. We are constantly told that we are "sinners" hated and rejected by God unless we change who we are. My book will give GLBT people the tools they need to reconcile their spirituality and sexuality once and for all so no attack can ever weaken their faith again.

I'm looking forward to touring with the book and speaking at churches, conference, colleges and other organizations. If anyone is planning a conference and needs a qualified and dynamic speaker, please contact me. You can check out my workshops and topics at this page.

**end shameless self promotion**

As we enter the New Year, Rumi's words struck me this morning. These past few months, I've been seeking ways break down the barriers to love that I have built within myself. We are all afraid to truly love. When we love we become vulnerable. We open ourselves to others in the world in ways we normally wouldn't. Being open means that we can be hurt. Being vulnerable means that our feelings can be trampled upon by others. We can be taken advantage of by others. We can be deeply hurt by others.

So we close off our hearts. It's easier to not love than it is to love. It's easier to not care than it is to care. Loving - being genuinely caring for everyone - regardless of who they are or how they may have hurt us in the past - may set us up for fresh hurts and injuries.

But, to find love - real, true, lasting love - we must tear down the barriers we have erected in ourselves. Until we do, the love we find around us will never be that real, true, lasting love. It will only be a fleeting facsimile of real love.

The big sensation this year was "The Secret." Everyone wanted to know the secret of creating wealth, health and love. Apparently, it's all in your head - what you think on grows. We all know the secret now - but we're not all fabulously wealthy, healthy, and in love. Why?

Because we misunderstand the power of the secret. It's not just another way to build wealth, health and our love life. If we see the secret as simply a way to get more, be more and attract more into our lives, then we've missed the point. The true secret is to remove all barriers to love that we have built up. The true secret is to stop being afraid of being hurt by the world or those around us. We will be hurt. It is inevitable. The question we must ask ourselves is, do we truly seek to be happy? If so, then we must love without reservation and without fear. We must plant seeds of true love and happiness in the world. Instead of seeking selfish gain, we must seek the gain of all people. Only then will our love and our happiness be complete.

If you make resolutions, resolve now to begin removing the barriers to love you have built within yourself. Stop thinking of how you can gain something in this world just for you and think instead how your thoughts, your actions, your very life can benefit everyone. Then and only then will you find true happiness and suddenly your life will be filled with wealth, health and love. You may still be poor, sickly and alone, but your definitions of wealth, health and love will surely have been transformed - and the world along with it.