freedom from shame - embracing the light within

one day
i had an experience
that changed
my life
I was having
a special massage
a water massage and the woman
massaging me
had strong mama hands
and I felt like a child
as she exfoliated
my skin
and the water
rushed over my body
when was the last time
someone
had washed me?
there was something
deeply nourishing
about these strong
mama hands
I surrendered to
being cleansed
to feeling
childlike
and then these words
and this epiphany happened
I thought about how we have
viewed the concept
of being cleansed
and how we sometimes
feel dirty inside
feel shame deep within
feel that at our deepest core
we are bad
this has been a theology
for the last 1000 years
called
original sin
but the Celtic tradition
and the Eastern Orthodox tradition said
no way - that's not true
but it is the tradition I knew
that at my deepest self
I am bad
And in this moment
of water massage
I tasted Divine Love
I knew a holy mother's love
How she views her child
when mud is splattered on the skin
She says
'baby, come to me.
take off those dirty clothes
strip down to your beautiful skin
I'll wash you clean again.'
It is because she knows the beauty underneath
it is with a fiery joy and wild love
that we are washed clean
and it is not about shame at all
in fact that was what I heard that day
these are the words I heard
'Cathy, I don't do shame.
I just don't do that
Wherever you are carrying shame - that's not me.
that's not how I love.'
I believe Divine Love longs to restore us to
our original beauty
our original creation
we are invited to be fully free
to live
to sing
to be radiant with the Love we have known at the
deepest level
of our souls
This is the Love I have tasted
This is the Love I have known
This is the Love that transforms, heals and redeems.
This is the Love that is here  - right here and right now.