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Peace be with you.

Welcome to a new week!

This week’s challenge may truly be… well… challenging. I understand that, and I hope you’ll hear me out and consider it. Believe me, it’s not always easy for me either.

One of the most common aspects of near-death experiences is described by the experiencers as a feeling of being completely surrounded and permeated by unconditional love. They say that it’s nearly impossible to put into words, and it’s a feeling that they miss when they return to their bodies. If we’re lucky, we get instances of that feeling while we’re alive, but we don’t fully experience it until we move on to the other side.

I believe that all-encompassing feeling is divine love. The love we were created from and the love we return to when we die. NDE survivors are witnesses to it, and the ones who feel comfortable sharing their stories often say that learning to love unconditionally is why we are here in this life.



Whether you believe NDE’s are real or not (and if you don’t, I challenge you to spend some time looking at the evidence presented by doctors and scientific researchers), the idea that we should love unconditionally is backed up in at least two places in the Christian Bible.

In Mark, Chapter 12, verses 28-31, it says:

“One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”

Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

What Jesus did not do when he answered the scribe was put conditions or limitations on loving your neighbor. You can look for yourself; it’s not there.

That means that if you are Christian, you are required to love EVERYONE. Not just those who love you back, not just those who are nice to you, and not just those who agree with you.

Everyone means everyone. Full stop.

Later in the New Testament, in the Second Letter of Timothy , Chapter 1, verses1–4, Saint Timothy wrote:

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Praying for people in positions of power, whether we agree with them or like them, is also part of the plan.

This is not always easy, but it is doable. It takes practice and intentionality.

Think about the historical perspective of when Jesus and Timothy lived. Rome was in control of the region, and the Romans were not always kind to non-citizens of Rome. They taxed them heavily, persecuted the new flavor of Judaism that came to be called Christianity, and had given the green light to crucifying a peaceful man because the crowd demanded it.

Yet Jesus said to love your neighbor and Timothy said to pray for those in high positions. They preached love rather than rebellion.

So, how do you pray for those you disagree with, especially those in high positions?

Pray that those in charge make the right decisions for the people they are in charge of, the people they are supposed to be serving as leaders.

From a Reiki master’s perspective, we call this the “the highest and best” intention. Almost every day, I send Reiki for the highest and best for our leaders and our neighbors. I pray for peace and the highest and best for all.

I do not pretend to know what exactly that entails because unlike the Creator, I cannot read the hearts of others. That’s not my job. I cannot see all the wheels that turn to make this world go around, nor the way one action today may cause ripples into tomorrow or a hundred years from now. No human can. We can speculate, but speculation is not the same as truth.

My job is to pray and to love.

If you are a Christian, yours is too. If you’re not, why not give love a try anyway? Not every person who experiences an NDE is Christian, but most of them come back with the same message of unconditional love.

Go forth and love unconditionally!

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