I have always been a mystic, one that seeks direct connection with Source. I sought this out intuitively as a child. I walked through our woods gazing at the sun shining through the leaves and I felt moved within my innermost being. I knew this was God showing Itself to me. I grew up saying my favorite color was the color of sun shining through a leaf because of the feeling it gave me for this reason. It was the vibration and expression of direct Source energy.
Growing up, I was placed in a Southern Baptist church, and while I loved hearing the stories of Jesus’ healing and love, I also had to hear the stories of a wrathful God. I grew up around people who believed they needed to fear God, that they were lowly and sinful. It was a very sad energy. I also grew up around those who tried to teach me Jesus and the Bible were the only way, and for a while, I believed them. I never could bring myself to become baptized though. I knew I’d be faking it to make others happy. For I knew something many of them didn’t… I knew the feeling of God in nature, when I felt It through the sun shining through the leaves. I knew someone else on the other side of the world who had never heard of Jesus or the Bible could have and very likely had the very same experience I did for the energy in that moment is beyond any dogma or man. It was a direct connection with Source, with God, the Universe… whatever you want to call It! Their hearts could have been touched with the love of the Divine just like mine was without any church, book, or man.
I began questioning my Christianity and the church as early as middle school based on my experiences in the woods. I started not agreeing with the mission trips solely meant to convert others. Again, I knew others “over there” knew the same God and energy I did even without the Bible or Jesus and they didn’t need to be “saved” because they already had what they needed for their own experience and inner Love… Nature. Nature is every human’s birthright. We are born of Nature, and we can experience Nature, the Divine connection to God/Source/Universe, through feeling into our hearts while in nature. This is a mystical experience, beyond books, humans, or religion. Everyone has access to it!
Christianity can be beautiful and really open up people’s hearts, but there comes a point where it can become too confining, too judgemental of others, and too closed-hearted. Jesus would never dismiss someone who didn’t call themselves a Christian. In fact, he would go and sit with that person and love them just the same as those who did call themselves Christian. He may even find that the person who did not call themselves a Christian had removed even more of the plank out of their eye than many of those who did identify as Christians. Jesus is Love, and if we can invite the consciousness of Christ to really live in and change our hearts, our hearts become even bigger than we could ever imagine! There is enough space for Christians, for Muslims, for Buddhists, for agnostics, for atheists, for queer people, those of all color, and even more within our hearts!
There is a calling to open our hearts more! To experience an even deeper connection with Jesus in Christ Consciousness and to Source/God. Go outside, remove yourself from other people and from any knowledge outside of your own heart. For within your own heart lies the answers and truth. Do not be distracted by the truths of others for only you can find your own truth. It is your divine birthright to experience the truth that lives in your heart and to have a direct connection to Source. Dive into Love!