Our wedding anniversary yesterday was quiet.
It was just another ordinary day.
Like, we spent most of the afternoon catching up on sleep.
But it was loud and busy on social media.
Throughout the day and through out the world,
we got greetings and wishes from friends and family all over:
friends who have become loving family,
family who have become dear friends.
As the day unfolded, I felt the warmth and the caring
from the circles of love that enfolded me.
In the center was God, the source of all the love and blessings in our lives.
The first circle in the concentricity is Bilog.
Then there are the circles of families we love.
Families from which we came and with whom we grew up.
The family we lovingly raised.
New families who have joined ours in love.
Families we have lost track of and now are in touch again.
Then there are the many circles of friends in our lives.
There are the circles of friends we made growing up and going to school.
There are the circles of friends we met in the various work places we have been engaged.
There are the circle of friends we serendipitously encountered in our life journey.
There are the circle of friends we came to know, deeply, in our Spirit communities.
There are the circle of friends with whom we have found common cause.
There are the friends who have touched our live so deeply
we cannot imagine life without them.
The circles are like ripples in a pond moving outward in ever widening circles.
For the love that we share is meant to be given and shared.
Joys are shared across these concentric circles
and they are multiplied and become even more delightful.
Sorrows are shared across these circles
and they become divided and easier to bear.
Important events are celebrated across time and space
making them even more memorable.
The circles, while constantly rippling across and outwards,
are bound together like a web by the power of love.
So that, touch one circle and the touch reverberates across the other circles.
When we are sad, we feel comforted by the web of love that the circles are.
When we are happy, as yesterday, our joy does not easily dissipate
but abides for as long as the circles are there.
We thank God for the circles of love in our lives.
We thank Him for the people who are the links in there circles.
We thank Him for the love that has been the source of our abiding joy and happiness.
Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”
John 15:9-11