Letting Yourself Be Held by God
The Comfort of Being Held in Loving Space
Many of us are in isolation right now, some with our families and some by ourselves. Our physical separation from one another can be a real trauma, taking away a vital human need: touch. Did you know you can experience the touch of God, holding you in a loving embrace in this time of uncertainty and worry? It’s a great comfort. How might we experience that?
For the past few years, I often sit quietly in the blissful presence of my Abba Daddy and Jesus. I call the form of God’s presence that comes to me in these times, “Abba Daddy.” I choose that name because it is the best translation of the Aramaic “Abba,” and as a child, I had a mostly absent, angry Father who lacked the ability to be a Dad to me. This divine presence appears, as best as words can describe, as a vague, mystical sort of a person-size-cloud in front of me on my left side.
Jesus does not appear visually to me but rather as a dynamic presence so close to my right side that, for years now, I have felt him touching my right arm. More recently, his body presses against my entire right side. He occasionally reaches his arms out to hug me.
These “impressions” are not nearly as vivid as the results of them. In these times, I feel an overwhelming sense of being held by love, something I have never felt that vividly before. My heart almost explodes as I am overcome by bliss. Quite often a bolt of healing energy flows through me.
Recently I have been wondering what it is I get out of all this simple sitting with Jesus and my Abba Daddy — besides feeling really good? I don’t often ask them questions. I don’t get any advice or plans for the future, at least not often, at this point. It just seems like I want to be near them, next to them, feel their presence.
Holding Loving Space
Then I read about an article by Reaca Pearl about holding someone in loving space. She describes the nature of this loving space as full of loving-kindness, a term rooted in the Buddhist tradition of compassion and love for all living beings, the earth, and the self.
It is also a space of deep listening which goes beyond any kind of hearing with the ears but is listening with the heart. When there is deep listening, we feel understood and can let down our guard and soften into presence without self-defending.
We are held in this space in unconditional positive regard. No matter what you have done or who you are, you are held with deep respect, compassion, and positive regard. There are no critical thoughts of judgment or agenda-filled evaluations.
And in this space, we sit with what is. It is often difficult for those of us in Western culture, to find someone who does not try to change anything about us and resists the urge to do anything. Rather they just let us be in a safe place to feel and express anything. This deep allowing lets our bodies relax and sink into the soft holding space.
She finished with other qualities like allowing, breathing, grounding, not being given advice, no judging, and no fixing.
Wow!
After I read this description of what holding loving space for someone is, I suddenly realized that is all the stuff I get when I sit with Jesus and God’s Abba presence! They were not trying to change me. They were just holding me in loving space, a safe place that is anchored in their love for me. From there I can let myself face all my shadows, doubts, hang-ups, and mistakes and do my own changing when I am ready.
I asked myself, how did I come to feel Jesus and Abba were simply holding me in loving space? I grew up with a Southern Baptist God and a Jesus that was the exact opposite of each of these! Oh, I was taught God loved me. However, it was not this kind of love. God had lots of rules for me to keep and things for me to do. Jesus had plans for my life and a long list of things that were sins I should not commit. He had lots of things he wanted to fix in my life, and I was certainly not where he wanted me to be. He loved me but was basically dissatisfied with me. I had lots of things he expected me to change.
Those rules and expectations became less and less as I moved from a traditional Christian belief system to an Integral one. But changing my beliefs only took me so far. The rest was this — The more real Jesus became to me, the more I relaxed. The last few years have been an exquisite time of deepening the reality of the presence of Abba Daddy and Jesus. I have concluded that the only reasonable answer to how I vividly experiencing being held in this loving space was that I am actually connecting with this divine reality.
I realized God and Jesus allow me to trust my own intuition and deep wisdom. They don’t take my power away by doing things for me that I can learn to do for myself. They don’t try to fix me. They make me feel safe so that I can go through whatever I need to. I am held in divine reality.
From this place, I have been able to let others, human reality, hold me in loving space. I have been able to let my guides and even the cloud of witnesses that surround me do that. As I anchor to my body and the earth, I let all of cosmic material reality hold me in love, too.
I believe these divine, human, and material “hugs” are available for you, too, in whatever way and form that is meaningful to you. In our WeSpace groups we also attempt to offer one another being held in loving space. Wherever you are in the world of today’s isolating safety, you are not alone.
It may not be easy for your mind to accept that Jesus is right there with you and can hold you now (You also may need a different divine image who you’re more comfortable with, and that’s perfectly fine). It may take time to relax your body into the divine presence who is embracing you like a warm bath. It may be a process to open your heart to this intimate, loving presence beside you. Let this guided meditation help move you into the experience of divine embrace, being held in loving space:
