Love is a Circle
And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father.
– Black Elk
A circle is whole, unbroken. It holds and protects. It nurtures and provides.
We grow from the circle of an egg in our mother’s womb to be held in the circle of our families’ love. We expand into circular cells within while we move into ever greater circles of belonging without. Our earth is a circle amidst infinite stars and planets–circles moving in orbits around one center.
Love is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.
– Hermes Trismegistes
Children are our center; they connect us, one person to another, the past to the future.
With each new generation, “the wheel is come full circle.” (Shakespeare)
We begin anew through the love of children. They unlock our hearts and minds, as they are the key to our future.
As butterflies newly learned to fly, they are free to soar to greater heights from which they see a greater unity of being.
So, as Einstein said: “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
Love moves from one person to another until it encircles the earth.
Love is in the geometric order of the universe… from the stone to the mountain, the raindrop to the sea.
The universal geometry of creation—microscopic and macroscopic patterns from cellular biology to stellar imagery, tells a story both large and small.
We are connected above and below through a relationship of balance in which we are held. We are loved.
Whether you believe in God who is love or as the Beatles, “Love is all there is,” love makes the world go round. It is our hope for the future—our children’s hope.
Love is expressed through a spirit of loving SERVICE…
This book was created in the spirit of love, unfolding from a story written before 9-11 to a second draft with illustrations created starting 11-11. It has been a labor of love given as a gift. So it circulates the gift of love. For, like a circle, love has no end but continues forever.
As the stars in the heavens and the grains of sand upon the earth, so there are many ways to express our love. Find one that reflects your unique gift, as you are a child of love.
A list of activities, references and quotes for further exploration are available on the pages on art, community and environmental service. Love is ultimately expressed in action as compassionate service. Love must be shared to be a circle.
