Your First Love (Part 1)

"How should one's first calling go out of one's mind? How should one's first love go forth from one's heart?
I have been one of those drunken with this wine: I have been a lover at His court.
I have seen good days from that Fortune: I have drunk the water of divine mercy in my springtime...
Was it not God that raised me up from non-existence?
Oh, many is the time I have received kindness from Him and walked in the rose garden of His approval. He would lay the hand of mercy on my head. He would let flow from me the fountains of grace.
Who found milk for me in the season of my infancy? Who rocked my cradle? He.
If the sea of bounty has given me a rebuke, yet how have the doors of bounty been shut?
Giving and grace and favor are the fundamental substance of God's coin: His rebuke is only a speck of alloy on it.
 God made the world for kindness' sake.
If separation from Him is big with His wrath; it is for the sake of knowing the worth of union with Him...
During the short while since He drove me from His presence, my eye has been fixed upon His beautiful face... Such wrath came from such a face! Oh, wonderful!..
Since there is no play, except on His board, and He said "Play!" what more can I do?
I played the one move that there was, and cast myself into woe.
Even in woe, I am tasting God's delights: I am mated by  Him !"

Rumi (Vol 2, from 2619-2647)

Commentary: The song "Amazing Grace" expresses it this way; "How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed." Rumi reminds us of the sweetness of those moments when we knew we were loved, accepted, and blessed. But then, in typical Rumi fashion, he tells us  of an  even greater gift: when we become conscious of having forgotten, and experience the pain of separation. (see Part II, tomorrow)