in RELIGION 168 Words

God Doesn’t Add Up

by Alan Johnston, Pottsville

I was feeling the contraction of self-measuring, a downward spiral staircase of small self judgments – when it came to me – God can’t count, stairs or the like.

Probably he didn’t even finish primary school. I’ve since discovered that rumours of him being numerically challenged are rife in certain out-of-the-way sections of the blogosphere.

God can’t count. OK, so the number of zeroes in my bank balance doesn’t matter. Nor does my hat size. But what about the millions of noisy minah birds, thousands of bandicoots, potoroos, numbats and all the other pre and post-ark species? It’s a stock-take nightmare.

Think of a number, you know, the one most important to you: age, salary package, years of working on yourself, weight, tally of friends, alimony, number of degrees, client base, overdraft – well he doesn’t.

Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.

296 thoughts on “God Doesn’t Add Up”

  2. Making it about Love … which is fathomless and an ageless wisdom felt within the body far beyond anything the mind can comprehend ✨

  3. “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.” I love this. What would our world look like if we all did this? it would be transformed. An inspiration for my living today. It starts with one.

  4. Adding to the conversation Alan, we would be wise to also take head of what you have underlying shared that we should not Judge just get on with being responsible for our own level of L’ove. Brooking, the level of LOVE available from God is up to us all, and at our own pace, thus we appreciate the level of Loving Godly-ness in our-selves and others.

  5. I love the simplicity and humour with which you share Alan, ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.’

  6. A brilliant reminder of the nature of unconditional love, something we can also re-connect to within ourselves and offer to others.

  8. Thank you Alan, and may I add as a calculated response? When we add all the stars into the calculation who would even want to start that mathematical nightmare? Is it possible when we consider God as our father and the stars as our mother then we are part of a continually expanding All-Loving-Universe that is nothing but brotherhood so lets stop and understand all that counts is the harmonies way we can all live in one-ness!!

  9. Is love still love when it’s measured? Like there is more/lesss in volume. I thought it was, but now I am beginning to think probably it’s not.

  10. Alan, I must say that I love your sense of humour – to say that God most likely did not even finish primary school is the most gorgeous way to show how stuck we are in how intelligence is seen from a reduced human perspective.

  11. I love the simplicity of this Alan blog – thank you! Thank you for the reminder that it is not about perfection, that it is about brotherhood and that we are all here held in His love.

  14. Really appreciating the space offered here to know and connect to the expansiveness that is God, and the reminder that the love we are held in, and which is our nature also, is in no shape or form limited by the myriad of impositions and restrictions we have introduced into life.

  15. An unmeasurable form of love – how beautiful. It seems it is us human beings that choose to measure or limit how much of this love we allow on our planet.

  16. Love the reminder Alan – God is not interested in the maths or the mind, His is an experience felt in the body, never judging, and simply asking us to be. Just that. To be ourselves, fully, openly, unashamedly… and take that into our every relationship.

  17. Love without measure. I like that. It does feel expansive, and totally joyous. I measure so much all the time, I like the invitation to love without measure.

    1. The immeasurability of Love would provide a great dinner conversation and be the most Joy-full experience. We can then take that most joyous-love into our lives as a reflection..

    2. Yes – so true Henrietta. What kind of intelligence do we truly want/ need in our world? Not the academic kind or the kind that has led us to where we are at today. Loving intelligence that leads to wisdom – that takes in multi-dimensionality is the one I prefer.

  18. We have made life about everything it isn’t and then projected that onto God. A sobering and yet greatly loving blog like yours Alan brings us back to what life is truly about.

  20. It only takes one moment of observation to invite the next one.. From here we will grow and develop a grander awareness of who we are and what we are meant to live from. A movement that comes from our body and holds us in the love that we are: choosing to be unaware or aware, we are love.

  21. There is a greatness here you talk about Alan . . and no number can define it even though it is made up of a numerical equation. Do numbers represent the parts, and a cycle that each time it goes round it is an opportunity to be greater?

  22. God holds us equal. Equally divine, equally grand, equally Godly and yet we constantly measure and reinterpret this because we are not prepared to live equal to that. I ask myself why and I work through the fact that question is even there in the first place! I can feel God and I know what that quality feels like, that is truth and that is love.

    1. Beautifully said Samantha, our return to who we are is by seeing ourselves as God does, by knowing we are equal to him and as divine and powerful. Yet we like the game of being the human too much to simply give it up for what we know truth and love to be, and instead hold on to our own created version of that.

      1. Yes, we expose ourselves in the honesty of saying we know, how beautiful that we are honest, it is a game to deny the truth of our origin. That knowing of our Godliness and the nurturing and acceptance of it has been a key for me, to allowing the knowing to be lived more. It kind of does it itself, I gently lean in to truth and love and it holds me. It has to come from a surrender, this is a process of return, that takes understanding. Surrender still I measure but the universe constellates to support us all with that return.

      2. beautiful Samantha “I gently lean into the truth and it holds me” It shows how little we need to do for it to be there, in fact the surrender is understanding that we need to stop trying and doing and let what is already there come into expression.

  23. May be he doesn’t add up based on the perception we hold of what he should be like, perhaps if we open up to the possibility that we may have a skewed perception, we’ll be able to see the truth of what God is.

  25. What is God? So many of us have ideas, beliefs, pictures etc. but who has truly connected to what God may be? Who has felt the connection, and if you have what is it that you have felt?

  26. He sees the essence in each and every one of us, no matter the outside trappings. That essence is equal, always, unchangeable and always with in reach…. we simply have to make a single step towards it and he will do the rest.

  27. Makes me laugh to think God ‘can not’ count. I know he can do every single thing we can do right now and more. Yet – Alan’s observation is so true: God DOESN’T count, he doesn’t judge, he doesn’t measure how good or how bad we are and he certainly does not hold us to ransom by withholding his love because of what we have or have not done. What a great reflection to sit with. Such is the way every one of us, could equally be living.

  28. The most crippling thing about self judgement is the fact you think it’s you judging you when it is never truly you as you don’t truly judge. So the key place to start is removing the “self” out of the judgement and feeling the fact that you are much grander than that.

  30. Self-judgment is a momentum that we need to break in order to reclaim the glory of our divine origins. And as you say, God doesn’t count. He knows who and what we are, even if we have chosen to forget and ignore it.

  31. Yes, the need to count can disappear. If you just know, then counting isn’t necessary.

    1. It does disappear – as you say, it is just a knowing that drops in. And it is immediate and for a purpose, never to show off or for entertainment.

    2. And within counting is the mechanism for so much comparison… definitely not something that helps us in our relationship with ourselves or others.

  33. What I find fascinating about this poetic blog of Alan’s is that even though ‘God can’t count’, He has the most amazing sense of precision in everything that is under His creation because exactly what is needed is felt and unfolds from God’s Will to help our evolution and that of all of Nature.

  34. Adding or calculating is not part of the universe, so in truth not part of any aspect of the universe, including God and us. Wow this brings in a new understanding of the vastness of love that we are all part of.

  35. No amount of numbers imaginable can account for the amount God loves us. Now trying adding those figures up 😉

  36. Thank you for making me smile and reminding me of the limitlessness of God’s love.

  37. ” Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions. ”
    So wonderful Alan .

  38. Light, lovely, playful and true. I am inspired by the ease and flow in this writing, concerning God. I know God and I am of God and inside I know this in full. This writing inspires me to express it further.

  39. We even have made up stories about being judged and measured when we enter the pearly gates! That is really just coming home from a long trip away for ourselves with out luggage.

  41. ☺️For God the part is complete as it contains the whole just as it is contained by the whole, so no reason to divide or add up anything.

  42. God loves is extraordinary it goes on and on – all the details – the number of petals on a flower the number of thorns on a rose, the amount of atoms in our galaxy – all divinely designed to remind us of who we are.

  43. It’s very true Alan, we are the ones that limit and measure. Everything about God is infinite and we are from this infiniteness. So what are we doing by continuously counting, measure and reducing? Exactly that.

    1. God does not need to compare the number of this with the number of that… for him it is all expression, all divine, all to be evolved and expanded in line with the laws of this Universe that he has created.

  44. ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all’ – love it Alan.

  45. I too used to think numbers were about counting and measuring, and how much/little it came to mattered a lot, and no matter how much/little I had, it was always either too much or too little, it never was right. I am now in a process of understanding there being only one number, just repeating itself. My relationship and appreciation of numbers are changing dramatically.

  46. God’s ways brought to a point. Simple and straight forward. And the best thing is we are god’s sons thus this is our natural way too.

  47. Thank you Alan for lovely, lighthearted expression of the unconditional love of God captured in, “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.”

  49. Thank you Alan, this was perfect timing for me to read today as I was chatting to a friend about being hard on myself and holding things against myself, and as a result not letting love in. That feeling of having made mistakes, however God is not measuring, tallying or counting – love is absolute and always there but it’s up to us to let it in, and also recognise love is our essence.

  50. ‘just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.’ This is what makes God, God. Not the capacity for forgiveness, not might, not punishment.

  52. This blog made me smile Alan as we have so many notions of what God is and if he can’t count then how can we measure up as measuring up is surely our relationship with him. I want to write a great big NOT. I remember learning at school that I needed to be forgiven by God, that his love was mighty and time and time again we just let him down and didn’t measure up. A very clever way to make people give up on love, themselves and each other.

  53. The way that I have been living would suggest that God lives in a room full of measuring apparatus-measuring tapes, rulers, barometers, anything with a measuring function to it. And he sits spending his time measuring us all day long. I guess God might not have time for that. But it is only us who self-measure and it is very ungodly to do so. The more that I become aware of the abuse that this self-measuring is, the more that I become aware and let go (in full awaresness of the rediculousness too)

    1. It’s a very religious concept that there is good and bad, right and wrong, and that God counts up all the sins. Instead we could say there is being love and a Son of God, and not being that love, and that love (as God) is there to support us in every moment, and that we are solely responsible for all those moments we are not love. The point is, God is there to unconditionally support us to return to that love, and it’s up to us to restore every imprint of energy we have left that is not of love, and that is a loving responsibility we have to the all.

  54. If God doesn’t count how much we have or how much we do, why do we? We seem to use how much we have and how much we do as a yardstick against the similar achievements of others, often something to make us feel better about ourselves. But how exhausting and futile that is when in truth we are all equal in God’s eyes with how much and how many counting for absolutely nothing when faced with the truth.

  55. The matter of if God can count or not to the side, it is very sure that God does not measure us or his love for us by the amount of things we do, degrees we have or money we own. He loves without conditions because he knows who we are inside which is absolutely divine.

    1. Absolutely numerology offers us the truth of numbers and they are not meant to be adding and calculating, they offer energetic support on our way back to who we truly are.

    1. And it’s very cleverly put together to sustain a way of life that is based on individuality.

  59. A great reminder that when we measure ourselves against another we are not living in accordance with God, as his love is ummeasurable as ours should equally be.

    1. What a beautiful comment Sally thank you “when we measure ourselves against another we are not living in accordance with God, as his love is immeasurable as ours should equally be.”

  60. Every time I read this passage my body surrenders a little more knowing how loved I am and how simple life can be if we connect to who we truly are.

  61. The freedom of living with no comparison, competition or calculation just being aware of the equal love in the inner-heart of all.

  62. It’s quite ironic really that we measure ourselves in order to gauge our value or worth, when who we already are within is exquisite and priceless beyond compare. We are God’s love and as such in essence we are everything that is great in this world, so in trying to compare or measure ourselves with the standards of this worlds existence, we only diminish all that we truly are in essence.

  63. Just delightful, Alan. A wonderful reminder God does not find important the things we think are. I think God is only interested in one thing – how much love we live.

  65. Every time I read this blog I feel freer and more expanded in my body. The constant measuring of what I’ve achieved and where I am at is limiting and feels like being in a cage. A connection to soul has no measure, it’s either chosen or it’s not.

  66. Something about life doesn’t add up, and it’s the absence of God. We choose to live separated from the love we are in essence and that God is, and life then becomes about making the grade, measuring ourselves and others, and judgements. How wonderful to return to love again. Thanks Alan.

  68. I find that with valuing even the smallest things in life and seeing its beauty and importance, a natural equalness is called for throughout the whole of life. The only reason we can place more value on a smaller or higher value than its opposite is when we see life in parts as in, something is better than another. And sure while having a healthy bank balance is important, so to is the appreciation of the reflection that every number provides. Its always either a confirmation of our grandness or a message reminding and prompting us to embrace more of it.

  69. Who counts is an amazing question, we count in the sense of we matter, to our selves, to god and each other without tally checks or balances. The rest of the counting that we think applies to our self worth is misleading us away from the essence of the total sum of our true value.

  70. Love the humour you bring here Alan, we still have much to learn on this planet earth in returning to simply be love.

  71. What a great short blog and reminder that there is no comparison there is no judging, just love , ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.’

  72. Your stunning description of God is expansive and every part of me knows that it is true. God does not measure. When I catch myself measuring I realise I am measuring how much of my own divine essence I will allow the world to see. A fruitless exercise that is as irresponsible as it is misery making.

  73. Lovely and expansive, no holding back with placing criteria, on what God is, God is God, is Love, there is no measuring when we talk about the infiniteness and expansiveness of the universe.

  74. A very short and succinct invitation to let go of the ways we have made life about and return straight back to soul.

  75. It is beautiful to appreciate and confirm God does not measure and judge; and because we are made in his image, if we do, we are not being love.

  76. Shows that there is an education that is out of this world that has more meaning to the quality of our life than we generally give credence to. That education is Love.

  77. A refreshing way to expose our human construct of complexity that contrasts the very living sphere we are held in and to live in sync and harmony with.

  78. I love the way you say so much with so few words. I feel tension drop from my shoulders when I read this and begin to let go of my drive to measure and assess where I am at. This makes way for love and a connection to my heart. It feels warmer already.

  79. ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions’ – God is a mentor and teacher always offering us a reflection of what is true. Thanks Alan.

  80. God never stops being Love and letting us know, we measure how much of that we listen to and can feel. Thank You Alan for the reminder that we need not measure.

  83. Alan thank you for the great sharing – if a number is put to anything then it is very worth discerning what motivates the number, is it love or measure.

  84. God doesn’t have to count as he simply knows; he knows what’s in my bank, he knows how much land I own, he knows how many thoughts flit through my mind in every moment, but that matters not one iota to him, what matters is that I know who I am and that I am his Son.

  85. And there is no ‘stocktake either’, Thank God he can’t count, that means the inner heart doesn’t count. It is all down to the mind – which does seem to thrive on counting. Why is this and if it doesn’t come from God who is pushing the theory that counting matters?

  86. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to read this with out smiling intensely on the inside.

  87. I love this tongue in cheek expose of the ridiculousness of comparing, competing and measuring our worth. Love does not play such games.

  88. As always … In the midst of seriously writing one’s comments… a moment of grace and humour from the everlastingly light and beautiful pen of Alan Johnson

  89. Beautifully put in a nutshell how only love counts and not anything else that is countable.

  91. God does count – but just up to One – for he knows one is all there is.

  92. This is brilliant. Clearly we have bastardised the use of numbers. We want numbers to say how important we are, grading ourselves against others to say we are more/less than.

  94. There comes a time when we become aware that all measuring is pointless in the measureless space (God’s love/the Universe) we live within. There is only One and our ceaseless expression of this, once all forms of self-measuring have been renounced.

  95. So true Alan, ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.’ So simply yet so very true. Thank you for sharing this blog.

  97. God seems to be very simple, a simpleton even compared to our complex, complicated, calculating, comparing and measuring human way of living life we pride ourselves on as we consider it being intelligent, being the species at the top of evolution. Likewise a funny and tragic thought. Bringing it back to the simplicity of making life about love, harmony, cooperation, oneness exposes the creation of complexity for the sole sake of identification and irresponsibility. We are all naturally simple by divine right, we are the sons of God – simple.

    1. This is gold. Thank you Alex. Every ounce of complication we choose is exposed by this comment.

  98. Beautiful Alan- a great reminder that we don’t need to measure ourselves, hold onto things or compare to others but simply let out our love in an unmeasured way.

  100. When we reinterpret God we do exactly that, put a measure on it, rules, sins etc. So we must find that no measure, no judgment, no comparison, just acceptance is almost impossible. But really we can’t approach God from a thinking mind, otherwise all we do is re-interpret what we think is true, but in fact is not.

  101. Love without measure – a truly exquisite truth to connect to…. then live and embrace.

  102. Love the reminder Alan that God is not measuring us in any way, that he accepts us as we are irrespective of the “number of zeroes in my bank balance”. It seems to me that it is only us who measures, and often in the process comparing our “number of zeroes” with another’s, creating judgment and separation, where in fact in God’s heart there is none.

  104. The count that you can count on from God is LOVE. Love it Allan, short and sweet.

  105. Truth and wisdom wrapped up in a powerful small package of humour. Perhaps there is a number that God knows after all – we are after all, all One.

  108. Just imagine living with a deep connection to that natural glorious equality… There will be no comparison at all… Simply a celebration of all, and of lives lived that reflected that and simply a celebration of all, and of lives lived that reflected that deep connection with all that there is.

  109. Put so simply Alan. No zeros at the end of a figure in the temporal world make a difference to God. He is forever expanding and never measuring. It is us in the human form that choose to measure and when we measure we limit the grandness of what God is.

  110. How can we live a life without measure? By connecting to one’s heart.
    How can we live a life without misery? By connecting to our heart.
    How can we live a life without deceit and despair? By connecting to our heart.
    How can we live a life without war, murder, suicide, and genocide? By connecting to our heart.
    Can we change the world? Yes – by connecting to our hearts, and live from there. All will follow. We need no numbers we need to measure.

  111. Go ‘figure’ – Love is what counts…not the count as such. We choose to measure ourselves or ‘measure up to’ while all the while God Loves us.

  112. A great sharing thank you Alan, there are no measurements to the eternal as there are no limits to Gods love. How profound is that.

  114. So beautifully shared Alan.You remind me that it is pointless to even think about measuring where I am at. All that matters is that I choose truth.

  115. “Love without measure” is God’s love. An important point to remember, it is only when we disconnect and see ourselves as separate from God that we start to measure up.

  116. This really strikes a chord Alan – I love your witty style of writing which contains much wisdom.

  117. So true Alan, and if God doesn’t measure all these things why do we try make them such a big part of who we are? We are already love, without the numbers to tell us who we are or how far we have come.

  118. Wow Alan, I was reading this going I don’t understand but then POW! I felt the immense pressure and force we put on ourselves when we are continually measuring and looking at what we have, what we’ve done, how much we have of this, that and the other, how old we are, how old our children are, how many more years we have till retirement, how many days till vacation etc etc etc. What a weight we carry around and what an imposition on us seeing and feeling the truth of what is going on in any moment.

  119. “Love without measure” thank you Alan for reminding us of the eternity of God. The universe is expanding at a rate we can not in our minds comprehend, yet can connect to our inner hearts and we can feel we are at one with that expansion.

  120. God doesn’t add up – what a superb play on words. He’s certainly no bean counter but He and the All do add up after all.

  122. So…if God does not add up it is not necessary to ‘make it right’ or to get money or to have good notes or to be ‘the best friend’ of many – what will be left over for me to do? If God loves me no matter what I could do whatever I want. But I wanted everything to be loved…now you say I am loved already… hmmm. I guess I like to understand more this relationship with God and me and discover what ‘I want’ and how to live now.
    When the driving force of my life is discovered to be nonsense I am disoriented – but maybe that’s good. Now I can connect to myself, my being and see how I go with this focus in life.

  123. Dear Alan, your sharing has found me pondering on what numbers are important in my life and the lack of acceptance of the love I actually hold for a moment of judgement around a certain number. Very revealing, thank you.

  124. Beautiful Alan, there are no measures when it comes to love.

  125. So simple, stop analysing and get on with living love. Comparison takes us off course so quickly and counting is often the measure of that comparison.

  127. We, as humans, can get a bit distracted counting things and in the process forget the one thing we are here for – love.

  128. Numbers are often about comparison whether it be about exam or test results, how much money we have, how much our house cost, how many reps we do at the gym or the costs at the supermarket. When we feel what is needed before we add up the numbers then we get a true reading. God was right all along!

  129. “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.” Love without measure – a recipe for us all. And what do we choose?

  130. Haha love this Allan . . . immeasurable forever expanding LOVE!

  131. “Love without measure” that is as deep, unfathomable and ever expanding as the Universe. Thank God.

  132. “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition” Seems like a plan to live life by. Love the simplicity 🙂 Thank you!

  133. At the moment I am choosing blogs to read on God and religion, because there is something missing from the way I am living, which feels like to accepted presence of God in my every moment. Of course He is there in presence and Love, but do I feel and accept this…? So it was great to stumble on this blog and be reminded of the playfulness of God and the fact that I do know Him by virtue of being alive.

  134. This blog made me smile Alan – and I’m still smiling… why? Because it’s all so true, God doesn’t take time to count, He knows every detail of life by virtue of existing. And there is no judgment in the body of God, like you say Alan, ‘just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.’

  135. Love this Alan. God = “Love without measure……just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.”

  136. Simply yet so powerfully true. Often we measure up how much we have achieved or how well we measure up to an image of how we should be. The truth is that we also measure up how much of ourselves we will be to ensure that we don’t step outside of a specific image of ourself. All images are based on measurements or pre-determined values of what can and cannot be achieved. God doesn’t have any images for himself, for life or for us, and instead it is a constant expansion of who know’s what is next.

  137. As Human Beings we choose to complicate life with all the ‘numbers’ and comparisons that you have named Alan, yet the truth is that God doesn’t do numbers or comparison, God is not jealous of how amazing we all are – God celebrates us and the love we are. What you have shared is beautiful – Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions’. Thank you..

  139. A great memory jog for what life’s truly all about. A life without measure, without comparison, jealousy or inequality. Unrealistic? Only when we continue to make choices from a position of individuality rather than humanity and the bigger picture. That’s our sticking point.

  140. A beautiful reminder Alan that it is us that counts – not God, God simply loves.

  141. ‘Love without measure’ – What a revealing comment, as for most of us in the pool of humanity, we are so used to love being a currency that we hoard, save, grudgingly give out, the idea that it is infinitely abundant well…that rearranges everything.

  143. Alan, this is such a delight, so witty, so fun and such truth, and it broke my seriousness today about getting it, getting life, doing this or that, and reminded me it’s about love not counting, living love not trying to figure it out. Thank you.

  144. Reading this blog again felt like I had not read it before. What I got out of it this time round was, I thought to myself, how true is this blog that God can’t count? Because with pure divine love there doesn’t seem to be any numbers that can equate to love, it’s endless and no number can add up the eternal expansion of love. God is love, so if we are to embrace love, we will see and use numbers in a different light.

  145. Something to help us reflect on just how much and to what degree we constantly measure and hold to ransom in our lives. ‘Counting, comparison, competition’ sound for all the world like the pillars of a sales plan mantra, designed to drive market share. Not a way to live harmoniously on a small planet with 7 billion others, that’s for sure.

  146. This is pure gold Alan. We indulge in so much measuring and you have shown why it is so pointless. Thank you – back to the basics for me!

  147. Today I thought about a friend not answering my emails and thought about not writing further emails. I heard a bird’s song in that moment and I remembered: God never stops communicating with me no matter how long I resist to answer. He doesn’t add up the times I say ‘No’ to him.

  149. ‘a downward spiral staircase of small self judgments’ – so beautifully expressed, Alan. That contagious, self-imposed momentum that takes us further away from the truth of who we really are and into our self-stepped abyss.

    1. And yet no matter how many steps we take in that downward direction on each step we have the choice to go the other way and return. Such is the space that God provides for us and we can allow ourselves to experience when we choose.

  150. I love your blog Alan. It highlights for me the way we use numbers is not aligned to God. We use it to measure, count, to compete, judge and individualise but God uses it to communicate to us the gloriousness, grandness and beauty of the Universe. It is the language of truth, yet how we use it can be very far from that.

  151. We can get caught up in the world of number/figures and if they don’t add up to ‘Success’ then we label ourselves as less. I loved your blog Alan – a reminder of the fact that we are loved – ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions’.

  155. I like this Alan – kind of makes all the striving to attain this, that and the other seem rather silly when it’s so much simpler just to be and “love without measure”.

    1. Very well said Debra, I totally agree and we see the truth of it all when we understand the true meaning of life.

  156. It is funny when I read this quirky sharing how we place so much emphasis on these many numbers that seemingly propel us through life. The underlying falsity is that God is not love first and foremost and the biggest savings account number won’t get you in -whereas the truth is God is love.

  157. I smile deeply when I read this – the fact that there is no ‘counting’ no numbers that are more important than another – just the love that we choose to be or not.

  158. Love this Alan and the double meaning of the title, God doesn’t do a stock take but also we cannot comprehend the all encompassing nature of God’s love if we focus on the details of figures. Awesome reminder, thank you.

  160. Alan – you have shown me that numbers are restrictive, which i have never considered with such simplicity before. We use them to limit not to expand Even time is a number we live by rather than space, an expansion of life.
    God does not do numbers – god does love, which cannot be limited. Truth that cannot be limited and acceptance that has no limits.

  161. There is not a fraction of love that is not love. No matter how you do the math it always adds up to absolutely the same answer; love=love, love is love, love+love=love, lovexlove=love its that simple. God has definitely got it all summed up.

  162. So simply beautiful Alan. I never thought of God as a Mathematician but I will now! Who else would be able to demonstrate True Love to us here on earth (apart from Serge Benhayon). God is therefore we are. Love never ending.

  163. I love a good blog that puts things in prospective. Of course you can’t measure love.

  164. Love without measure, without judgement, without calibration, ceaseless and relentless love, hmmm sounds like what I feel from Serge Benhayon towards humanity in general. Could it be that we are all capable of this, and we just need someone to lead the way.

  165. Lovely, Alan, capturing with such splendour the absurdity of the many ways in which we contrive to live a measured life when it matters not in the bigger scheme of things.

  166. What I would love to add is that it is our essence (quality) of being that we live with and body we live in that actually makes it fun. Judgement, irritation, frustration are actually signs that we in that moment lost our essential quality – a stillness – but yet so alive and solid. To me Universal medicine is my universal law now, I am learning now that trying to be something, do something right – actually makes me dicrepant from life instead of being fully present in my body and walking this further!

  167. Love. As expansive as the universe, freely available to all, no distinction or special favour, love it Alan. God may not count but his mastery of geometry is beyond compare.

  169. Love it Alan. When love shows up it never judges, calculates or compares, it just holds and supports us with just what is needed and no less.

  171. God doesn’t need to know how to count, when love can be expressed in a never ending, constantly expanding way whats the point in keeping count? 100 expressions of love may be great at one point but then it moves on. Holding ourselves to a number of our deeds feels very limiting and yet human life has been constructed in such a way ‘reach the peak and everything will be there at the end’ but those who have reached that peak only say ‘well now what?’. What if we lived in the knowing that we expand over time? knowing that it is not natural to reach a peak and stay there but move on. This to me feels more at ease than striving for an end, find nothing there and try again over and over in frustration or ignoring the fact that its not true in the first place to be anywhere other than where we are already.

  172. “Love without measure …” – brilliant Alan. This helps defy the concept of time – it is simply about where we are now and how we choose to be in this moment. Awesome blog.

  173. ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all’. Beautiful Alan.

  174. He may not count, but boy oh boy, does he know geometry. There is a mathematical precision and order to the universe that it beyond the comprehension of even the greatest of minds. And I take my hat off to you God, for not a detail is left out,be it in the making of a bee, or the Sun. There is an order to all things that we are yet to understand, a pulse to all things, be they are rock or a tree, and it is that pulse that will never be understood by numbers alone, but only by the grace of our own divine connection.

    1. I love how the combination of Alan’s blog and this comment shows the stupendousness of God and the Universe we are part of and how we have tended to reduce that expansiveness with the limitations of how we relate to daily life.

  175. It is comical to see how much stock human beings place on measuring their lives with one another. God just sits and waits patiently for us to figure out that this stuff isn’t it.

  176. I just love the way you express with such playfulness when delivering words of wisdom. Thanks, Alan.

  177. I know that in relationships counting never works because love is generous and expansive and not petty and exacting. You do something for me so I do something for you, works on a very short term level and then falls to bitterness. However, God is the king of relationships, having one with each of us from the inside so of course no counting.

  179. God doesn’t count, yet we sure do – where does that come from? Obviously not from Love.

  180. What a way to say it Alan – “glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions”. Your beautiful turn of phrase reminds me of a river and how all we are here to do, is let our beauty flow. This then is what counts.

  181. I love the tongue in cheek way you have exposed how much we measure, compare and compete over different facets of life. While I was reading this, the only counting I was feeling was needed was to be able to get to 1. If you can get ‘The 1’ right then the rest of it takes care of itself!

  182. ‘Love without measure, no counting, no comparison’ – this is something we all love to feel. That unconditional love that just accepts you 100% as you are, for who you are. Something I am working on giving as well, to myself and to others.

  183. It is wonderful to be reminded that my worth is not related to anything I do or achieve. You bring a gorgeous lightness and humour to your expression Alan. Thank you.

  184. Awesome blog and absolutely true Alan. How amazing is God who gives us endless love everyday. I should appreciate him more.

  185. I would say God’s love is immeasurable to the standard of numbers that we use.

  186. I thank God for making us all the same, same but different so as to be blessed with an amazingly beautiful mind such as yourself Allan. xxx

  189. No numbers. Are you sure, Alan? Actually, writing this I am wondering. For me numbers are like a melody, so it is quite easy to remember phone numbers and numbers have a definite feel – 2176 has a feel and so has 89 and so has 23984, which is different from 23985 and 23984.3. I feel God knows and does numbers I feel, though I agree not the way we do numbers.

    1. I’d be out of a job if numbers were not out there in the world, and like you Christoph, I find that numbers tell a story of their own. However, when it comes to God he is immutable, immeasurable and vast beyond compare… no number pins him down or ‘adds him up’.

  190. This is so true Alan, in fact God is never depicted, as far as I recall, as the most intelligent being of all but as the father who loves his children equally.

  191. Yes Alan, you are right, God doesn’t use any measures when it comes to loving his children. We are far harder on ourselves. Why is that? When the amazingness and perfection of God’s Love knows no limits where we are concerned, how is it that we struggle to accept that we are also this beautiful, tender and precious Love that God knows us to be? It’s all about acceptance. I have found my focus and reflection point for today, thanks Alan.

  192. This is great Alan, no judgment from God, only immeasurable love.

  194. Alan your words are so simple yet powerful. “Love without measure” has led me to consider just how far we have bastardised the word ‘love’. I know I am always measuring it in so many ways that I don’t even realise that I am doing it. If I’m always measuring love it really is not true love. God’s love is immeasurable, in this moment that is unfathomable yet also deep within, I know it to be true.

  195. ‘Love without measure’ – a simply beautiful reminder that this is who we are, our true and natural way. Thank you Alan.

  196. Love without measure… so we will never be short or missing something that has no length. Love is like air, it is always there for us… even when we forget it exists.

  197. Beautiful Alan – there is no measuring love. As soon as we start to measure it, it is no longer love.

  198. Love is something that cant be measured! So, we can never be without Love. We cant say Oh, I am missing a metre or pint of love. We will always be all love… we may try at time to forget this, but love will always be waiting for us to return.

  201. “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions”.
    So true and so beautifully expressed Alan, thank you.

  202. …’stock take nightmare’… Alan you are hilarious and yet with a killer last line – ‘love without measure…’ The world would be so different if we saw each other way that God does… in glorious equalness.

  203. You describe the glorious expansiveness and all-encompassing beholding that God is and that is indeed not dependent on any numbers or measures or anything at all, for that matter.

  204. The dry humour belies a sense of sadness for me as I read, we so desperately want to quantify every little thing we forget that the only thing truly worth feeling and knowing inside and out is the Love that we are and are equal to – Gods love – the only one plus one.

    1. So true Lee and Alan – God is love and love does not measure it just is.

  205. Alan I think why it’s so hard to imagine that kind of love is because we just don’t come across it very often, if at all. Love that holds everybody equally with no conditions. And to think that that love is the same love that we too are made from. Wow how have we bastardised love !

  206. We tend to humanise God and by doing so, do we truly get to appreciate him/her? He/she works hard, but do we really know anything about his/her real whereabouts and about how he/she relates to us (and, therefore, of our relationship with him/her)? Reflecting upon this may be of help for all to really be able to value what really has any value.

    1. Emfeldman, by humanizing God we are actually separating ourselves from the fact that God lies with in each and every human being. The harm that has come from implanting this false way of seeing God can begin to be felt, when we consider that he/she is not something we have to aspire to be, but is in fact who we are, that to know God is to surrender to and come know our innermost selves.

  207. So true Allen, God doesn’t count. So why do we? This is definitely a stop blog. Time to collect and regroup how I am living with me. Time to stop counting the many times I have not lived from my love and to instead appreciate that I can now tell the difference of living with or without my love. Time to appreciate how much I do choose love and how so joyful this feels, time to honour how far I have come and how truly special I am. Time to fully accept and appreciate what it is that others bring to us all, when they too connect to and live from their hearts.

    3. Leigh, that’s the point! A blog to stop. We could stay in our tracks and walk past, because it’s a quick reader. But yes, this sphere of magic has the power to stop me and invites me to leave tracks.

      1. I like that Felix, “invites me to leave tracks”, thank you, I too feel the invite, an invite that deepens and strengthens each day.

  208. Beautiful Alan ~ Love without measure, how beautiful to be held in this abundance of love.

  210. A beautiful reminder Alan of some of the things we encumber our selves with to make life a little more complicated. God is not complicated, he just is.

  211. Love this Alan and love the way you express truth in such a light and funny way.

  212. Funny, this blog got quite a few chuckles from me. Love in equality. Deeply supportive and so true. Thank you.

  214. “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions.” So refreshing, thank you Alan.

  215. Being caught up in the temporal everyday stuff we are counted down to ‘Knock Out’. Hard to then be the equally divine being that we innately are. Beautiful reminder to choose what we align to.

  216. You have a unique and articulate way, Alan. Thank you for that in every way.

  218. Hi Alan – didn’t quite get it the first time I read it – it felt good though. The second time I could feel that all the complications come from us, not God.

  220. I didn’t get what you were saying at first Alan, that’s because I was trying to work it out in my head which only complicated it, no wonder it didn’t add up. Simplicity is the key.

  221. When I read this blog I felt my whole body respond, I got the message to give up the need to ‘be something’ and just accept myself as I am. Thank you Alan! Your expression is always so simple and powerful.

    1. Awesome Leonne, I love it when this happens. From reading a blog that inspires us and we can feel expansive, this is a beautiful healing and realisation that we are so much more than what we think. Inspires us to let go of our thoughts and allow our hearts to lead the way and the power of expression in this blog is deeply inspiring for us all.

  222. The endless trial of self-measure – replaced with the simplicity of self-reflection, where I see an aspect of God looking back at me and with nary a measure in sight but infinite compassion and understanding.

  223. Thank you Alan for your playful but heart felt capture on where we can let numbers (in all their forms) lead us astray – it’s not God that holds the calculator 🙂

  226. Love this playful blog Alan. Like Cheryl says – short but speaks volumes. Superb and succinct in reminding us that it’s we who measure and not God – thank you

  227. Alan, I laughed out loud reading this, God not completing primary or doing a large stock take. And the great truth you share is that measures don’t count, it’s love not measure.

    1. I loved that part too Monicag2. This blog is very witty, playful and fun, yet full of undeniable truth. Simply brilliant!

      1. Yes it is and I love that your comment has brought me back here today chanly88, and I’ve re-read it and been reminded again that it’s not about measure or numbers, it’s about love.

  228. Simple and playful, thank you Alan, great one to keep as a reminder when measuring or counting clicks in!

  229. There’s not a lot of words here, but they speak volumes. Thank you for sharing, Alan.

  230. You really make me laugh Alan Johnston – I love it.
    How right you are about God. Correct, God does not count the zeros on my bank balance and he is not interested in the number of qualifications I got either. Thank you for confirming that. Little me getting caught up in such minor things when mr God is so grand that my tiny mind can’t really get its head around that. So I asked my heart which can feel and that’s when I realised that God does not add up measure, count or compare. He takes care of us ALL Equally and lives inside us. That’s cool in my world!

    1. I love your point Bina… there is no way I can get my head round the vastness, the glory, the infinity of God. Yet my heart can embrace him in an instant…

      1. I agree, this is what we can all grasp in an instance once we allow our hearts to speak.

  232. God is simple, why complicate matters with numbers? Love is love, not a number.

  236. Thank you Alan for this refreshing, quirky reminder that it’s all about love – Thank God – literally, numbers do my head in!!!!!

  239. Alan, I can see (and feel) your cheeky smile that I love so much! How this made me laugh – and, interestingly enough, cry! Keep up the play-full-ness; it is so beauty-full.

  241. This is sure a fun way at looking at what really counts, Alan – “Love without measure, no counting, no comparison, no competition at all – just a natural, glorious equalness that brooks no distinctions”.

  242. Great blog and a great subject! It made me aware of the absolute ridiculousness of how we think about ourselves and our life, as you said mostly in numbers. It made me smile… Thank you Alan.

    1. Yeah, isn’t it ridiculous? Mostly ridiculous is how we value numbers, numbers in itself are magical, but who started giving them different values and judge them like 2 is worth more than 1 or vice versa? Surely it wasn’t God.

  243. Alan, so powerful in its simplicity! Thank you for your playful sharing. Love it!

  255. I absolutely love your expression Alan, especially your humour. It always makes me smile and feel joyful. Thank you.

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