A Garden of Delight

Today I finally worked through an issue and let go of a lingering pain. The story is that a certain someone, a significant person in my life, some time ago made a hurtful statement as to the substance of my life. I took it to heart and fed on the anger resulting from the fear that there was an element of truth to the statement. I was energized by the anger, which helped me take some actions I needed to take at the time, but the anger has long ago dissipated and I was left with this sort of wearisome and obstructing billboard in my mind where I had pasted up the words of degradation in bold print. Today I stripped the billboard, tore it down, marked off a garden plot and created an affirmation of my choosing, "My life is a garden of delight."

I already have fertilizer, so it won't be long before I'll be ready to plant.

image from outsider-artists.net

Like Poetry

image from outsider-artists.net

The following is a quote about the Fast that I just copied from bahaimosaic.blogspot.com. It is so poetic and speaks to my heart of the healing nature of the Fast. The line breaks are mine.

He chose our hearts
and asked of us
surrender
of the ancient hurts,
the active fears
and failings
with which we wound each other
and mar the splendid unity
we seek in Faith.

Can we find strength
and will
to cancel out
the caustic criticisms,
the long-embroidered slights,
the outraged pride,
the unexplained hostility,
the bitterness
of ingrown loneliness,
the cruel-edged perfection
with which we weigh each other?

These are the heavy weights
which ground our spirits
and our prayers.

National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, 1950

Let me remember, "He chose our hearts..."

Wild Strawberries

Here's a parable that inspires me. It's a reminder to be aware of the joy in the moment.

A traveler was walking along life's path when a tiger began chasing her. She ran, but found herself blocked at the edge of a cliff, the tiger on one side and the cliff on the other. As her mind raced to decide which direction to go the ground gave out from under her and she began to fall. She reached out and grabbed a root that protruded from the cliff face and she hung on for dear life with both hands, only to find that within a matter of seconds the root began to give way. The tiger snarled above her; jagged rocks threatened below her. At that moment she spied a clump of wild strawberries ripening on the side of the cliff near her hand. Her mind calmed and fear left her. She reached out with one hand, picked them and ate them, savoring their sweetness and flavor.

Moral: Let go of the fear so you can grab the joy.

Today, Lord, let me see the wild strawberries and gobble them up. Let me taste the sweetness of life. Let me experience gratitude in the here and now. Let me remember that NO MATTER WHAT you hold me in the palm of your hand.

Children

This quote expresses my deepest feelings about my children. I used to have a cassette tape that had these words set to music. I lost it and have since searched for it from time to time. EVERY SINGLE TIME I listened to it my eyes welled with tears and I felt the burning and brilliant shining of love in my heart.

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

~from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran



It's the last line that touches me most deeply. I feel my love for my children and know something of God's love for them. Then, I am assured He loves me even as He loves them. I know this is an infinite love because I know that's the kind of love I have for my children. How much greater must God's love be?

image from outsider-artists.net

The Raft

I heard a story recently about a traveler who built a raft to cross a raging river on her journey through life. She reached the other side successfully. Thinking she might need the raft again, she kept it and ended up carrying it for the rest of her life.

This is what we humans do. During times of tests or danger we build habits or ways of thinking that protect or sustain us. Then, we keep these long past the time of their usefulness. During times of high stress we may try to use these old ways when it is new ways that are needed.

It is the same with material possessions. We need, or at least think we need, certain items during particular times or for particular uses in our lives. Then, we may keep them long past the time of their usefulness. They weigh us down and hamper our development and mobility.

I have resisted materialism all my life, only to find it has crept in quietly and infected my life. As for any malady, there is a healing that needs to take place. I think, now, that materialism is just as insidious as racism and the healing starts with scrubbing out the old wound.

A Borrowed Affirmation

"I am...discovering how to embrace and honor all the experiences that life has to offer me, even those I choose to let go."~~Sacha Stephens-Avery