Color of Perfection

The colors were perfection today! The redbud is in full bloom and the dogwood is nearly there, still hanging onto a tinge of green in the white. The magnolias are beginning to drop their big petals beneath the trees. Forsythia and daffodils abound around here. There is a civic group of some sort that promotes the planting of daffodils, so they are blooming throughout the town, as well as on nearby farmsteads and business grounds. Oh, my God, thank you for that! I think I cannot see that color without feeling its energy throughout my body. Trees are sprouting leaves and dark wild onion shoots rise above the rich, green, uncut clumps of varied grasses. Some fields are covered with a purple flower I don't know and some yards are awash with bluebells. I have enjoyed driving past the landscapes. The violets are more subtle; one must be up close to catch their beauty. The pink buds on our peach tree have opened to full within the past two days and will probably begin to fade by tomorrow evening. Against the backdrop of dark sky the colors seemed especially brilliant.

Add to this visual delight the voices of birds reveling in the season, the smell of air washed with a recent rain and the soft touch of a cool breeze reaching through the warmth. Today the gift of a Hoosier spring enraptured my heart. Today I am reminded the Earth is a sacred place.

The Tasks Before Me

"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle."

— Phillips Brooks

I copied this from The Daily Gratitude Blog, one of my links. This is a place I go for inspiration regularly now. I've been saving this quote, thinking I'd possibly post it along with some comment, if and when I knew I had the position I was attempting to independently contract with the public school. Today I started. It's going to be quite a challenge and I do, indeed, need to pray for powers equal to the tasks. I attempt to go into this work, not with excitement and expectations, but with serenity and faith. My energy must come from the playing out of gratitude. I am definitely grateful for this opportunity.

Oh God, my God!

Another song by "Mana" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujZSP8PsDrk&feature=related...helps me remember the whole universe is a sacred space!

Thy Name is My Healing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkOTwD-N4Fs&feature=related

Decisions and Medical Insurance

I've carried medical insurance previously, but this is the first time in almost 20 years that I've been covered under a group plan, thanks to my husband's medical insurance that is provided through his employer. It's still expensive, but doesn't have an outrageously high deductible. When I was a kid my parents never had medical insurance. With three brothers and myself there was never a broken bone and never a trip to the emergency room that I know of. The message was, be careful and don't get sick. Then, we had childhood ailments that have gone by the wayside: measles, mumps, chickenpox. I think it was a large part of my mother's responsibilities just to nurse us children when we were sick. I really didn't realize how important medical insurance was when I quit my job with benefits to stay home more with my own children when my second was born.

At age 55 I think I'm just beginning to realize the consequences of many of my former actions. Does it really do any good, though? There are often so many factors that come into play in any decision. As I move into a new phase of life I'll be, most likely, making a lot of decisions based on just as much lack of insight and foresight. I think I often don't know if decisions are the choice that leads to a right action. Who is to say whether the career choices I've made up to this point were the "right" ones? Being without work tends to make one question oneself. The best I know to do is to enter decision-making through the door of faith, be truthful, be aware, consult with trusted advisers, pray and meditate on the matter, and decide. When I've done this I can be at peace with the matter.

Inspiration for Job Hunting

Magnified be Thy Name, O Lord my God! I am the one who hath turned his face towards Thee and hath placed his whole reliance in Thee. I implore Thee by Thy Name whereby the ocean of Thine utterance hath surged and the breezes of Thy knowledge have stirred, to grant that I may be graciously aided to serve Thy Cause and be inspired to remember Thee and praise Thee. Send down then upon me from the heaven of Thy generosity that which will preserve me from anyone but Thee and will profit me in all Thy worlds.

Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Inaccessible, the Supreme, the Knowing, the Wise.

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 267-69)

Thank you at bahaimosaic.blogspot.com for words of practical inspiration selected from the Baha'i Writings. Your posting of March 4 presented spiritual guidance concerning a means of livelihood.

Job Hunting

This job hunting business is difficult and at times disheartening, a real test of reliance on God. In the spirit of the original purpose of this blog, let me focus on the positive.

Reestablishing myself in the world of work, hopefully in the area of my experience and chosen career path, is a big part of this whole-life transition. It has been clear to me in the past that God has guided me in my work endeavors and has placed me where He wanted me to be. I trust this process continues. I've had experiences of just having jobs practically handed to me out of the blue and of ardently praying and then receiving an answer laid out before me which required detailed and persistent follow through. One job seemed so directly arranged by spiritual forces that the initial interview for that job remains one of the most vivid spiritual experiences of my life. I am letting these past experiences serve as an assurance in times of doubt.

I'll just keep praying and knocking on doors. I will cherish the moments of encouragement I receive and let them inspire me, even when they don't pan out the way I might want. I'll keep my heart and mind focused on work as worship; by serving mankind I serve God. I'll be open to the guidance and strength to carry out what I come to believe is God's will for my work life.

Mandala

I drew a mandala. It seems to be a holistic representation of the thought patterns that are leading me into a new place in life. I won't attempt to interpret what I learned about mandalas, but there are many sources of information. There seem to be two basic kinds, healing and teaching. I think mine is a combination of both. It's self-expression, just for me, a kind of meditation.

Healing Prayer

Check out artist Allen Tyrone at http://projectmelody.org/. I wanted to upload his rendition of the Long Healing Prayer, but it was too long. He offers some beautiful free downloads.

Strive

video from amessageinabottle.ca

A Moment of Clarity

Walking the labyrinth must have created a focused meditative experience, for a couple of days later, an insight came to me totally beyond what I had expected, and totally beyond the issue upon which I had meditated. I experienced a moment of clarity which infused me with joy. I was given both a visual image and the words to help me stay focused, especially in times of tests. Upon returning home, only a few minutes after this experience, I opened the mailbox to find notice of some unexpected news which I would have been spiritually unprepared to handle had I not just experienced that moment. As it was, I accepted calmly what life handed me and felt assured that God was with me in that moment and for whatever I will face in this matter. The image is in the form of a seed labyrinth with four quadrants and words associated with certain key spots. The image provides cues for the thoughts that lead me to a great calm.

Sacred Spaces

I have spent some time in the past few weeks exploring the nearby parks, particularly searching for a place that feels like a sacred space to me. Yesterday, we came upon a pine grove on a knoll above a marshy area. Also, I walked a labyrinth while meditating on a specific transition I am going through, then picked up a rock to bring home as a reminder of the insight that came to me. I later learned that this labyrinth is one of the largest and most beautiful within a hundred mile radius of my new home.

TMI About My Holiday Preparations

The following is an excerpt with some revisions (as in names have been omitted to protect the innocent)from an e-mail I recently sent to a friend who has a great sense of humor.

"I left a note on the kitchen counter telling my husband I want a burn barrel for Christmas (and I think I may get it. I'm excited.)

We are working through some of the holiday issues. I don't celebrate Christmas within my own religion, but I do like some of the special little things that come connected to the season...(like opening the curtains and gazing at the neighbors' twinkling lights or attending a holiday musical evening at one of the local churches where friends attend...or sharing my friend's traditional plate of cookies).

We talked about this before we got married. But, after I sold the 7 ft. artificial Christmas tree that was in his (our) garage and he finally agreed it would be alright to find another home for the tree that had been the one he had given his mom when she was in a nursing home before she passed away (it's still with the designated yard sale items), he started calling me a scrooge. I gladly acquiesced to his ribbing and decorated a bit. Now we have a little table-topper tree as a centerpiece on the dining room table (my daughter had wanted that some years ago and we still have it.) And, I put up this ancient artificial tree (it must have been one of the first ones to come out in the stores) that my husband has dragged around with him in all of his moves all of his adult life. I actually like it because it's not very bushy and there is room to see the ornaments hanging. Hmmm...most of the ornaments went in the yard sale, too! What to do? Well, we still had some lights and a few ornaments, the ones that didn't sell and a couple of especially beautiful ones that I had held back, not knowing if they held any special sentimental value for my husband. In addition, I got out these crocheted potholders that are some kind of family tradition in his "clan" and hung them on the tree.

My daughter said it's the ugliest tree she has ever seen. I think it's beautiful and have been lighting it for morning prayer and meditation time. That's something I'm needing to be more regular with, so the pretty lights are an encouragement to me. (I finally found the music I like to play in the mornings that I had put in a special place where I wouldn't lose it-which, of course, I did-in all the moving about and rearranging.)

We haven't gotten very far in making plans for the holidays,..."

image from http//www.outsider-artists.net

Meditation

video from amessageinabottle.ca