Already loved this morning

So, here you are. Nice to see you!
Sit down, relax, and tell me...
How has God loved you already today?

Love from the inside out

Spring arrived on the calendar in Indiana a few days ago, but just this morning the dogwoods realized it. Huge, white blossoms--erupting with such joy you can almost hear them--buoyed me to work this morning. I found myself thinking about joy and beauty and blossoming, and realized that it's all love, opening naturally as part of the miraculous process of life, growing, growing, growing, and sharing--ultimately fulfilling the purpose of adding to the Alleluia! of life.

The dogwoods are definitely singing this morning.

I thought, too, of how hard we work at love, perhaps at first fighting it; then allowing it; then abandoning ourselves to it (alleluia!)...and then, for many, challenges, hurts, perhaps a feeling of loss, betrayal, disappointment...

The dogwoods could not/would not have blossomed earlier this week, on the day spring arrived by calendar. You could have stood beside them yelling "Wake up! You're supposed to be blooming now!" but it wouldn't have made any difference. They don't know about calendars and expectations. They don't respond to judgment--as far as I know--for when and how and where they blossom. When it's just time, perhaps they feel it with a delicious sense of readiness, increasing joy, and then...blossoming alleluia!

Love for us bipeds might be easier if we let the natural course of life and love flow within her own banks (which are in reality limitless). If we just for a moment relax our tendency to grab and make and push and evaluate; if we could simply take a deep and filling breath and receive, opening our eyes and minds and hearts; trust, joy, and celebration would be our natural blossoming, our Alleluia!.

I'm just going to let myself blossom naturally today, in whatever timing love and life presents. How about you?

A pebble for your pocket

When I was a little girl (okay, I still do it sometimes today) I used to gather small stones, just picking up tiny little red, cream, and smokey gray ones and putting them in my pocket, carrying them with me wherever I went. This evidence of my loving wonder of the mystery and beauty of the natural world was a comfort...I could feel the stones at the ends of my fingertips during difficult schoolwork, when schedules were full, when parents were agitated. Little pebbles of peace, my unfailing connection to the natural world.

This morning I have a little pebble thought for you to carry in your pocket as you go about your day. I think it is worth touching again and again, turning over and over until it becomes a part of you:

This does not end, and there is no that.

Amen and amen. Enjoy the beauty all around today...it's for you! :)

La bella luna and the realm of all possibility

This morning I took the dogs out very early in the pre-dawn darkness. As we walked along the edge of the forest, I was aware of a sense of life preparing, ready to spill over with new growth and beauty. I could smell it--the scent of spring. Here in Indiana any minute now the redbuds, dogwoods, and pear trees will begin to erupt joyfully. I can't wait!

I looked up at the stars and realized there was not a single thing obstructing the way between us. I looked directly at stars and they looked at me. I turned and looked at the moon. Even looking through the trees, I saw the moon clearly, and it saw me. Our connection was uninterrupted. No buildings, no rules, no delays, no "sometdays", no financial obstacles, no limitation at all came between me and the moon and the stars.

This was a profound realization! If an ordinary human being has a direct link to the celestial bodies, what joy and peace and comfort are ours! If a sometimes struggling, sometimes forgetful, but loved child of God has an indestructible and neverfailing link to his or her beloved Divine Parent, what security and joy and love are always there for us!
Look up and in today, and reach for that feeling of transcendence deep within your soul. It is there, and strong as ever. Soon it will blossom in God's love with the fresh breezes of spring.

Reflections

This morning early, before the sun, I took the dogs outside. As I stood on the frozen grass trying to convince myself I wasn't freezing, suddenly something bright and orange and shining caught my eye. It was the reflection of the porch light in Edgar's ID tag. It flashed once, twice, and then it was gone.

Driving back from taking Cameron to school a few minutes ago, the rising orange sun edged up over the trees and bathed the faces of houses with a brilliant light. As I passed by, I noticed that looking straight on at the houses, I couldn't see the reflection in the same way. There is something about being in the right place at the right time in order to witness the awesome nature of that reflected light.

It's a precious thing, the ability to be awake and aware, capturing the reflected light of creation in a sparkling moment of awe. Whether you have the chance to see light caught in a two dollar dog tag, shining from the windows of passing office buildings, or gleaming out at you from the eyes of one you love today, recognize the soul-expanding gift of your witness and whisper a small thanks.