Friday, April 29, 2011

Robin's Egg Blue

Inspired by a robin's egg this morning on my walk...

Robin’s Egg Blue
Lynda Allen

Upon the ground
a tiny mirror of the sky
Why so blue robin’s egg?
Does the sky find herself in you?
Or are you a reminder of potential,
of what lies beyond the fear of the first leap?
A delicate reflection of above
held gently in the arms of branches and twigs
feathers and grass.
A glimmer of the aching blue
that calls my soul to flight
each morning.

Now the flutter of wings
for me to find myself in,
Baby robin’s freedom
a reminder of my own.

Robin’s egg blue calls us home.

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Flow of Grace

There but for the Grace of God go I. That is a phrase that just never made sense to me. As if God would withhold Grace from another person and yet grant it to me. That never felt right, based on what I have come to know of God.

About six years ago, I started writing about Grace – frankly because I never could understand the concept and never found a description of it that made sense to me. In the midst of that writing and meditation process, it suddenly struck me that if I turned the phrase around it miraculously made more sense to me.
There but for I, goes the Grace of God.
There but for I! In my writing about Grace it seemed to me that Grace is something we all have access to, something we can all be a channel for. What then if the only thing stopping Grace from flowing freely in the world was me? There but for I, goes the Grace of God. What if that person who is “worse off than me” would feel the touch of Grace if only I would open my heart and allow it to flow through me? What if just by looking at them and acknowledging them as a fellow person, a fellow expression of Spirit, what if by that simple act I could touch them with Grace?

That moment of recognition, of shared connection could be all it takes for Grace to flow freely between the two of us. And then what if the truth were that in that moment, Grace was also flowing to me, I was not just giving, but in the act of giving, also receiving Grace? Wow.

What then if all it takes to change the world is one moment of Grace? How would I act then? How would I look at each person I pass or interact with? What if every single moment is an opportunity for Grace? What if it’s not? So what! If it’s not true then what harm can it do to practice Grace anyway? And if it is true, what unimagined beauty could it bring? I, for one, am more than willing to find out. There, through me, goes the Grace of God.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Morning Light

There is a gentleman I frequently see on my morning walks. Whenever I look up and see him down the street and know that our paths will cross, I smile to myself. I look forward to seeing him for one reason, well two really, his smile and his eyes. I think of it as one reason though, because the two go together. When he greets me with a smile, as he always does, his beautiful blue eyes light up. Yes, they light up enough that I can see the color of them as we pass in the street. I’m sure he doesn’t know that I look forward to seeing that light. I do though, because every time I see that sparkle, it reminds me of the light in myself. It’s as if each time I encounter that light in him my own light flickers in response.


I started to think about that on my morning walks. I always try to greet each person I pass on my way by looking them in the eye and smiling and saying hello. Sometimes they do the same and sometimes they do not. Once I passed a group of women walking together and one of them looked at me and said hello, one looked at the ground and said some sort of hello and the others didn’t acknowledge me at all. I didn’t take it personally, as they were having a conversation, but I did notice as I continued on that it did make a difference in some way. I realized that with just that small smile, moment of eye contact and hello the one woman was in some way acknowledging my existence. Not a validation, mind you, but simply a recognition of another being sharing the experience of this life. That moment made me sparkle more than the greetings or lack of greetings from the others. I was grateful to all of them though for the learning, because from that moment on I realized the importance of my morning walk and the greetings along the way. I knew I had the opportunity each time I saw someone (or even a bird, dog, flower or tree for that matter) to offer them a moment of recognition as an individual, a moment of sharing the journey and a reminder of their light by reflecting it back in my own smile, in my own eyes. I receive that gift so often on my walks from many people, what a joy to discover that I can give that gift in return. Perhaps I had been giving that gift all along, but now I could do it consciously.

I don’t know if that particular gentleman, or anyone I cross paths with on my walks, feels the gift they give or receive from a smile, but I will continue to gratefully give and receive them and enjoy the morning light that shines on me.