Desserts

My morning walks have been such a treat!

Dessert

by Lynda Allen

I begin each day with dessert.

I dip into the temptation of wisteria,

lured by the white blossoms falling from the crown as the bride’s veil,

or its sister’s purple cloud of petals that beckons to me, until I am adrift in honeyed sweetness.

Lovely lilac, I must admit, pauses my wandering feet, so luscious is her allure.

It’s no wonder the birds sing joyfully, flitting in and amongst the confections of spring.

Some, as the hummingbird, give in and drink deeply of their irresistible nectars.

Sweet intoxication! Alas, I must thirst and drink them in merely through scent,

that is until the beauty of honeysuckle springs forth

and I surrender to the taste of a tiny drop of heaven upon my tongue.

What Would Love Do?

I was sitting in meditation during church yesterday and a thought came to me. What if we changed every instance of the name Jesus in the Bible to the word Love? I thought to myself what a beautiful thing that might be, perhaps not practical but an interesting thing to look at.

I was pondering it on my walk this morning and found myself thinking of it in a different context as well. I was thinking about the phrase (not from the Bible of course), What would Jesus do? I wondered what would happen if I put the word Love there too. What would Love do? My heart opened wide at that thought.

I do try to let Love be my guide but I hadn’t put it such concrete terms before. In any given situation if I am unsure I can simply ask myself that question, What would Love do?

I did ask myself why bother changing it from Jesus? The answer was simple, like it or not there is a lot of baggage that comes along with the name Jesus. Some of it is shiny, sturdy baggage on wheels that you can carry your treasures in. However, some of it is the plastic bag you carry your dirty laundry in after a week long vacation – including those socks you wore on that day long hike. There are thousands of years worth of baggage that goes along with the name, things done and judgments made in the name of Jesus and God that we would rather not remember or talk about. Yet they are there in our collective memory being carried with us.

Yet, when I shifted the phrase to the essence of what Jesus represents, Love, that baggage fell away. I didn’t have to sort through my ideas of Jesus as presented to me growing up Catholic, or as heard through other Christian traditions. I could immediately feel a connection to my heart and the guidance I find there. I could immediately return to Love. And truly, isn’t Love what we find at the core of all religious traditions? For me that is the Truth, Love is at the core, it is at the core of spiritual teachings, it is at the core of you and me and each atom in the universe.

By focusing on Love I immediately connect with that Truth, that core of Love, that core of  Spirit, the Spirit that each of us is an expression of. If I can take that moment to feel it in myself then I also in that moment remember it in you or in the situation I am in the midst of. Then Love is guiding that moment.

I rejoice in imagining the glorious creations that will come from moments guided by Love and the question, What would Love do?

Thank you Daffodil

There is a daffodil in the middle of my back yard. I see it each morning when I look out the window. I’m not sure how it got there. It wasn’t there last year. Somehow when the flower beds or the garden were being dug up it must have fallen there. It didn’t get buried the recommended depth under the earth. Yet there it is in full bloom. I think it’s the brightest one in my yard.

The daffodil doesn’t seem to mind being there all alone. I imagine it doesn’t see itself as alone at all. It is surrounded by grass, visited by squirrels and bees and birds. It has plenty of sun, which it reaches for every day strong and sure.

It brings a smile to my lips every time I see it. It is a beacon of pure yellow light. It surely doesn’t worry about what the other daffodils think. It’s not trying to make a stand on the issue of flower beds. It isn’t trying to outshine the other flowers. It found itself in new circumstances and it did what it does best in any circumstances. It grew. It grew to the fullness of its being. It is a beautiful, thriving daffodil full of color and light and life.

It teaches me how to be, not by teaching of course, but simply by being. Thank you daffodil.

Perspective

Sometimes all that life requires is a change in perspective. This morning on my walk for some reason I didn’t really understand, I decided to walk on the opposite side of the street from the one I usually walk on. It was a difference of about 20 feet and yet what a difference it made!

I was amazed what I could see by changing my perspective only a little. Where before I had seen only a fence, now I saw over the fence into the beautiful gardens held within. Where before I saw only color, now I saw into the center of a daffodil that I had never seen before. Where before I had seen only gray sidewalks, now I saw expression as I read the carvings in them. Where before I had seen flowers, now I inhaled the scent of their joyous expression of life. Where before I saw steps and boards and a door, now I saw how welcoming and inviting a porch can look from across the street. I even got to smile at bumper stickers I hadn’t been able to read before.

Not only did I learn the joy of seeing something new by changing my perspective, I also had the joy of reconnecting with something familiar that I hadn’t seen in while. I walked along a wavy stone wall in my neighborhood that I hadn’t enjoyed the whimsy of in a long while because I had always walked on the same side of the street. Today I let my eyes flow along with its waves of gray and smiled as I felt myself rise and fall with the waves as I passed.

What a difference a change in perspective makes. I wonder what a difference it would make if we walked on the other side of the street of our views of others. What would happen if we stepped back 20 feet from a challenge in our lives and looked at it again?

If you wonder what difference a change in perspective can really make, just ask any artist (or walker) you know.

Awakening

I feel as if I am emerging from a month or two of writing hibernation. It was challenging for me to not feel the words flowing through me and yet I didn’t fear it. I knew that writing and allowing words to move through me is just part of how the Divine expresses through me in this life. I knew that had not changed. I could always still feel that connection. It was as if there was just a pause, as if my fingers hung poised over the keys in restful sleep. It feels wonderful now as they are awakening from their slumber, stretching their stiff muscles and once again are flowing with words – almost faster than I can type!

Nothing else had changed in my usual sources of inspiration during my hibernation. My morning walks were still meditative and inspiring – I even got to sit with an eagle one morning along my walk. Yet there were no words that came with the experiences.

Patience is one of my lessons of this lifetime so I got to practice it each day. I did miss the feeling of the energy of Love flowing through me and out my fingertips. I simply witnessed Love flowing in other ways instead.


And perhaps it was a necessary rest. I’m not always one to rest even when I know I need it. Maybe my fingers connect more directly than my mind with the wiser part of myself, knowing as the trees know that to rest is to prepare, to rest is to honor the natural flow, to rest is to be.


It may be the coming of spring and the change in the weather and the light, or it may have been the full moon and her intense beauty last week that reawakened my sleeping fingers. No matter the cause they are well rested and joyfully tapping as the Love flows as freely as the sap in the wise and awakening trees. Welcome Spring!