Weekly Soul. Week 3 - Love
Today's meditation from Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living by Dr. Frederic Craigie.
-3-
The further I wake
into this life, the more I realize that Love is everywhere and the
extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary.
Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the
flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, Love is
under the porch as well as on the top of the mountain, and joy is both in the
front row and in the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.
Mark Nepo
It’s always a delight to see family
greetings in airports. When I travel, or when I’m waiting for arriving
visitors, I pause to watch the little celebrations. Couples come back together.
Little children run to grandparents, who toss them into the air. Families hold
banners; “Welcome home, Trevor and Kate!”
We can certainly appreciate miracles—objects
of wonder—in the physical world. People flying to the moon, doors that open and
close, crocuses popping through the snow in the spring. But isn’t it the
greatest miracle that you are loved? And isn’t it the greatest miracle that you
can love?
Love is everywhere.
Love is in the sentinel events of your
life. The birth of a child. Marriage. The mixture of grief and celebration at
the passing of someone who has been dear to you.
Love is also in the countless joys of
daily life. An elderly couple walks hand in hand. A kindergarten teacher gets
down on the level of a little girl and really listens. A golden retriever wags
his whole body when his owner comes down the stairs in the morning, and his
owner is just as enthralled to see him.
In working with many people around family
relationships over the years, I’ve commented that it is easy to love somebody
when they are cheerful and engaging. The real challenge is how not to lose
sight of love when someone is not.
I saw a man who had been married for many
years to a woman who had significant, episodic emotional difficulties. She
could be sweet one day and caustic and isolated the next. “It’s not easy,” he
said, “but I try to be kind when she’s like that. I know her behavior isn’t who
she really is, and I know that when she gets upset, kindness will usually help
her to feel a little more peaceful. Even in the ugliness of life,” he
continued, “you can’t let the ugliness keep you from the joy and the beauty.”
Love, the object of wonder. The miracle.
Reflection
- Think about a time when you
have been loved, a time, perhaps, when you were not especially easy to
love. Do you see the miracle?
- Open your heart to continuing
ways, and to new ways, that you can express the miracle of love in the
coming week.
Author
Mark
Nepo (b. 1951)
is a poet and philosopher, the author of over a dozen books and audiotapes,
including the acclaimed collection of daily reflections, The Book of Awakening (Conari, 2011), from which the quotation
comes. A survivor of cancer in his thirties, Nepo highlights the
transformational journey toward full, present, and joyful living even in the
presence of suffering.
For more posts by and about Fred and his book, click HERE.
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