Soul Mosaic

Today is my birthday and my gift to all is yesterday’s reading from my meditation book, God Calling:

Wipe The Slate

“But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark…” Phillipians 3:13-14

Forget the past. Remember only its glad days. Wipe the slate of your remembrance with Love, which will erase all that is not confirmed in Love. You must forget your failures, your failures and those of others. Wipe them out of the book of your remembrance.

I did not die upon the Cross for man to bear the burdens of his sins himself…..If you forget not the sins of others, and I bear them, then you add to My sorrows.

“I have all the qualities I need to live a happy life and successful life.”

Jessica Callahan, Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind: The Book of Devotion

I’ve been remiss in my gifts, a casualty of just exhaustion, illness, and recovery. I’m preparing a teaching on the mind training slogans of Atisha, an 11th century Buddhist master, for my meditation group. The slogans are also known as Lojong, and teach emptiness and compassion, and reinfornce the ideal of sending and taking – you send what you’d prefer to cling to….your compassion, love and equanimity, and you take what you’d rather reject….the things that scare you. In this way, you share your humanity with all mankind.

Pema Chodron works heavily in this area. In searching for things to add to my own teachings I came across this quote of hers on another blog, My Inner Edge, and it is my gift to all today. Namaste.

Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us. The trick to doing this is to stay with emotional distress without tightening into aversion; to let fear soften us rather than harden into resistance.

– PEMA CHODRON –

I know a lot of people hate Canada geese. I don’t disagree about the mess. But the geese themselves, they are such gentle gifts from the Universe, at least to me.

Several years ago at Christmas time we were waiting to hear if my husband would still have a job. It was agony, sitting and waiting , wondering what would happen, would we lose our house ….and all you could do was sit…and wait. So many times in those few weeks, I’d go outside in the cold and just stand there looking out toward the pond, praying. Asking for God to bring a quick answer to end the agony, for strength to hold on until He did. And…it was Christmas time.

In answer to my prayers, no, I didn’t get an answer to ‘would we be destitute?’ I got ….Canada geese. Almost as soon as the crisis had started, they had arrived.  Whenever I went outside to pray, to let the cold sift through me and try to quell my fear, the geese would walk up the hill, silent, slow, peaceful, and stand by me. They never made a sound. Never hissed at me or poked at me for food. They just walked up to me, gathered around me, and stood there, keeping vigil in the cold with me. Every time. Though they didn’t solve what we were going through, I felt strangely safe…comforted…protected. I wasn’t alone. So I found myself going out there more, to be with what I called our geese angels.

Just before Christmas we finally got word that my husband’s job was safe and no we wouldn’t be out on the street. I went outside, and this time stood together with my geese angels in silent celebration and prayer. The next day, they were gone. It was as if they had come in answer to my prayer for strength, and they remained, silent guardians until the crisis was over. Then I guess they moved on, no doubt to comfort the next person who needed them.

Today I was working in the garage and had my back to the open doors. I heard a sound behind me and turned. Slowly walking into my garage, step by silent step, almost like slow motion, three geese approached. They were part of the two families on the pond, one family with three kids and one with five.

The rest of the families followed these three, all of them moving into the garage without hesitation or fear.  They looked a little odd standing where you’d expect car parts to be, and they certainly are bigger in appearance in the enclosed space of the garage versus in the wide open back yard. But still, they moved with grace and majesty and serenity. Of course, the “kids” who by now look almost like adults, still made their quiet “gosling peeps,” but those were almost inaudible and something I find a joy to listen to.

I said hi and they stepped forward again, watching me, bobbing their heads. They wanted food. It is the strangest thing to see such large creatures, and so many of them, walk right up to you in your garage, as if geese do that all the time. They stood there and watched me, totally calm. When I told them I’d bring food, they didn’t even jump back as I stood up. They just stepped back a foot or so and waited for me to get the little bucket of corn. Then we strolled to the backyard together, where they waited for me to load the ground feeder.

Their presence today reminded me of that time several years ago. Standing next to me, unafraid, serenely quiet company, I felt loved, protected, graced by the presence of the Universe. I deeply appreciated it.

Like I said, I know people can sometimes dislike geese and I know their mess can be a nuisance. But I really have to say that I love them, and willingly hose down the driveway when they come up to visit, because they give me a gift, a sense of God’s love when they stand there in my garage, watching me with their beautiful dark eyes. So to me, they are Guardian angels.