HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! What a wonderful,unexpected gift this particular holiday can be if you take away the trappings of store bought cards, flowers, candy, and jewelry and concentrate on the reality and miracle of love and grace. Quick now,without thinking, honestly embrace the meaning of this day and ask for the grace to truly appreciate it for it will not come again for another 364 days.
Take this day to excavate buried dreams and express them out loud to those you love and to the Universe. Today is the day that has been set aside for love, which also leads to a perfect time for going within and glancing back (not in fear but with true affection of the person YOU are) and understanding where you have been on this real life journey so far.
Remember, how once we were going to set the world on fire? I do. But today, I, like each of you, have my own share of ashes amid those few bright sparks to show for 50 plus years of effort. Amid those ashes we have buried many a precious dream under layers of naivete, relinquishment, bitter failures, detours, dissappointments, rejections,wrong choices, bad timing, bungled efforts, stupid mistakes, unforseen circumstances, fate, missed opportunities, cruetly, and good intentions. Sigh, the road to hell is oft times paved with those good intentions isn't it?
My mentor, Donna Stickland Rodden, once told me not to be a "would be if I could be" but simply just to be. Not to copy or emulate another, but to be the real me. Now, while I have learned that dreams need doing as much as they need being, 50 plus years have also taught me that the being ALWAYS comes first.
So let today, February 14,be your day for being. Be with those you love (if only in your heart as in my case since those I love want nothing more to do with me). Be kind to yourself. Find a moment of quiet and call forth a dream you buried long ago. Feel its warmth? The ember is still glowing in your soul. See it in your mind. Hold it tenderly in your heart. Then ask for just one day's portion of grace to guide you through the rest of this wonder-filled day.
Now, let me share something that I have learned about grace. In my lifetime, battling so many of life's obstacles, I have been on my knees many times. Gratefully, most of my prayers have been answered just as I had hoped. Some, of course, were not (well at least not in the way I had wanted them to be). Others have been delayed until I though my heart would break. Still others have been denied (such as my fight with cancer, the death of my husband, the loss of the sunshine of my granddaughter due to anger and shadow). But NEVER have I asked for just one day's portion of grace and not received it.
What better day, than Valentine's Day to remember to ask for grace for grace fills our hearts and lets it love even more. Grace is available for each of us EVERY day.
Just ask. Ask for it with a grateful heart and try not to worry about whether there will be enough tomorrow... Love never dies and journeys past even our tomorrows.
Happy Valentines Day.
Blessed be.
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