I looked forward to this week. Gratitude has become a daily ritual. Between the time my alarm clock first goes off in the morning and the time my feet actually hit the floor, I offer gratitude for the typical: my family, friends, our health, my job, golden opportunities, lessons learned, etc. etc. etc. So, I thought that the week would be an easy one. Even though I don't discipline myself enough to actually write out my gratitudes every morning, I was already living this truth. Right? I mean, what else was there to do? I even now see and appreciate the beauty in the lessons.
Then I read my niece's blog. She suggested that we go beyond just expressing gratitude and write a love journal, recording all the ways that we are shown love. Now that is gratitude. Okay, I thought, I'll try that, I appreciate the expression of love. But, like my gratitude journal, I'd do it in my head, not on paper.
My head love journal was great. I recorded all the ways my husband, children, grandchildren, friends, and speech students all expressed their love during the week. It was amazing! Rob always has that magic way of making me feel loved. As he often does, he filled my water bottle and brougt me my robe when I was tired. Daughter, Kristy came to my rescue again and updated my pictures on FaceBook. She knows that my skills make the job difficult for me. Son, James invited himeself to dinner stating that he just missed being with us. Son, John, consistently updated us on where he was and what he was doing since he was away from home on training. Now those are expressions of love that any mom would appreciate. My love journal was also filled with granddaughter appreciations. The laughter from our granddaughters showered me with love as only they can. My love journal also included spontaneous hugs from my speech students; nice comments from my friends; and even the wink of an eye in acknowledgement from an acquaintance. What a great idea, Mary. My love journal certainly showed me how rich my life is.
Then while walking to school, I heard the caw of a crow while I passed under the tree where he was perched. For some odd reason, I knew that he too was sending me love. On any other week I may have missed that expression of love and failed to gratefully acknowledge it. But not this week. My awareness had been aroused. I starting seeing love everywhere--even in nature. I realized that nature was also showering love in my direction. It always had been. I just hadn't appreciated it. Now, I started appreciating those expressions of love. And as I did, more love situations appeared. Thursday night while walking our son out to the car he parked in front of our city home, an eight-point deer greeted us all. He seemed to stare right at us and then leaped away and disappeared. My husband looked up the significance of the deer's appearance on an internet site to see if it heralded any message. It did. We understood his appearance and were deeply grateful. The next day a falcon perched himself on the fence right out side our kitchen window. I stared at him for minutes and saw the love that he too expressed. Our cat who often sees Rob as the better option to cuddle up with in the evening, slept in my lap many times during the week.
I didn't start out with the intention of developing a new appreciation for the love that nature has to share, but that is the way the week went. And, I am deeply grateful for it.
It really is amazing to me how each week I am being led into a deeper understanding of each of the nineteen spiritual truths. What a wonderful world this is.
Next week the truth that I will focus on will be: If we quiet our minds and open our hearts, godly messages can be heard to guide us in the right direction. I guess it's time to remind myself to be still and listen.