"I Thank you God for this most amazing day......

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."   - e.e. cummings


Today began as a very rainy day.  And it took me a long time to really get going because of it.  We scheduled a trip to the zoo to remember Lisa Baluk and the last thing I wanted to do was drive in the rain, walk in the rain, stand in the rain. 

Remembering Lisa is blessing as she was a blessing.  A beautiful young woman who died five years ago, it has become a tradition to go to the zoo on her birthday in memory of her.  I was her pastor and every year would prepare a reading  as friends and family gathered at "Lisa's bench" to   bear witness to her life.  This year her parents were away and I am no longer the pastor.  But I still think of her and miss her and so as Kim arranged lunch and a trip to the zoo I brought my umbrella and joined the others.

And something happened during lunch - the rain stopped.  And as we drove to the zoo the sun came out and we stood there together under a bright February sun and very blue skies.  It seemed like a YES from God for this opportunity to come together and once again remember her.

  We who gathered included four of us who were part of the reiki team that laid hands and prayed over her frail body during the three years that she lived with cancer.  We exchanged emails and were recipients of her "inspiration quotes" and her stories about God's little miracles in nature.

A year before she died, she spoke to the church about her journey with the swans.  She called it "A Tale of Healing, Love, Devotion and Being Touched by Amazing Grace."  She helped all of us to pay attention and see the signs of God as we each live our own lives.  Today Kim gave each of us copies of that talk which included these sentences:
"I encourage others to look both within and without, on a daily and moment-by-moment basis, surrendering to God and the Holy Spirit.  Inspiration is all around us and within us."

And I felt inspired again by Lisa today.  Inspired by the way a young person who has physically left this world, can continue to be guide us ; . Inspired by friends who gather together on a yearly basis to remember her;   Inspired by the way the rain stops for a moment and the sun shines and we can see again God's love in the midst of everything.

I felt such peace today - this most amazing day - as we read this together

 

Become totally empty.
Let your heart be at peace
Amidst the rush of worldly comings and goings,
observe how endings become beginnings.

Things flourish,each by each,
only to return to the source...
to what is and what is to be.

To return to the root is to find peace.
To find peace is to find one's destiny.
To fulfill one's destiny is to be constant.
To know the constant is called insight.
Not knowing this cycle
leads to eternal disaster.

Knowing the constant gives perspective.
This perspective is impartial.
Impartiality is the highest nobility;
the highest nobility is Divine.

Being Divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Toa is eternal.
This way is everlasting,
not endangered by physical death.

Living the Wisdom of the Tao--16th verse Dr Wayne W . Dyer