Be Here Now

I write this in the middle of a walk at st Francis Spirituality Center in Tiffin. I am one of the directors of a 6 day silent retreat. It has been a time of slowing down, letting go, and falling deeper into God's love and grace.


"Be here now"   God whispers 
And I try
On this green bench in the woods
The red umbrella at my side
A walking stick today
I rest here and breathe in the air
That is laden with the scent of green grass and bushes and ferns and moss
And the woody, leafy fragrance of the trees
I listen and hear locusts and random birds
And faintly faintly in the background the sound of traffic

I am here with you 
My creator of Eden
And the bees that buzz here
And the wind that moves the trees
And the birds that caw And whistle And trill 
And me

I sit here in the midst of sounds that ebb and flow and listen and wait
I listen and wait
I am here with you, my creator and surrounded by creation
Alone .....that is the only homo Sapian
But surrounded by life


I have walked to a highway and then back through the woods to land
Here 
With you my creator
And with my brothers and sisters of creation 
We are together
In our beauty
In our various stages of life

and my thoughts drift
I have been on this earth 69 years
longer than the grass beneath me  but not as long as some trees
are three quarters of my years gone?
How close  to  the end?
Are Days left? Decades?
How long for this plant? Or that shrub or this tree?
They surely do not ponder it
As I do
They are in this day
Receiving sun and rain and wind as I am

All of us are creatures of the creator
But this plant will not say " I've only got 3 months in earth. I'd better make the most of it'
They just exist... usually unnoticed ( as if the only noticing of value is by humans)
Receiving and blooming where they are planted

I wonder ,.......are these thoughts of mortality  the curse of being human or the gift
The Answer is  - of course -  both 

So I sit here  in the midst of the beauty of verdant, abundant life
blessed and cursed
But mostly blessed
It is a good way to spend time that we share
Here now at Peace with God