It’s May. The lilacs are blooming.
All things seem possible today.
Why do I feel this way?
-William C. Butterfield-
Today I’m being asked, from the inside out, to move from the driver’s seat to the passenger’s side where I can simply sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. It’s a rare moment as I’ve been a driver most of my adult life. As a boy I was a dreamer, a serene player in the divine drama of a cosmic dance. But as I grew older, the impositions of strive/drive adulthood kept pushing, shoving and drawing me away from my deep connection with the natural order of Life. Climbing trees and flowing with the breeze was no longer acceptable. I had to ‘grow up.’
Today, decades later, in the autumn of my life, I still experience the feelings of my boyhood. As I hear the wind blowing through the trees today I’m transported into a wonderland I used to live in but gave up for another life. I sit at my desk with the windows open to the breeze, the trees and the ease of a more natural life that ebbs and flows with the seasons of my soul. On this spring day in May the longing of my heart again sees its part in the unfolding of Nature’s abundant Life!
In this moment, I’m sensing the possibilities of our collective natures that want to be free.
Like so many of us, I’m observing the ongoing dramas and difficulties unfolding all over the world. Children, now grown up, are still vying for positions and crying for love and consideration as they, we, find ourselves continually disempowered by others. Power over is the operative experience rather than power with. It’s a low level of awareness that always ends in regret, anxiety, disappointment, anger and indifference. Power with, however, comes to us through affirmation, trust, inspiration, acceptance and understanding. It comes from an inner awareness called Love!
Love is discovered in nurturance. It’s discovered in flowers, trees, a gentle breeze and feelings of caring relations. It’s awakened and affirmed in a soft touch, a kind word or gesture that communicates the presence of acceptance, appreciation, understanding and Life. It’s built into our DNA but can be hidden, repressed and denied through abandonment, despair, anger and fear. The seasons of soul open us to new potentialities. The month of May, in this spring season, becomes a portal where infinite possibilities can awaken to new Birth, new Life and new Love.
As I finish this writing to again walk with the earth, wind, sun and water; I ponder the many environmental energies we fail to appreciate. Sensing the fields and flowers, trees and waters help awaken us to places and spaces within, around and flowing through us all. Awakening to this season, this month, this week, this day and this moment of grace brings us soul to soul. Here, the wholeness of the Divine invites us to embrace this day in May. It invites us to enter a new way to live; to recognize how all things seem possible today because the lilacs are blooming.
Step out of doors today and feel the energies of this season of soul. Feel the aliveness of the trees, the flowers, the breeze and the many influences that help you be at ease.
Ponder the possibilities you can entertain today. Awaken to a time and place when you were a child enamored by the flowers and trees; when all things seemed possible. Rest in this thin space of grace and know how it’s here for you today and every day.
As you awaken to these natural gifts of life, notice their appeal. Bow reverently and feel the wonder of this time, place and space along with the glorious presence of grace. . . What are you sensing here, now, in this day in May? Are you smiling yet?
Let us walk in Love together,
Fr. Rick Meyers+