All Good Gifts

The weather has been alternating - sunny for days, then rainy for a week, then the sun comes out again, then it rains again... and the cycle continues. Every morning , my favorite moment is scanning the  grass in the garden and noticing how the mostly brown land gradually becomes green from the inching upward of the grass and after having drunk up a lot of rainwater.  Even the portions that were mostly brown soil start to acquire their green color as the roots of the grass from the area beside make their way there and fill out the spaces.

The flowers too, continue their cycle of budding, blooming and dying, budding anew, blooming anew, withering anew.  When one dies, it simply means that new life can now succeed it..

Our life is like the fields - whether these be garden grass and flowers, or farmlands. We  go through definite cycles of birthing, growing, maturing and dying, birthing anew, growing anew, struggling anew, deepening understanding anew, then letting go of things anew to give way for the new seeds of what matter most, to emerge... 

The beauty of being in midlife is that we gain the eyesight to see what we may not have seen before... to recognize the Hand that tills us, to know the Heart that swells the grains within us, and to realize that there is the Compassionate Love that has always showered us with  "all good gifts".

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We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand..

He sends us snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain...

The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain...

All good gifts around us

Are sent from Heaven above

So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love...

We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,

The seedtime and the harvest, our life our health our food,

No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts

But that which thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts!

All good gifts around us

Are sent from Heaven above..

So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love..

I really wanna thank you Lord!

- music by Stephen Schwartz, "Godspell"



 

Prayer of Letting Go

Our good Lord gifted me with 25 years of being in exactly the organization I had always wanted to be in, doing the nature of work I have been very happy with, in the company of many good supervisors and colleagues, and amidst friendships that will endure for a lifetime. One couldn't ask for a better comfort zone!  Gratitude for the all these blessings overwhelm.

But "all things indeed have their season and all things have their time."  So after the numerous warm goodbyes, now comes the task of letting go, self-emptying, and movement into solitude and inner stillness. Into more attentive listening and responding to the gentle promptings of His Spirit.   

"Unless the grain of wheat falls deep into the earth;

Unless it dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, the harvest indeed is great.

From this one seed comes a hundredfold."

My dearest Lord, I now offer up to You the next 25 years, or whatever remaining life you give me. Please lead me into whatever and wherever You desire. To a life of love and unity with You.

With all my heart, I beg, that like the grain of wheat, I may learn "to die, so that I may truly live in You." 

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