Meditations: “I invite you now into a time of”

What an unearned blessing
      To delight in the calming blue of these walls;
      to hear the robin’s song again at daybreak;
      to feel the warmth in this room and
      to enjoy the promise of summer almost upon us.
Each moment of wakefulness has so many gifts
      that offer energy and delight.

Yet, too often they seem unavailable
      as the weight of our troubles press down on us.
The threats to our well being, real or exaggerated,
      feel like mosquitoes in the night looking for a place
      to land.
Minds become captive to rising flood waters
      forceful, murky, threatening and ominous.

Even in moments of great danger,
      the direction of attention is a choice.
Fear can dominate the mind
      binding it like a straitjacket.
Or love can unbind it and open it
      to resource and opportunity.
The soil of the mind can be watered with kindness.
The thorns can be removed one by one
      to allow another close enough
            to appreciate the buds ready to flower.

Great possibilities await us
      even if all we can see is the cliff before us.
The grandeur of life, of which we are a part,
      scatters rainbows in every direction,
            even as the deluge approaches.
Holding reality and possibility together
      Is the holy hope filled work of humanity

If … we choose it, again and again, in love.