Earlier this spring I went out and took pictures of stunning tulips. This purple/magenta tulip caught my eye with the delicate, artistic placement of its petals. They almost look like they are in motion. There is always the gift of light in tulips. They hold beams of sunlight like a cup holds water. The sun’s light shining through their petals creates an illuminated glow of color, that draws our eyes towards them. The beauty of this flower inspired me to be creative: to draw and allow the divine light of creation come forth within me.
Magenta Tulip Drawing
Do you ever create as well?
One of the gifts we each have been given is the gift of creativity. The divine light in each of us can shine through into form when we create.
Create and make some time in your life to express yourself…
Find something you love.
Something that moves you to awaken your creativity.
Sit down and draw, paint, sculpt, etc.
Turn on your favorite music.
Let yourself discover the creativity that lives inside you. It will awaken joy in your heart, comfort you, bring you peace, reveal the light that dwells inside you.
Richard Rohr, says, “ God loves things by becoming them.”
You are here. Create from within yourself and bring forth the love and light you are into form.
The Crocus Flower is one of the first signs of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. These tiny purple white and sometimes yellow flowers adorn the earth and fill our eyes with little bits of beauty. They are a reminder that the earth is awakening again from its winter rest. And they are a reminder that the cycle of life from death to rebirth is happening again.
Look at these little flowers…
There is so much hope that lies within each of these flowers. Think of yourself when you see them rising up in the earth at the beginning of spring. They make you feel excited that spring is starting. They fill you with HOPE for new days, longer sunlit skies, colorful plants, green leaves and warmer days.
This beauty transcends into your heart and flows into your soul as you are filled with this gift of divine grace.
Open yourself and feel the divine gift of nature given to you. This gift [of flowers] is not just here for us to see…it is here to awaken our souls to the wonder of life and the hope that lies within each of us.
Today is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The birds are beginning to return to the trees and play on the ground. Their songs are frequent, soothing. When they sing you can hear the Earth’s love for them in their song. It’s as though the birds are celebrating the earth’s excitement and joy as it awakens to the hopes for buds and flowers. The same kind of hope when your body longs to return outdoors and feel the sun against your skin.
This relationship of the birds and the earth is one deeply rooted in love and connection. They love each other; they are connected to one another. The birds sing the song of the Earth’s heart.
You are blessed to hear this love song. This love becomes a part of you. How blessed you are.
(Side note) The tiny bird in the picture is an Eastern Bluebird. I discovered the little bird in my trees today. Bluebirds bestow spiritual gifts of happiness and goodness. They also are an invitation from nature to you: Spend more time in nature. Go outside. There is much happiness for you there.
In the early weeks of December the Moon was shining in the morning sky amongst the blue skies and light of day. It was a beautiful sight that filled me with a sense of happiness and calm. I felt as though the universe was saying, “I am glad you are here.” There is such beautiful wonder in this earth we are blessed to live upon and interact with.
As I write of this beautiful encounter of the Moon my mind begins to think of the Magi with their eyes toward the skies. I imagine they witnessed so much majesty in the night skies. And being so in tune with the natural world they were able to not only see but feel there was a deep LOVE awakening in the universe…a LOVE that has always been here but was birthing itself in a way that people could witness and feel close to.
The Magi noticed a glorious light in the night sky. They were able to pause and notice not only with their eyes but also with their hearts that there was a birthing of grace in this glorious light. Their openness and awareness of listening to their hearts allowed them to follow the glorious light and see where it lead them- to receive the gift of great LOVE. And their awareness and calm in noticing and being connected to the natural world allowed them to be changed by this LOVE.
This LOVE is still here…
All around you.
Our Earth and skies are filled with blessings of divine LOVE. Allow yourself to take the time to pause and look up at the skies. And as you do may you too feel this great LOVE for you.
You have a prayer in your heart. Lift it up into the world.
We are each created with the Divine inside us- where the true essence of our Light and Love dwells. May you feel this and be aware of this spiritual part of yourself— & offer up a prayer —for our world —for the peoples of our Earth —for the creatures that dwell in the lands, waters and sky —for Mother Earth our home. Feel this prayer in your body and ask your ancestors and Angels to pray for our world & earth too Please Divine Source of Love, hear our prayers and listen to us as we call out to You. Amen.
***Ukraine is one of the largest growers of Sunflowers (a small one pictured above from my garden). Sunflowers turn towards the sun and follow the light throughout the day. They are filled with Light: The Divine Light of our Sun: The Divine Light of nature. May their glorious gift of Light be felt in your prayer and each time you see one may you lift your heart up in prayer for our world, the peoples, creatures and lands.
Last week I felt a strong sense of the presence of Grace in our lives. There is so much each of us hold: both pain and joy, sorrow and hope, loneliness and togetherness. There is also much beauty in our choice of how to open our hearts, to feel, to experience life. This is where Grace happens: in both the beautiful and difficult.
This prayer/poem is my gift to you. May there be openings in your life where you can feel and experience Grace. Grace is freely given always just because you are you. You are Beloved.
A Prayer for Grace
Grace is falling falling from the skies; it comes in thunderous waves of rain and bright rays of sun that embrace the land everyone and everything are within its reach and touch.
Grace is rising rising up from the earth it comes in the songs of the birds the beauty of the flowers and trees inviting you to come closer to see with your own eyes to touch with your own skin to feel within your own body.
Grace is speaking speaking from the Spirit of Creation from the tender mouth of God, that dwells inside every bud, every wave, every beam of light, every person, every creature, every particle of life.
Grace is LOVE birthing, resurrecting, opening, healing You.
Grace is MERCY accepting, embracing, forgiving, loving You.
Grace is yours: it is your gift of God’s great Love for you freely given, alive, everywhere, within you, and always upon you.
Amen.
Blessings of Grace upon you today and always, Erin
May you always feel the sun on your back, and the wind in your hair. May you always find joy in the songs of the birds, and the touch of the grass between your toes. May you always be blessed with love all around you, now, forever, & eternally. Amen
I want to share with you a beautiful experience I had this summer. We all need beauty in our lives, but experiencing beauty and awe, seem to be exceptionally important this year with all that is going on in our world both close and far from us. This August my family and I were blessed with the gift of raising a Monarch from our garden. We watched her hatch from an egg, eat her way to becoming a large plump caterpillar, change into a chrysalis, and then into a magnificent creature of flight.
Our beautiful Monarch stayed in our garden for 3 days drinking the succulent nectar of my flowers. She had previously been with us for 26 days as she began as an egg to her birthing into a butterfly. Spending almost a month together we become family to one another. My two year old cried when we had to say good-bye. Possibly she stayed because she wanted to ease his grief; she had love for us as we did her. Maybe she stayed because as she flew into the garden the flowers and milkweed seemed to be a familiar place of love and connection for her: it was where her mother danced and gave birth to her. The flowers also hold the memory of previous generations of Monarchs who drank from their nectar and thus the flowers also have a great love for her, knowing her as a parent knows their child. We, people, creatures, nature, all of creation are connected through this magical web of energy and love. When we see this, and believe this we become part of the great family of creation. This connection of love invites us and allows us to begin to heal and remember who we truly are.
September and October are the months of TheGreat Migration.
The Monarch we were blessed to raise is from the “Super Monarch Generation.” She lives about 7 to 8 months compared to the other Monarch’s who are born after her in the spring (March/April) through the beginning of August. (Each of those generations only live about a month at a time). Additionally, she is flying about 2,400 miles from my home in Massachusetts to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico to live atop trees at elevations of 2,000-3,000 feet. These creatures with such tiny wings, flying such distance are truly magnificent. Can you imagine being in the mountains and witnessing the beauty of all of them together, all the vastness of the trees, sky and peaks? The lifespan, endurance, and flight of the Monarchs born in August are a mysterious, beautiful gift. These creatures are a symbol of what we are all capable of, but have yet to fully understand.
May we watch these beautiful creatures and learn from them: to have hope, to keep trying, and mostly to believe in the mysterious and wonderful. They have so much to teach us.
I hope you enjoy these photographs of her. And I hope you make the time in your life to notice the connection you have with nature, and that nature has with you.
Have you ever raised a butterfly at home before? Do you have a favorite kind of Butterfly?
bellableue.com 