LESSON ON COUNTING

 

When he counts his blessings as he was taught to do

his family and his friends are always number one and number two.

He remembers when his parents taught him how to count blessings

a long…long time ago…

They said, “When it comes to counting blessings,

there are two things you should know.”

The first of their two teachings they considered paramount:

When it comes to counting blessings…is knowing what to count.

“Throughout your life,” they told him, 

“you will find it wise

to understand what your true blessing are…

and to find your blessings in disguise.”

The second counting blessings lesson

his parents had dispersed….

which, when he stops to think about it,

was even more important than the first:

How quickly in your life

will your own blessings mount…

when you become a blessing

that other people count.

SEEING WITH OUR HEART

 

When we are children it is our innocent heart that guides us…that opens our eyes…to the beauty and wonders that surround us…that teaches us how to fly.

As we grow older our mind joins our heart in guiding us…in perfecting how we fly…

but often our heart and mind are at odds…they don’t always see eye to eye.

(Sometimes I wonder if that’s why we were created with two eyes…and why those eyes are kept apart…one eyes connects to our mind…the other to our heart.)

Then comes a time when we are older….with our hearts and minds now open wide…when we realize we were better off with but a single guide…

A time when our mind has evolved….

and this wisdom is happy to impart:

How we will see more beauty in the world…

when our eyes are guided by our heart.

CURIOSITY

When a child is a child…while they’re still learning who to be…

the two traits I find most appealing…are their innocence and curiosity.

Like the young son who while being tucked into bed looked up at his dad and smiled

Then asked, “Daddy, do you remember what it was like the last day you were a child?”

When they see someone or something they don’t understand children ask questions…

these question are developmental…

because children are born to be curious…they’e not born to be judgmental.

And what’s wonderful is if we don’t know the answer to their questions…

Like: why is she a different color; why do dogs bark; why do birds have feathers…

we don’t have to be an expert…we can discover the answers…together.

Because being around children…listening to their constant questions…seeing the world they see…allows us to put away our judgements and join in their curiosity.

It stands to reason the more curious we are as adults…the more we question what we see….the more accepting we become and the less judgmental we will be.

So…if we’re ever asked what it felt like the last day we were a child..

we can give our children an answer, hopefully, they’ll never forget.

We can look them in the eye and smile saying…

“I’ll have to let you know…because it hasn’t happened yet.” 

NEVER ALONE

Today allow me to reveal a universal truth.

A truth some of you, I’m sure, have already known:

Love is transcendental…

with a power and an energy all its own.

Once someone’s love has touched us…

the moment their love lights up our day

their love infuses into us…

and never fades away.

Which means whenever we’re feeling sad or lonely…

(once this universal truth is known)

If there is someone who has ever loved us…

we will never be alone.

I imagine it has something to do

with the inner workings of the heart…

how, once we have been loved that feeling stays with us

even when we are apart.

Reminding us how much we’re loved…

how, once the seed of love is sown,

even when we're by ourself…

we will never be alone. 

I LOVE NOT KNOWING WHY

 

I love all the joys life offers….as each day passes by…

and how, when it comes to joy…I don’t have to know the reasons why.

Why does my heart beat faster…why is it difficult to put into words…

the joy I feel watching a baby elephant…on the savannah…chasing birds?

Why do I love sitting in silence…watching the wind tickle a field of grain…

Why do I smile with my arms outstretched while dancing in the rain?

Why am I filled with wonder when I see a picture of a baby in the womb…

Why am I so excited watching a butterfly or a bee drifting from bloom to bloom?

 

Why do I smile…listening to nature sing…as through the forest I stroll?

Why does the melody of a babbling brook have the power to soothe my soul?

Why is the feeling a waterfall evokes…or the stars…or watching clouds float by…

enough to cause me to stop…to create in me…a smile…or a sigh?

Why does the sight of the sun slowly climbing a mountain in the morning cause me as much delight…as watching the moon climb that same mountain as she ushers in the night?

I hope I never discover the reasons…

hope I never find the words…

to explain why I can find so much joy

watching a baby elephant chasing birds.

LOVE

 

On a walk along the seashore…a moment this old couple wouldn’t have wanted to miss:

As the sun was setting they watched a young couple wade into the ocean and innocently steal a kiss.

The old couple did not know the young couple…never before had they ever seen them.

But they smiled wondering if this was the first time love had ever passed between them.

And when the moment…as ever moment does…slipped into the past…

hand in hand this old couple secretly hoped…it would not be their last. 

KABIR AND MAX

When he was a young boy in India Kabir loved to read neath his favorite tree…

only pausing to watch the clouds…

some times he’d read in silence…other times…aloud.

One day while reading he noticed…out of the corner of his eye

a young elephant, about his age, innocently strolling by.

As Kabir began to read aloud the young elephant’s ears perked up in surprise….

and when he gently sat down next to him…he looked into Kabir’s eyes.

“Please read on.” The elephant said. “I want to hear how this story ends.

(This is the day they shall long remember when the two became best friends.)

One day as they sat reading together…their feet dangling in the brook…

Kabir announced, “I shall call you Max…after our favorite character in our favorite book!”

“Max is perfect.” The elephant smiled proudly rising to his feet…

“and it is under this very tree where we wild things shall meet.”

And for many years Kabir and Max would read together

sometime they laughed…sometimes they cried

beneath their favorite tree…sitting side by side.

But little boys and little elephants grow up…time can indeed be fleeting

and with families of their own…the wild things stopped meeting.

But one day as the two friends walked together…up ahead…

what did their old eyes see…

Kabir’s son reading to Max’s son…underneath their favorite tree.

Max and Kabir smiled at one another…remembering back to an earlier day….

“And I shall call you Max.” They heard behind them…

as the two old friends walked away.