Love and Mercy

"Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you are." 

~rumi

1207-1273

I know DEATH really well. It has been my companion, my teacher and friend. Living intimately with ideas of endings, sorrow, pain and uncertainty informs me well. I have learned about accepting what is. I have been trained to recognize and acknowledge the importance of joy. And most of all I have come to understand that love never dies.

Along with all of this comes a finely honed understanding of the importance of the forms showing up right here in front of me. Did you know they all have deeper meanings assigned them? They are there if you are willing to look! I learned this when one was abruptly taken away.

But things are shifting.

It is LIFE that now beckons to me. It is laughter, playfulness, uncertainty and acceptence that wants to cheat out the space DEATH has impounded for so long. Life wants to be lived, to thrive in the light of great newnesses New friends. New loves. And new adventures. 

In this I am a bit caught.

I am holding back my Self. I am reserved and weary knowing what manifests within the structures of time. Knowing unknown pains and sorrows to come. Is LIFE really this kind of battlefield? Is heartache really just one more medal to wear and weigh me down in the course of each hallowed day? 

Or can I wage LIFE not as a war, but as an experiment - experiencing fully, soul to soul, moment to moment, all it's loves and mercies? Using what I now know, can I discipline myself to practice enjoying with a light touch the beauty of holding hands, the warmth of being acknowledged, the crescendo of an understanding between you and me and the resulting smile in your eyes?  

Only time has these answers, but I sure do like the questions?

Don't you?

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