At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzerccc Jeffblake
It happens to all of us.
We get those days (or weeks or some year) where we simply want to withdraw. We just want to get away from it all. It might be getting away from some certain thing, from nothing we can name, or it might feel like we want to avoid everything.
And then something happens.
We realize that we can’t really get away.
All that lonely headspinning doesn’t help. We’re followed by the memories, the joys or regrets, the ideas that somehow the past could be different if we just wanted it to be so. Somehow, things would be different if we could just work it out by ourselves. Can’t the world stop!?
And then something else happens.
Since we can’t really get away from every person in the world, we end up hearing an electrifying word from some stranger. It could be a random word, not really meant for us. Still, it sparks a return to clarity. It lights a fuse which reaches to our heart, setting it back on fire.
Or, that spark comes from a former lover, someone who has held our heart in a sweet embrace. Although we try to stay away, we know deep down that we two have unfinished business. We two have something to work out. The lightning flash comes when we realize that their loving lights up our loving.
These others in our lives that rekindle us, are like the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus, giving us little gifts, and in the process they help bring us fully alive.
Be open to the presents others bring by simply reflecting your own loving flame.
THE WATERWHEEL (Rumi)
Stay together, friends.
Don’t scatter and sleep.Our friendship is made
of being awake.The waterwheel accepts water
and turns and gives it away,
weeping.That way it stays in the garden,
whereas another roundness rolls
through a dry riverbed looking
for what it thinks it wants.Stay here, quivering with each moment
like a drop of mercury.
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