SOUL BEAUTY

The mountains are splendid

White with fresh snow the mountains sparkle in the sunshine and dad and I enjoy our drive to visit our friend Shirley and celebrate a life well lived and a new future for her in a new place.

I think of my life and where I am now.  I think of it as being three-quarters up the mountain where I am stopping and resting and enjoying the view.  I can look down and see all the way I have come and all the ways I have been blessed this far; and as I look upward I know that new experiences wait to be explored hopefully with grace and humor.

I feel that it is a good place to be!

I feel comfortable with myself and free from a lot of life's demands that made my life so busy in the past,

 free from trying to be like others who are much more intellectual and materialistic than I.

As a child one is allowed to cry and then be comforted but as we mature we suppress our feelings because "big girls don't cry" as the song repeats over and over again.  I think as we mature we find the freedom to let our feelings be expressed.  Over the years I have had many questions:

Will my parents be proud of me?

Am I ready for the commitment of marriage?

Can  I be a good mother?

It all comes down to the willingness to try, to make mistakes, to get up when you stumble and reach out to help others on their journey.  Willingness is preparing the ground to plant the seed that can produce new possibilities.  As a child I loved fairy stories and I loved happy endings; now I am thankful for all my memories and for the ways I have followed dreams that were more than I had ever thought possible.

My faith has been the hand that has always been able to lift me up.  Like the seed that responds to the warmth of the sun and the refreshing rain my soul has been restored by the beauty of life, the beauty of love and grace that feeds my heart with unconditional love.

Beauty awakens the soul!