As I was paging through my creative journal tonight, I came across a collage I'd made, which included the following poem by Rumi:
"This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. ~ A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.~ Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of it's furniture, still, treat each guest honorably.~ He may be clearing your out for some new delight."
The beautiful roses here, given to me by Marta, my wonderful friend of 25+years helped chase my shadows away and allowed sunshine to peek into my heart. I am so very blessed because I get to share my life with an abundance of generous, loving, thoughtful, fun and devoted friends and great souls...(the best part is, blessings abound as my circle is ever-expanding) and Marta is one of them. Whenever I see her she is most likley to be bearing gifts of any shape or size, color, scent, flavor...tangible or non-tangible! One thing is for sure...it will always delight the senses...and the love is electric!
This picture brought back the memory as if I received them today. Marta gave these roses to me one Saturday in July when she joined me, along with four other very good-and-faithful friends (Randy, Carol, Pat and Stacia) for a creativity-inducing workshop I lead which soon had us dancing with our muses and our inner-child squealing with delight! I'm sharing these voluptuous roses here because they are full and elegant, fragrant and cheery....a gift of great generousity and love....and they remind me of sunshine and beauty especially when I might not see it. You know...the light that lingers in places we might not see...maybe on the other side of the shadows...much like the rainbow after the storm...and then there's that pot of gold...hmm..I feel that's what Rumi is telling us in his poem.
The spirit in which these roses were given just lights me up from the inside out, and when I look at them I think of Marta...and a big smile blooms across my face. Thank you Marta for chasing the shadows away..and helping me to see the promise of a rainbow , sometimes when I least expected it. So...this is the blessing I'm sending you right now: "May the softness within your eyes see the the beauty of the roses in your life...the roses beyond the thorns... and may your heart feel and know the promise of your rainbow that's on the horizon...it is there."
Here's to you....all of you!
Cheryl
P.S. The Roses and Rainbows are especially welcomed after experiencing the dialogue with my Sad" SoulCollage card about 10 days ago. The process allowed me to be with the Shadow, work with it and have vision and gratitude for the rainbow that followed.
