Nourishment for the heart

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone:

I know I keep bringing this up, but I'm hopeful that we all can use

this technique to help us fill that void with love/joy/happiness

instead of food.

This morning at work, I took my usual break, and now, instead of

sitting in the break room or at my desk, I walked out of the office

for some fresh air and sun.

As I was walking down a gently sloping hill, I was thinking how

wonderful the morning was. I felt a prayer without words, feeling

the presence of God with me. The sun was shining through a small

grouping of three eucalyptus trees. There was a gentle breeze that

carried that wonderful fragrance from the trees, and it seemed to

pass right through me, cleansing me as I took deep, calming breaths.

I walked down the slope toward the water, which was replete with

ripples made by ducks happily feeding and preening. The tranquility

was complete. And God was with me. Then for some reason I turned

around, perhaps to face the breeze or look toward the trees, and I

was taken aback by such beauty my heart could hardly contain it. The

whole slope, draped in green, dewy grass contained a surprise—

hundreds of little white daisy-like flowers. Each little flower had

bright white petals and happy little yellow faces.

There was a hazy cloud of moisture swirling around the trees that

caused the light to beam though as if it were passing through the

stained glass windows of a gothic cathedral. And the beams of light

illuminated the dews drops on each little flower making sparkles and

flickers all around. God was with me.

I noticed the flowers were part of a patch of three-leaf clover and

walked toward it thinking I could perhaps find a four-leafed one.

Looking down, I saw that each clover leaf had a marking. I crouched

down to see what the marking was. Smiling wonderment entered my soul

when I found that the marking was in the shape of a heart. And as I

looked around, my heart filled with the joy of my childhood

innocence, like when you discover something beautiful for the first

time. And like a child, I let out a laugh as my scope of vision

widened and then widened again until I could see that I was

surrounded by what must have been hundreds of thousands of little

hearts.

I felt God there with me. I felt God's love enter my heart again.

What does this have to do with my recovery from morbid obesity?

Nothing. And everything. This spiritual connection with the

Universe, the Divine, the Cosmos wasn't possible when I was closed to

it. In order to be healed, I had to let that unconditional love

enter my being. So this little gift nourished my soul, and as a

result, I don't need to fill that " void " with food that will make me

sick.

Last Sunday, the Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon, of my church

spoke of a paradox: The light is close to the wound. The blessing

is contained within the suffering. When my surgeon created the wound

that would save me from death by morbid obesity, he also let the

light enter my being. And finally I opened my heart to let that

light in. And now that brilliant light brightens my world, and I am

willing and vulnerable enough to receive the gifts of beauty the God

places before me everyday. But I can only be nourished by them if I

take the time to notice, appreciate and absorb.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, " The light by which we see in this

world comes out from the soul of the observer. " My soul has been

illuminated by unconditional love, and the world will forever look

different to me. How lucky am I to see such wonders.

May each of you find your wonders too.

Francisco