Lessons learned - the sacred moment

The sacred moment.... a solid magnificent tree of a moment. A moment that soars to great heights, its arms stretched wide and open. Yet in this magnificent tree of a moment I find at times a colony of termites at work. They are nibbling away at it. Rendering it hollow, rendering it empty.

This sacred moment is right here, right now. I live it...I breathe it...I am present with it forever. Most of the time, I am at peace with it. But these termites are crafty. They boar their way into this moment virtually unnoticed. They go by different names... names like "yesterday," "tomorrow," "fear," "doubt" "what if?" "what if it doesn't?" "what will the next scan reveal?" They take from this sacred moment everything they can.

It's not that I can (or should) banish all uncomfortable emotions and thoughts from the present moment; it is just that there is so much to appreciate and be grateful for right now. When fear comes, it need not eat me up alive. I think I am learning to accept this along side the beauty and the blessings of the day.

Since I have not fully regained my energy, I don't have too much energy to spare. I seek to keep the invaders of this moment in perspective. It is a lesson learned. This sacred moment is complete and full! Here's a poem that reminds me of that.


Mindful

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver ~