INSPIRATIONS

"We write because something 'touches' us.  We write because we want to 'touch' someone else.  We write  to 'get in touch' with the divine or because the divine has somehow 'gotten in touch' with us."

The Right to Write

Julia Cameron

Inspiration comes in many forms.  Sometimes rugged and destructive and then sometimes it creeps in almost unnoticed.  And then sometimes it comes straight at you like a hero wearing a cape - to rescue you. 

There are days in the past when I felt I was wandering in the wilderness alone.  These legacies of the past are what form us today.  We all have them.  It is what we do with them that is what matters, not what we allow them to do to us. 

The soldiers have what they call their 'ALIVE DAY'.  This is the day they came close.  It is the  'day they did not die.'  If you twist it just a little - you will realize we all have them.  We all have challenges and the stuff of life that can either knock us to the ground or make us sit up and take notice of all that surrounds us that makes us stronger - of all the beauty that is out there shining for us, if only we grasp the opportunity and let it in!

This morning I stood in my back yard and witnessed something no one else on earth saw or will see on this day in this place.  In my side yard, seemingly hidden from view, were several dozen clusters of wild iridescent mushrooms, reaching for heaven, through a bed of crimson pommegrante blossoms that had fallen from my tree.  A light silver taupe color, tiny and spectacular in their papery thin appearance, with a  mustard colored center, they stood proud and regal, perhaps waiting to be recognized.  Or perhaps they knew they only had but a few hours to shine, to live. Or perhaps not!

If I had not have been in the back yard at that moment, I would never had seen them.  I would never have been in complete and total amazement at the beauty of their few short hours on this earth.  The moment would have been missed, before a heartbeat took them away. 

You never know what is around the corner waiting to be discovered.  Sometimes you simply have to take that leap of faith - take that leap of faith afraid.

Today I invite you to take a chance and seize the moment, that one beautiful fleeting moment, that life offers you only once. Do it afraid!  Do it afraid.  But do it!  We are here on this wild and crazy ride of life for such a short time.  A plaque hangs in my bathroom that centers me when I feel like I am spinning out of control.  I have written it here before, but it bears repeating. "As eternity is reckoned there's a lifetime in a second."  Piet Hein

There was a lifetime in the journey of these wild mushrooms.  As I ran to get my camera, I did not know that in only moments they would disappear without a trace.  They changed me - these mushrooms.  I soon realized that around the corner, perhaps when you least expect it, you just might find beauty, and inspiration, and if you are incredibly blessed, you just might find love.

What if I had never seen them? How often do we walk by something so exquisite that it can take our breath away - never see it - never experience it?  It is our greatest loss.  Not observing, not knowing, not loving is our greatest loss.

So this morning I say thank you for the mushrooms and that I could, if only for a moment, experience them and be witness to something no one else saw.  One moment of wonder - glorious wonder!

Where do you experience wonder?  Where do you delight in the simpler things?  Where are you challenged to let go and open your heart and your eyes to those things that really matter? 

These places are all around you, if you will only open your eyes and your heart and see.