DIAL A PRAYER
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Grass, Earth, and Tree
A couple of years ago, in the Winter of 2021, as COVID raged and the isolation of lockdown was getting
to me, I was sitting on my front step contemplating the grass growing in my front yard. It was beautiful!
So green, an emerald green of new sprouts warmed by the desert sun in the winter. I know that contemplating the grass growing sounds boring but I was very tuned in to the experience and, that all that grass was requiring a lot of water to maintain, especially during the encroaching summer days of 115 degrees.
As I stared at the unsustainable beauty in front of me, I heard a quiet voice in my head whisper the word
“labyrinth” and the 200’ long meditative labyrinth path on Papaya Lane in front of my house was born. For two years I putzed around my front yard creating and recreating the path, digging out more grass, adding in landscaping gravel, drought tolerant plants, beautiful concrete benches, and my favorite part, the meadow. The grass has been reduced to a small patch under the mulberry tree where I let the grass grow wooly. There are now over 100 bulbs ( tulips and daffodils) planted in the meadow and a bird feeder in the tree spreads seeds on the grown below. The path was just filled in with a beautiful pale yellow decomposed granite that feels soft to walk on with bare feet. I tossed wild flower seeds into the meadow the past two springs and right now the bulbs are already shooting up and there are four inch sprouts of sunflowers pushing out of the soil. The meadow changes daily throughout the year and I always enjoy sitting in it under the tree, on the beautiful bench, surrounded by grass, earth, and tree.
I have brought my sadness, my tears, my pains, and my joys into the labyrinth these last two years. I offered these things to the tree and the Divine Creator and they gladly embraced me. There was no physical pain, no heart wrenching tragedy that they could not handle. The loss of dozens of people to COVID, of being attacked by a homophobic Trump train, of divorce; the physical pain of disease, the mental anguish of isolation, all fell off me into the labyrinth. The quiet pilgrimage in the front yard of my home inspired me to find Peace, to live in acceptance, and to look forward to the creative process. I call it sacred ground!
As I once again sit on my front step in between winter storms and contemplate, I find myself feeling a sense of achievement. My Critical Mind judges me and minimizes this achievement, laughing at why I feel accomplished for building such a simple thing. Then my heart steps in to quite my judging mind an a feeling of Grace washes over me. I am filled with gratitude for the journey of these past two years and grateful for the kindness and compassion I found in building this labyrinth and walking its path. I sit in this moment, this moment right now, and I am love. This life I have been living is not for nothing. It is everything and more in the labyrinth, under the tree, in the meadow. Love waits for me. I am loved.