I started going to silent meditation retreats in 2011.  In some moment, in one of them, these words softly entered my head:

Love them all … light the world

They’ve returned to my awareness so many times over the years.  They’ve shown up unbidden, in good times and bad … guiding me.

And so ever deeper – filling every blood vessel of my being.

What is the source of such a flow through time?  I don’t know.  The face is hidden from my sight.  And that’s fine.

Love them all.  Even the ones who send toxins my way.  I wonder if their parents did the same to them.

Do I live the words every minute of every day?  Of course not.  That’s when I fall down, turn my back, see only me in the mirror.  But someone reminds me, over and over again, of what I stand for.

***

Awakening

Falling asleep

And awakening once more