Unity Center

In the fall, the garden sometimes holds little surprises, unexpected delights. The “last rose of summer” inspired a song once upon time. I was inspired when the almost-dead tomato vines yielded one more ripe tomato hiding behind the weeds. Yum! Thank you God for the gift… and the presence of mind to notice it.

Mostly what I found the other day was a lot of green tomatoes, so I brought them inside for a couple more tastes of fried green tomatoes… and an experiment in seeing if any will ripen indoors without rotting first.

Ah! There’s the trick: to ripen without rotting. As the years roll on, some days I feel more like I’m rotting than ripening into a sweet fullness of being!

There is a lot of talk about dropping the ego. However, I believe that the ego is like a fruit… when it is ripe, it will drop. Attempts to pluck it before it is ready often lead to bitter fruit.

One of the problems seems to be the illusion that the bitter fruit is the real thing. Many of our children have never tasted a real peach or honeydew. You know what I mean. Remember the taste of a peach plucked from a tree at the full bloom of its ripeness, or a sweet honeydew still warm from the sun. Now compare that to the hard, tasteless things that were shipped from some foreign country and gassed in the back room of the packing house. Hardly seems like they should have the same name! But if you haven’t tasted the good stuff, you might think that’s the real thing.

In the spiritual world, there’s always some “phony holy” going around. People just don’t know any better… they think they’re eating the real peach. There are many paths to the divine… but sometimes we get off on a detour. The hard part is to recognize the difference. As I cut into one green tomato the other day, I found that it was rotten inside… in the core. We have been counseled not to judge by appearances, but to look within.

Jesus used another fruit metaphor when He said we would know them by their fruits. What does a particular Path produce? Does this Path lead to peace, joy, acceptance, serenity… a loving heart, an open mind… humble service… oneness with God and all God’s children? These are the sweet fruits I want to taste.

But in the marketplace of religion, there are lots of vendors of unripe fruits… anger, self-righteousness, divisiveness, intolerance, fear… a closed mind filled with rules… self-aggrandizement… feeling inferior to God and superior to others who don’t believe what you do. These are the bitter fruits that masquerade as the real thing, and I am sad that so many of God’s children have never tasted anything sweeter and more nourishing to the spirit.

In this season of harvest, be wary of that which is hard or bitter, watchful for the unexpected delights that God sends your way, and thankful for the sweet fruits you harvest. I leave you with the chorus of “Bring the Harvest Home”:

Blow away the heat of summer’s wanton play.
Gather in the fruits of all your growing.
Listen to the rhythm of the Earth,
and She will say,
“Bring the harvest home,
Bring the harvest home to your heart.“
                       ©1979 Lois J Henrickson (Lytingale)

"Being Love"

This article finds me between Resolutions and Valentines... from the New Year’s time when we look at all the many ways we want to change our life... to the day dedicated to love and all its expressions.

Most of us would like more love in our lives, but we usually think that means waiting to receive it. But I suspect it’s more like a garden... you reap the harvest of what you’ve sown. You’ve got to plant the seeds, nurture the plants, watch out for the weeds, and put some effort into it before you’ll enjoy the fruits.

You’ve all heard the old adage, “The best way to have a friend is to be a friend.” Now try this on for size: “The best way to have love is to BE love.”

Last weekend I watched the documentary film about Mother Teresa at our Spiritual Cinema Series. If you ever wanted a Valentine message, she was one. It’s hard for me to imagine being that loving, that dedicated to being love in every moment. Yet, I was struck by the smiles on her face and the fact that she was also dedicated to joy. One of the qualities sought in the women who join her order is to be joyful.

I don’t know about you, but some days I find it difficult to remain centered and positive when I look around outside my safe little cocoon. There is a whole lot of pain in this world; so many names on our Prayer Lists, and so many more nameless ones who are suffering. I despair when I read about the social injustices in our world, and wonder how we can ever change enough of the institutions that perpetuate them. I am fearful (or angry, which is just another face of fear) when I view our current political climate. Some days that “light at the end of the tunnel” looks a whole lot more like the headlight of an oncoming train.

And along comes someone like Mother Teresa, who one day is “called“ to start helping the “poorest of the poor” by picking up one man on the street of Calcutta. And not only does this work (which grew to 517 missions in over 100 countries) but does it with JOY! You’ve just got to wonder how she did it, how she could wrap her mind around seeing some of the greatest suffering in the world, every single day for years and years, and still be smiling.

I think part of the answer is that she viewed every human being as God, in “one of His distressing disguises,” so that every person she touched was divine. She said, “I see God in every human being. when I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?”

Another aspect of her smiling face would be her daily spiritual practice, her ongoing sense of connection to God. In her order, every day starts with prayer. “Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.”

I researched some of her quotes for more clues to her success at “being love”:

Apparently, she was not addicted to the results, but was able to stay in the process. She said, “The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.”

Actions are important, but so is the spirit, the heart you put into them. “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?,” rather He will ask, “How much love did you put into what you did?’”

So why does God let all this suffering exist? She seemed to believe that it was the result of God giving free will to humans. “You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me...“

And it does no good to hold onto our hurts, our blaming, our anger for even the worst deeds. “If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.” And that means everyone, for everything.

We don’t have to go to Calcutta to find spiritual work to do. It’s always in our own backyard. “There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.”

My favorite is next. It is an instruction manual for the Garden of the Heart, a way to get from making Resolutions to becoming a Valentine to the world:

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.“

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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