Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thanking God for SIMPLE ABUNDANCE ...

... and the amazing wisdom of the author of SIMPLE ABUNDANCE, Sarah Ban Breathnach.

I am still all tied up in knots about the Thanksgiving issues surrounding my husband's family and my children ...

Seeking solace, I came across a fantastic, meant-just-for-me-today entry in SA, the book, dated November 1, "Embracing the Ebb". Here, the entire entry from this lifesaving book:

EMBRACING THE EBB
The season when to come, and when to go,
To sing, or cease to sing, we never know.
-- Alexander Pope

There once was a mighty queen with a short fuse. One autumn, as the year was beginning to ebb, the queen fell into a deep melancholy. She could neither eat nor slumber, and tears of an unknown origin fell frequently, which infuriated her, triggering angry fits that made those around her quake in fear.

Each day the queen summoned a new advisor from her esteemed circle of sages to explain the cause of her baffling condition. In they came and out they went: the court physician, the stargazer, the psychic, the alchemist, the herbalist, the philosopher. All were dismissed as charlatans for their inability to unravel the mystery of the royal black spell. They counted themselves lucky to have only their illustrious careers shortened.

"Surely there must be one among you who knows the source of my suffering," the queen cried in despair. But her pathetic wail was greeted only with awkward silence, for all were wary of her wrath. Finally, the royal gardener was moved by compassion for the poor woman and slowly approached the throne.

"Come into the garden, Majesty, beyond the walls of your self-imprisonment, and I will disclose your dilemma." The queen was so desperate, she did as she was bid. When she went out to the garden for the first time in many weeks, she noticed the bright, vivid colors of summer had faded and the garden seemed bare. But it was not, she saw, wholly bereft of beauty, for it was regal in autumn's brilliant hues of crimson and gold. The air was refreshingly cool and crisp, and the sky, pure blue. "Speak, gardener," the queen ordered, "but choose your words carefully, for I seek the truth."

"Majesty, it is not your body or your mind that is ailing. It is your soul that is in need of healing. For while you are a mighty and powerful queen, you are not Divine. You are suffering from a human condition that afflicts us all. Earthly souls ebb and flow in sorrow and joy according to the seasons of emotion, just as the seasons of the natural world move through the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. These are the days to be grateful for the harvest of the heart, however humble it might be, and to prepare for the coming of the year's closure. Even now, the season of daylight diminishes and the time of darkness increases. But the true Light is never extinguished in the natural world, and it is the same in your soul. Embrace the ebb, my beloved queen, and do not fear the darkness. For as night follows the day, the Light will return and you will know contented hours once again. Of this I am sure."

The unhappy queen considered this wisdom thoughtfully and asked the gardener how she possessed the secret knowledge of inner peace during the seasons of emotion. The gardener led her to a brass sundial. It read:

This too, shall pass.

Now, then. If me, a lowly Princess, can take heart from this message - healing is sure to come. My husband's family is never going to be the warm, embracing, inclusive, welcoming family I had once and always hoped they would be ... but I can continue to carve out little moments with one or another of them, here and there, that make it okay to be an (albeit, extended) part of their clan.

Now if the gardener would just offer up some words of wisdom that will help me see what I can do to help my children heal from the hurts they've endured ... THAT would be a miraculous thing.

-- D.

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