Touched by the Divine

I once again want to thank everyone for their comments on my post. 

I don't know what the answer is, really. The news is so sickening that I can't bring myself to watch it. I really grieve for the children caught up in horrible situations that they have absolutely no control over. I feel as if I want to do something, but there's nothing really to do. Just add my voice, but if feels like nothing.

In reading over the comments, a lot of things jumped out at me, and when I went to bed, I lay in the dark and pondered these things in my heart. 

I believe that all of us carry a spark of divinity with in us. We may call it different things...God (in all his names)...love...empathy...goodness...humanity...but that spark is there, and people can fan that spark into a great blaze, becoming a gift to the world. Other people ignore the flame, and let it go out. That's not good, and in a way, that is what has happened to me. I stopped looking for the divine in other people. As a result, I was at low ebb. 

It came as a bit of a surprise, and I wondered if perhaps I was being too simplistic, but I made up my mind to look for the divine today.

And so I got up  this morning and I started my search.

Today, a woman came to the house. I had separated a large aloe vera and I have a very large plant left over. I didn't want it, having two potted aloe veras already, so I put out a post on the helping hands site letting the community know that I had a large aloe vera looking for a home. If no one wanted him, I'd throw him in the trash. Immediately, I got a response. A young woman wanted him. I said, "Well that's great because I always feel guilty throwing away healthy plants." She said, "If you ever have plants you don't know what to do with, I'll be glad to have them." 

She came to pick them up and she was such a sweet person. Young. Starting out. She was thrilled with the size of the aloe vera. I gave her three large baby spider plants, a clipping of pothos, and some tradescantia zebrina. She told me her favorite plant at home, I showed her my favorite plant, a huge schefflera I have had for nearly as long as Tim and I have been married. I showed her my great grandmother's Christmas cactus and showed her how to root that. 

It was a short visit, but she was so happy. She offered to bring me a clipping from her striped spider plant tomorrow morning.  (Mine is green.) She walked out the door holding her plants and I felt like that little visit had a touch of the divine.

I had a hair cut today. Last week, I missed my appointment. For whatever reason, I got up thinking the appointment was at 11. I made my coffee and drank it in a leisurely way. When I checked my phone, I was horrified to find the appointment was at 9:30. It was not yet 10 and I was wondering if she still had time to take me. She had just stepped out and wasn't due back until 10:30. I felt like an idiot, but we made another appointment. I apologized when I went in today, but she dismissed it. She was completely unbothered, even thought it was funny. She had tried to call, but had our disconnected land line number. That was a nice visit too, a sharing. A mutual encouraging. I sensed a bit of the divine in that as well.

Levi called, and he needed a ride downtown and then to his brother's house. That's always a nice visit too. He has a fainting goat. I couldn't believe it. I mean the Amish are such practical people. Fainting goats just don't seem to have much of a purpose. "Well...the kids really wanted him, and a neighbor guy was selling her...." 

The man really does love his kids. He's always got a child on his lap or leaning on his arm to talk into his face, and he gives them his full attention. When the girls wanted a playhouse, he built one. He built the swings and the sandbox too. He bought a special jersey cow to make sure the youngest ones have the best milk. It didn't surprise me to hear that his children wanted a fainting goat and so he got one for them. 

But, it turns out that he also had a purpose for that goat. He has it in the pasture with his other goats. He is thinking that if a coyote gets in the pasture, the fainting goat will fall down all stiff legged and distract the coyote. .The other goats will have a chance to get their kids gathered together in the barn, where the horses will make short work of any coyote that dares to come inside.  Oh my gosh. It was so unexpected that I just burst out laughing. He's always thinking. 

Not sure how divine that conversation was, but there was plenty of laughter in the car. 

The sewer problem? That's fixed. They started yesterday, and finished today. They did a good job and took pains to sweep the sidewalks when they were done. We were able to call our tenant and tell her that everything was done and she could move back home. She wasn't expecting that, and was thrilled to  pieces. "I can run the washer? I can use the kitchen sink? I can flush the toilet?" (Yes, yes, and YES.) And let me tell you, the relief of having that behind us is divine, too. 

A friend had a floor lamp she wanted gone. We went over to get it, and had a nice visit with her. It's been so long since I've seen her. Ironically, we both found ourselves stepping back from church at the same time with some of the same questions. She feels like a kindred soul because of it. That visit was touched by the divine as well. 

The 'new' floor lamp meant we now had a extra floor lamp which we were able to give away. 

In my own little corner of the world, I saw today one life impacting another again and again and again. Seek and ye shall find, and I felt my own little spark blazing just a bit brighter. I cannot change the world, and I still grieve that I can't, but I need to be a positive force right where I am.