Aug 25, 2024

Living in Unconditional Love (181)

 

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

 

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years after we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill (not COVID), and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down almost two years. Covid has proved to be a persistent problem, and many of the long-term effects are quite serious, and it has proven much more serious than flu.

08/25/2024                                                    The final pour for the back patio was accomplished on Tuesday as planned, and now the finishing work is in process. It should be completed by the end of the week, so Labor Day weekend should see the finished product. It took about a year from when they started to dig up the buried tank to the finished product, but it looks great now. It will look like a blue stone patio even though it is concrete, with darker lines wondering through the entire plot looking like stone edges. Nice!

Other than the patio it has been a quiet week, even though this was the company planning week and I was there on Wednesday to attend in person. I feel I must make an appearance to indicate my interest as an owner even though I have little to add to the conversation.

The garden has only a few blooms left, and I will not be planting mums this year as the garden is full of plants and I don’t wander around the garden like I did in previous years. I try to get outside every day, but it depends on the weather if I make it or not. I walked down to the pond on Saturday, and it was beautiful as always. I find it very soothing when I sit in the gazebo gazing across the pond in its beauty. I am trying to adjust the plants to be more self-sustaining using plants that don’t require extensive hands-on care, like daylilies, garden lilies, and peonies. I don’t have the energy to tend to a rose garden even though I miss their beauty, since they require much care, including weekly spraying etc. My bonsai are doing well, and they require a minimum of care (daily watering), usually just a trim a few times a year as they are all shaped already.

The bonsai will be taken back to their previous location on the rebuilt patio, and it will be easier to care for them where I have tables and stands that can hold them and my tools.

The DNC convention has given me a sign of hope for the country as we move towards election. I don’t know if they will be elected, but it was a hopeful sign that joy and good words can still flow from a large portion of the country. Even if dour and fear win, it is a hopeful sign for the future that so many see sunshine in the clouds.

Meditation

Gentle One, You have given me hope for the human race in the future. Joy and welcoming arms personify Your love, which includes tears and smiles and the pride of that young lad seeing his father giving a rousing talk. Thank you for the wonder of love so visible. I feel blessed to be able to turn to You and rest in the evening of my life, as I taste the beauty of love daily.