spirit first

while i have been absent from my toward consciousness site, i have been posting at Spirit First.

april 15, 2008

today is a day of celebration, as it is every year on april 15. today i paid my taxes, and i give thanks that i am able to do so.

during the past several years i have found april 15 is not a day to complain about being required to give to the irs something of what i have earned, but rather it is a day to take joy in having had another year of making a living, of working, of receiving in return for my labors. there are many around the world who would envy the position i hold.

and so it is that when i sealed my envelopes today for the department of the treasury and the comptroller of maryland, i breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. i am given many gifts, and being able to pay taxes is one of my gifts.

(a special thanks to my tax lady Diane for helping make it happen…)

photography by permission
cindy lee jones

thank you, Jon

thank you, Jon, for your gracious response to my apology for my long absence. i have been teaching every day of the week these past many weeks but now am returned to working at home. i am very happy to be here. thank you for your gentleness and acceptance of my inconsistency in writing.

stargazer lilies

every day i am witness to a miracle. every day i am witness to new petals opening up to the Universe in glorious vulnerability, beauty, and faith.

the fragrance of lilies fills my home, wet and earthy and heavy in the air.

i breathe deeply.

i drink it in.

i keep this flower next to me because i love it so, and it has become for me a symbol of my own opening up, my own readiness to receive, my own willingness to trust. every morning i begin my day in silence and in reception. and all day i breathe the fragrance of flowers that remind me.

what a beautiful gift these flowers in my world.

i am sorry for my long absence, and for my many absences.

i have been teaching these past weeks and am doing so seven days a week (this will continue for one more month). life is busy, but good.

thank you for being here, for being part of my path and part of my world. let us continue our struggle together in our efforts to be awake, to be aware, and to be alive.