Thursday's Reflection: What Do You See?

How are you feeling today? How did you sleep last night? What's on your mind? Do you have a long list of things to accomplish today? Did you wake up with worries and cares waiting for you? Will there be space in your day for play? How will you care for yourself today? 

What gives you joy? What makes you smile?

I invite you to sit with this photograph today, and I ask you what you see? Close your eyes, lightly, not tightly, and take a couple deep, cleansing breaths, finding your own rhythm. When you relaxed, open your eyes and look at the photograph again. 

How does it makes you feel? How does it touch and open your heart? Let this scene be more than a sweet image.  Put yourself in the picture. Are you the babe in the swing, legs dangling, waiting for the next big push, trusting you won't fall? Are you the boy who is laughing as he waits for just the right moment to give the extra push? He is so young himself. How does he know what to do? How does it feel to be trusted in this way? Who would you rather be? And what do you need today?

Are you perhaps the observer, the parent or caretaker, waiting on the side, delighting in the scene or perhaps grateful for a brief time-out? What brought you here? What are the gifts of this present moment for you? Maybe you are just passing by and hearing the laughter you turn your head and take in the scene. Allow yourself to take pleasure in what you see. Don't just notice it, but take it home with you.

Spend time with this ordinary moment, one experienced by children all over the world, and allow yourself to feel all you can feel. Does the picture bring forth memories of your own childhood or of your children's youth? Do you feel yearning? Joy? Wonder? Maybe even sadness? How long has it been since you laughed out loud? And what about the trust it takes to let someone else push you higher and higher? Do you know yourself well enough to know your own strength, your own abilities? Your own desires?

There is life here and it is good. No matter what burdens you are carrying, what pain is sitting with you, there are these moments within your view. Within your heart. There is no fear in this picture; only love.

An Invitation

I invite you to the playground and I would love to know what you see.