Friendships of the Heart.

Dear World Embracing Spirit,

Thank you!

I believe I met one of your most cherished daughters the other day. She swung her neighbor’s fat baby girl from her hip, with relaxed ease. Those who know her speak of refreshing friendship that has the power to heal hearts. She sells smiles for glances, no matter what expressions accompany them. She deals them all the way to work, like she just overstocked and there’s no time to lose. They all gotta go! On her thirty third birthday she wrote you a love letter full of thankfulness for everything you have given her. On the other side she wrote herself a birthday card, which she signed for all her friends who called from her homeland to bless the day she was born. She is frequently overcome by her exuberant enjoyment of life and laughs herself to her knees, a laughter which far exceeds the bounds of “contagious” and is more properly described as addictive. O Divine Mother, she if surely created in your image.

GRATITUDE!

“On the recollection of so many and great favours and blessings, I now, with a high sense of gratitude, presume to offer up my sincere thanks to the Almighty, the Creator and Preserver.” ~Willian Bartram~

Dear friends, family, and random blog stumblers,

I am writing from the Cayman Islands. Some of you will surely know why by now, but some will not. Philip and I had to leave Jamaica because we are applying for work visas and cannot be in the country while they are processed. This takes 4-6 week, and I have been here 4 weeks today.

CONTENTMENT!

I am filled with gratitude for my rediscovered appreciation of the Will of God. My time here has been a test of a very odd sort. I know, tossing your shirt to the wind, slipping on fins, and kicking your way through crystal blue waters to a thriving reef is rarely, if ever, someone’s definition of a test, but for his servants God is always making exceptions, so why not here. Most simply put, for those who love their work, work is love, and vacation is without. While this is not a vacation, our work has dropped from 6 full days a week, to 3 or 4 weekly task. I have found the repetition of four words very sustaining in this time. “God’s will be done.” I live without a doubt that our being here is the Will of the World Embracing Spirit. That knowledge is all I need, I am content.

“I have left behind me impatience and discontent. I will chafe no more at my lot. I commit myself wholly into thy hands… I know not what fate thou designest for me nor will I inquire to seek to know. The task of the day suffices for me and the future is thine.” ~George Townsend~

FRIENDSHIP!

Photo (Left to Right): Philipe, Alicia, Keyda, Princess, and Tatiana.

I have also found a swell in my heart at the appearance of three new friends. The story goes a little like this: We went with Roberta, our gracious and dedicated host, to a neighborhood where she knew one lady, Alicia, who was a friend of the Baha’is. Alicia greeted us at the road and led the three of us, Roberta, Philipe, and me, to her house. She introduced us to Jenny, one of the ladies she lives with. Alicia and Jenny are both from Honduras so their first language is Spanish, which Roberta speaks quite fluently, but Jenny soon showed us her excellent English skills by carrying on a long conversation with Roberta. I spent the next forty five minutes playing my Ukulele and silently praying for Roberta to have confidence and joy as she spoke with Jenny about faith, God, culture, community, language and family. Even having just met her and only exchanging the few Spanish phrases I know, I was drawn to Alicia’s silent grace and joy. Something about her glowed, a deep happiness I would say.

By the third time I saw Alicia I was beginning to realize she understood and spoke more English than I thought. We had invited her to study a book with us at Roberta’s house called reflections on the life of the spirit (this is the first in a series of books design to empower individuals to look after the spiritual wellbeing of their communities). With very few contacts on the Island and only having become more attracted to Alicia’s radiant smile and warm heart, Philip and I were excited to hear she had a birthday coming up. When we found out she had no plans we insisted on helping her celebrate, she soon accepted.

And that is how I came to pass, that on September 23^rd, the same day my father was born, we made our first friend in Cayman. It started with cheese cake, as many good things do. It grew through Philip’s often ridiculous, but great friendship-making-jokes. And ended, as many good things do, with the words “I love you” eagerly and honestly exchanged between friends.

Keyda, our second friend, is Alicia’s neighbor. She is from Nicaragua but has been living here in Cayman for four and a half years. She has a fat baby girl who we all call Princess; she is our third friend, though she is still warming up to Philipe. They brighten our days with an uncanny radiance. Keyda is a constant source of clever jokes, Spanish lessons, many odd and often funny questions, and every once in a while a moral dilemma. Princess is full of slobbery teething kisses, wet and curiosity fingers, and two toothed laughing smiles. Alicia seems to gives us all a glimpse into the reality of joy; for her it is not a state to be achieve, but rather a quality of her soul. She embodies and emanates joy. She has brought us more laughter than I often feel I could deserve.

“…resemble the life of the angels in heaven -- a life full of joy and spiritual delight, a life of unity and concord, a friendship both mental and physical.”

~ Abdu'l-Baha~

ONENESS JOUREYS.

Your fellow soul, Mercy.