Looking out to nature and seeing all that beauty and grandeur always amazes me and fill me with unspeakable wonderment. Looking outward fills me with awesome. I look inward and I see something equally as awesome. I look out on a clear night sky and I see billions of stars twinkling in the heavens. I look inside me and I see the brilliance of my ming being fired by the synapses of the billions of neurons in my brain. I look out at the beauty of the earth, a pale blue dot from outer space because of the fact that her surface is three fourths water. I appreciate the beauty and design of my body and I realize I too am three fourths water. There is a certain rhythm, a certain beat that pulsates throughout the universe keeping planets and comets in their orbits and the stars and the galaxies in their trajectories. It is the same rhythm and beat that pulses through my being keeping me alive, from the beating of my heart to the rhythm of my breathing.
As in the heavens, so on earth. As on earth, so deep in my being. As the flower gives color and fragrance to the beauty around, so am I here to give color and fragrance to the lives I come in contact with. As plants and trees give food and sustenance to humans and animals, so must I give life and nurturing to all living things around me. And just as the sun and the stars give light and energy to everything near them, so must I give to others so that they may have light and energy. In the end, I know that my life is not about what I have received or gathered and kept. It is about what I have given and shared.
Let your mercy come to me, O LORD.
~ Psalm 119
Jesus had spoken,
a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.
He entered and reclined at table to eat.
The Pharisee was amazed to see
that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.
The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees!
Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,
inside you are filled with plunder and evil.
You fools!
Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?
But as to what is within, give alms,
and behold, everything will be clean for you.”
Luke 11:37-41
Perhaps it is apt to get reminded that no one is so rich as not need anything and none so poor as not able to give something.
Indeed, Kaka Louie, indeed.