A teacher from the forest knocked on my door today. Showing me the shadows.

My psyche's first response was,
"Nice. Beautiful. Think I'd like to keep weeding, thank you very much."

Ha!
Yes, Indeed. That is what I said to the above gift. Then, I caught myself...

My my, being so very human, can be so funny! At first, I thought I HAVE things to do. And, certainly, I wanted to DO something to make a difference today; and then perhaps, yes, to have a greater sense of control. From Chaos to order kind of mentality... When really, the best kind of abundance is allowing chaos to bring creativity and opportunity, not the other way around .... Oh my, I unlearn old habits slowly.

I also remembered these few ancient aphorisms and they helped me shift gears:
~When there is lesson offered, it's usually a good idea to listen. (Or the message will only get louder and sometimes less comfortable...)
~When the master arrives ~ stop washing the dishes (Martha,) and listen.
~And in the words of Alice Packard~ A clean house (Or garden?) is a sign of a boring life.....

So I put my tools down. I sat down to take a peek into the shadows, and into the forest near to notice and listen. Here is what I see.

I see shafts of light moving through the canopy, landing on tree trunks, as light will wend the way through our covering stories, to our hearts, to illuminate the luminous dark spaces, and thereby showing us the under-canopy, with all the abundant riches. Once seen, these riches remain like treasures, never forgotten, nor fully out of consciousness.

The second aspect that I notice was the indistinct, nearly nebulous, movement of the distant leaves, deeper in the woods. Movement that the above photo can not capture. I can not quite see the leaves either, mostly I see movement. That motion informs me of the presence of the understory of leaves, dancing to a wind I can not feel. They sway to this wind, appearing as a forest-green wave, moving in an ocean of light and shadow together, and harmoniously.

I think the forest beckons me to enter this dance, enter the shadows under the canopy to visit, and explore. While there, I can bathe in the green light, soothed in the forest's green. This dance can carve out more space in my knowing and doing, to allow for more space in my belief systems, for "I don't know," for listening, for differences and not understanding. For allowing and accepting.
so, I will go
into the shadows today,
to notice the beauty here
and there, in the shadows.
To notice the beauty of both light And dark.

In the shadow, between one and the other, between dark and light, there is an unknowing, a not defining, where one no longer creates more divisions.
And in that dance I can allow for the space of Love.
And that is the difference I shall make today.