The parable of the little flower - beautifying the world
Nov 19, 2019
*Brian Wilcox. 'A Beautiful Walk'.
A Sioux Indian story tells of a young flower in a desert and growing all by itself. The desert was dry and sad looking. The flower, however, enjoyed each day, and daily it asked the Sun, "When shall I be grown up?" The Sun would reply, "Be patient, each time I touch you, you grow a little." This pleased the little flower, for she only wanted to bring beauty to the desert around her.
One day a hunter came by and stepped on the little flower. She was going to die, she felt very sad. The little flower was not sad about dying; she was saddened knowing that she would not have a chance to bring a little beauty to the world around her.
The Great Spirit saw the little flower and listened to her prayer of lament. He thought, "She should be living." The Great Spirit reached down and touched the little flower, healed her, and gave her new life.
The little flower grew up to be a beautiful flower, after being touched daily by the Sun. Her little part of the desert became very lovely because of her being there.
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For my birthday, recently, I received a card from a dear friend. In it she wrote...
You have added so much to this world. We wish you a future so productive!
* * *
The Sun represents our need to be touched daily by Grace?
Yes. We are beautiful, and we become beautiful by daily receptivity to Grace, which, again, one of its meanings from the Greek is "beauty." We do not take a day off, we need a daily imbibing of Life. Beauty brings out the beauty within us, for we are becoming what we are. Becoming is be-coming, for only what we in Grace are can we become by Grace.
An encouraging Scripture on this from the Christian Bible is... "Though our outer self is slowly dying, our inner self is being renewed daily." So, daily, we bring our awareness to the inner depths, not living merely on the surface, clinging to temporary things and experiences. Again, we are not our personalities, we are before that; we are not our bodies, we are more than that.
What most speaks to me from the story is that the sole task of the flower, and her sole wish, was to beautify her surroundings. And she wasn't troubled by being alone. If only we would focus on that, and I think, too, there wouldn't be so much loneliness.
Yes, we are created to create, and creating is meaningful, joyful. A guide once asked me what I do after I awake in the mornings. I told him up to the spiritual readings I engage daily. I said, next, that I sometimes do not go on into morning meditation. I feel inspiration while in the readings, and I wish to write from that, then I meditate later. This, while earlier in life, I would not do anything until after meditation. Writing is one way I offer myself to beautify the world. A few persons may read it or many, regardless, I feel the inspiration and wish to create something that will bless someone else, something that will be seen as beautiful. I do the same with photography.
So, in the spirit of my friend's words, I wish to keep adding to this world. And, when it is time to leave the body, I hope to be able to have time and the mental capacity to look back, be grateful for what I have done to beautify the world, and celebrate it. This like in the Christian Bible and Jewish Scriptures, at the conclusion of each day of creation, the Creating One looks and sees that it is good, but on the last day, looking at it all, the Creator sees it is very good.
Do you ever produce a work that's not beautiful?
No.
How's that possible?
What I do comes from the heart, what comes from the heart is always lovely, for it arises from Love to love. Sometimes, what I do I recognize is not aesthetically what I would like it to be, I can sense it is not the quality I usually do. I look at a photo, and it just did not come out in a way that I felt good about, regardless of how much time I spent on it, and so with a writing, and so with everyday life. Yet, it is all beautiful. I will close today, with a story of a beautiful batch of biscuits I baked...
My mom was the best biscuit maker I have ever met, and I have eaten many persons' biscuits over many years. Biscuits were a staple dish where I was raised in Georgia, often having them at breakfast with grits and eggs and pork. Often we would do what was called sopping, meaning taking pieces of the biscuit in hand and brushing them through cane syrup. When I got married, I decided I wanted to bake biscuits too. And whom better to inquire about this than mom. I went home from Florida, and mom wrote down a recipe. I returned home to Florida, and my ex-wife anticipated our having biscuits as part of our evening meal. I followed the recipe exactly, put them in the oven, and waited patiently, hopefully. When I pulled the biscuits from the oven, I knew they did not look like my mom's biscuits. One odd thing was the biscuits had big ridges in them, another was flour uncooked on top. I took them to the table, and we laughed about the biscuits. We likened them to Elli Mae's biscuits from the show The Beverly Hillbillies. Though we laughed, we ate them and enjoyed them: beautiful biscuits, beautiful laughter, a memorable moment I cherish and will for life. My ex-wife welcomed the biscuits and ate them, knowing they were beautiful, for coming from her husband's heart. To me, they were beautiful also, very lovely indeed. They were an offering of the heart. How could they not be lovely?
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*The theme of "Lotus of the Heart" is 'Living in Love beyond Beliefs.' This work is presented by Brian K. Wilcox, of Maine, USA. You can order Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, through major online booksellers.
