High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘surprise’

“All theologies are straws His sun burns to dust;
Knowing takes you to the Threshold, but not through the Door.” ~Rumi

Before they inhabited their earth-forms– the strong, tublar stems, the sleek, slender leaves–the grass spirits thought that they knew exactly what lay ahead.

They were, after all, well-schooled.  They knew about the life cycle of the grass forms, about the vicissitudes of weather, the varieties of soil. They had learned about birds and bugs, caterpillars and butterflies, and about the host of plant forms they might have as neighbors.

Yes, they felt quite prepared as they set out on their adventure.

So imagine their surprise when they actually felt the powerful drive inside them pushing them to split open their seed casings and sprout through the moist soil, when they tasted the fresh air and drank the sparkling rain, when they felt the warmth of the sun, the caress of the breeze, the magnificent song of it all and the motion and splendor of sky!

What teaching could have told them of this beauty?  What words could contain this grace?

When their earth season had run its course and they rose from the forms they had worn, leaving them behind in lovely heaps on the earth mother’s floor, they were filled with unspeakable joy.  And they sailed on it, higher and higher, giving thanks and singing hymns of praise.

Every now and then, synchronicities happen that tell you you’re on the right path.  Since I began my search for daily answers to the question, “Why am I so happy now?” they seem to pop up with increasing frequency.  But few are as blatant or wonderful as the one that happened yesterday.

After work, I was driving down a country road looking for the photo-of-the-day for my Flickr project.  I was in a wonderful frame of mind – relaxed, happy, glad to be alive.

All day I had been enjoying the panorama of playful clouds outside my window and I was looking forward to finding a good cloud shot for my photo for the day.  I opted to drive down a country road and got a couple decent photos, but an insistent feeling kept telling me that I needed just one more.

I kept my eyes opened for possibilities as I drove toward home.  Finally I spotted a place I where I could pull off the road a bit.  I parked and saw the roadside trees were hiding a cornfield lined with woods.  It would make a fine foreground for the heaps of clouds I wanted to capture.  I walked through the brush back to the corn and started shooting, loving the fragrance of the ripening corn, the beautiful blue of the sky.

I had just finished a couple shots when I noticed the sound of a propeller plane directly overhead.  And when I looked up, I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  Right, there, directly above my head, the pilot was making a drawing in the sky. Why, I hadn’t seen sky writing since I was a kid!

The little airplane was just finishing off a giant oval when I looked up.  And then, to my complete delight and amazement, he painted a smile and lines for eyes.  “Oh my gosh!  It’s a smiley face!” I gasped out loud, struck with wonder that this symbol of happiness was floating right above me.

As soon as I recovered from astonishment, I grabbed the shot—and less than a minute later, the winds had blown the drawing away and the plane was gone.

Had I not been in exactly that spot, at exactly that moment, I would have missed it.  But obviously, I was meant to be there.   This one was a present just for me.  And I embraced it with wonder and joy.