This morning as I arrived at the lake, the sun was rising and there was a Blue Heron standing in the
shallow waters. It heard my door close and looked up at me, then spread its beautiful long wings and took flight gliding over top of the sparkling waters. The calm water of the lake reflecting the blue of the sky, the green, yellow, and orange of the trees. Every color of the rainbow with the sunlight sparkling off the water and seemingly everything around me. As the Blue Heron flew away, it’s image reflected off the water’s surface. Although every seemed to be in motion, due to the light breeze and motion of the bird’s wing, it seemed as if time had stopped. The colors of life are so amazing, especially if I let go of what I might be doing and just be aware of the wonder around me. Heaven is right here, here Now!
When my awareness returned to what I was doing, I carried the cage with the small opossum (probably 8 months old) and opened the trap’s door. The opossum looked at me, said thank you, then went down the slight hill to the lake to get a drink of water. The opossum then walked over the tree stubs and branches laying in the water, picking up bugs as he walked in delight of being freed from his cage to experience the wonder and delight of his new home.
I then started taking pictures so I could remember the beauty and splendor of the moment. As I did, I wondered why I hadn’t been doing this more often and why I needed to trap critters to make me go to this lake at sunrise or sunset, a spot just 3 miles from my house. Then a paradox just jumped right into my mind, and it’s actually a paradox for the month of November. Sometimes, actually all the time, to experience the wonder and goodness of this moment we have to release and let go of all the “critters” we have trapped in our minds. Yes, to experience, the wonder and goodness of life we have to let go of all the monkey mind chatter, that is feeding on the left overs we have sitting in our backyards, in the back of our minds. You know monkey mind chatter, or maybe in this case, opossum mind chatter, that says, “Hey, what are you going to do about this,” or “what about that” or “lookie over there and that barking crazy doggie, so I can take the delicious stuff over here.” You should also know opossums are really quite messy and they love to dig things up, bugs and leftover that have fallen between the cracks. Yes, they are the ones digging holes in the garden and in the stone patio artwork you might have done
Now did you notice how easily all that opossum mind chatter and its conspiracy theories stole my awareness from the splendor and wonder of the sunrise at the lake and all the beautiful artwork the Infinite One was doing. Yes, in order to experience all the colors of life, we have to let all that mind chatter go. We have to release it and let it go, including all that well deserved mind chatter. You know all those judgments we believe we have a right to, cause they hurt us and did us wrong. I have every right to be made and upset with them, and yes you do, but the one it hurts most is you. Would you rather be trapped in the cage with all that opossum thought, or would you rather be set free to experience all the wonders and beauty of life?
As I drove home, I noticed all the colors bouncing off the sky, the orange and yellows of the sun rising, the white of the clouds, the greens of the trees. How amazing it was; you know it’s always there? As I pulled in my driveway, I noticed all the different colors of the flowers in my garden and as I looked up at the sunlight was sparking through the leaves of the trees. Well, I got my camera out and started taking more pictures, to catch all the colors of life. Now, I wish I could say this was a one-time adventure, but I have been making the trip to the lake several times a week. So far this summer, I have trapped 26 Skunks, 16 opossums and 12 Raccoons. I guess you could say I got some stuff I need to be releasing and letting go, so I can be thankful and grateful for the beauty of life.
Namaste I see Light in you. Rev. Doc. Patrick
