Beautiful Tendings
  • Home
  • Wedding Officiant
  • Infant Massage
  • Art
  • Ponderings Blog
  • For Educators
  • Events
    • Prior Events
  • Contact
  • About Kathy

Watching and Waiting

1/12/2013

2 Comments

 
When I was a little girl, I discovered I had a great love of  birds. I am sure that somewhere along the way,
my generous, kind, and tenderhearted Mother impressed such upon my own spirit. I can remember seeing black
and white photos of my brother and I as children feeding the ducks with my Mom standing close by.  In such simple measures, with breadcrumbs or crackers in hand, we were naturally taught to care, to give, to tend what is small.

This week, I became aware that a small child I know would soon be stepping over to Heaven.  He is six. I’ve known this dimpled kid since he was a bump in his mom’s belly.  His name is Brian, and he came to this earth to make a loving impression on each person he met.  He has been here… teaching all of us about resiliency and the value of good humor and to give this life all you’ve got.
 
One night this week, I had a dream not long after saying prayers for Brian and his family.  I dreamed I was in a place I had never been before and that I was on the second or third floor of a hotel.  As I was looking around, I noticed that the sliding glass door to the balcony was opened and I began to run toward that balcony to see what I might see.  Once there, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of this body of water below.  It was bluer than anything I’ve ever seen in my waking life.  It was pure, and fresh, and sparkling.  And then I noticed the children… lots of children swimming and playing and laughing in this water.  They were full to the brim with joy. 
And as I noticed their faces, they were also children who exuded wisdom. You could just see in the innocent sweetness of their faces… that they knew things we have yet to learn as adults. Within seconds of settling into all this peace, I then noticed that there were sharks in the water with the children.  I froze. Oh, no!  What am I to do?  How can I save these children?  How can I get down there fast enough to save them from the sharks?  But, look… the children aren’t afraid.  In fact, they are swimming with the sharks.  And in their wisdom, they know that there is no reason to fear.

When I awoke from this dream, I knew that it was about Brian. But what about the sharks?  Why did they show
up?  I had to know.  So I looked up the symbolism of sharks.  Here is what it said:  Sharks are not afraid to go into the deep.  They protect the sacred, which is life.  They hold a primal knowing.  They meet life full on and keep moving forward.  Sharks know death is a fallacy, and thus stay attuned to renewal and transition.  Brian lived his young life this way.  He just kept trying to teach the rest of us that we need not fear, that we only need to love and to live fully.
Picture
This morning, I took a walk.  Fog was on the edge of moving on, but called me into the mysterious grace of seeing and not seeing.  As the sun grew stronger and stronger, and the fog began to lift, the birds began to sing. 
Picture
And everywhere I went, there were birds singing and singing and singing.  I’d seek them out with myeyes always to locate them perched at the highest places they could find…rooftops, and the uttermost tops of trees. 
Picture
Picture
I knew that Brian was dying, but the birds were telling me that he was also about to fly, that he was soon to spread his bright wings and arrive at his first birthday party in Heaven.  He was moving forward into the deep delights of Heaven as the sharks announced in my dream.  And this afternoon, I am told that Brian has, in fact, arrived to the arms of God… and we are all so sad and so thankful and so heartbroken and so glad.  


Picture
Now, as the light hangs low in the sky, I will take one more walk to close this day.  I will give thanks that God is always here… in hospital rooms, in birdsongs, in the waters of the deep, and in the dimpled wisdom and love of a six year old boy. Brian was a lover of this life.  With each step I take, I will pray that we may each carry on with his spirit and with his grace.
 
“Blackbird singing in the dead of night…”

2 Comments

    Kathy Guisewite

    "To be about there
      first attend to what is here
      everything connects."  KFG

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.