The Heart's Feeder

Sometimes we may wonder, we give so much, try so hard, and yet, a quiet whisper may poke, when it seems we have not made a difference.

The bear was back.  All the feeders were on the ground. One pole was even bent.  The fallen feeders were emptied but the feeders were all intact.  As I cleaned up and tried to restand the feeders, I giggled at the bear, remembering his size, grateful the feeders were intact.

Maybe, I pondered, there is a thread on giving. We give the seeds of our heart and sometimes long to dig them up to see if they are growing.  The seeds belong to others now, their hearts, not ours.  We may only see the bent poles and feeders strewn across the yard.  But the feeders are intact, the bear was fed, and even now I watch the birds feed on a tilted pole, the Pinyon Jay screeching 'oh my what happened here?'  And our thank you comes with the dawn.... we have another day to give.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

~ 

Emily Dickinson

Inviting

The phrase "inviting heart" is rattling around sending the threads in my heart and mind flying like dandelion puffs caught in the wind.


My mother was a true southern woman when it came to hospitality. Effortlessly she would make any guest feel as if they were literally welcome to sit with their feet on the coffee table in their underwear if they so desired - and burp out loud, if so inclined. And yet, our greatest fear was a house fire and getting out in time - every door double locked and fastened and windows with broom handles in the window sill - she was terrified of someone breaking in.


An inviting heart..... asking in, receiving, welcoming, making the other comfortable and "at home" or better than home, turning no one away, accepting, providing food, quenching the other's thirst, conversation, sharing, laughter, hugs, silence that is comfortable with tears and words not requiring a voice, a washing away of all that you carried in and bathing you in the moments of now, surrounded with effortless grace and open arms, putting your feet on the coffee table as you sit in your underwear and burp - or even take a nap. An inviting heart whispering, "whoever, whatever you are, come in and take of all I have."


And if Life has given us the capacity to have such a heart...do we dare, can we even imagine what the invitation must read like, from Life's inviting heart, signed wistfully with

R.S.P.V.