It’s a Sunday, the last one in July and I am sitting on mown grass at the edge of the creek, watching sunlight float on its calm waters as if it were blessing the day. And the waters, in turn, bless the minnows darting in its shallows, and the roots of the trees on its banks, and the roots of the grasses and flowers. And geese plop on their webbed feet to the water’s edge and slide into it as if to partake in this grace. And I breathe the green of it, and my heart whispers “Summer. Summer. Summer.”
When my dreaming stopped, I was face to face with a lavender bee balm blossom, its perfume sharp and green, and, of all things, a hummingbird moth drinking in its nectar, then floating to the next one through the moist summer air, here beneath tall pines with whipped cream clouds floating in the blue sky. What are the odds? Who could imagine such a world!
The thick green air pumps through my lungs, seeps into every pore. I give myself to it, this transfusion of summer, this steamy warmth, this breeze-born song: Savor. Ripen. Become.
This is the scene that greets me as I exit my car, this small stand of pines. I know they are there; I feel them before I turn to face them. Sometimes I have to walk a bit first, before I am ready for the sight of them. Sometimes I have to walk the upper pond’s entire circumference, wending my way through the forest of pines that lines its western bank, before I am calm and empty enough to absorb their amazing hello.
It matters that you see and remember because you are the Keeper, the one charged to hold this moment as clearly as you can. Imprint it indelibly on your mind, so that one day, when such things as summer roses have forever disappeared, you will be able to tell how they were real, and delicate, and how they let you know that you, too, were real, breathing their fragrance, touched by sweet beauty, hearing their life-song singing in your soul. Look closely, with open eyes and a welcoming heart. You are the Keeper. Remember.
Remember the Land of Let’s Pretend that you visited as a child? All you had to do was turn to your imagination and it would whisk you away to any world at all.
You could be a rock star, a cowboy, a princess, a lion. You could fly through space or gallop across the desert on the bare back of a mighty steed. The stories were endless and oh so very real. And your friends would be there with you, playing right along.
What if you visited Let’s Pretend again? What if you dreamed a magical tomorrow, set a few months, or maybe a couple years or so in the future? What if you painted it with all your fondest dreams and saw them in three dimensions, in living color with a state-of-the-art soundtrack to boot?
Imagine! You had put all your best talents to work, and day after day played your hardest at keeping your goals in mind. Opportunities, resources, ideas and connections materialized as if invisible hands were guiding you on your way. And now, here you were, just where you wanted to be, confident and serene, doing exactly the kind of things your heart most wanted to do. What would it look like? How would it feel? Can you see it? Can you imagine? Do you have the daring to dream such a dream?
When I first learned about the power of imagining an ideal future for myself the focus of my mentors was on career achievement and wealth building. To be honest, neither of those things held any real appeal to me. But the idea that keeping a vision in mind somehow pulled that vision into reality intrigued me. And over the years, my understanding of that concept has broadened and deepened, and the principle I was taught all those years ago has proved itself to be undeniably true.
Hold a vision of how you want to be in the world. Refine it as you go. Out of the blue, luck comes, unfolding its gifts and promises. When you hold to your vision, believing, everything you need to materialize it appears, albeit not always in quite the form or manner you had expected.
What you need may take a far different shape than what you had imagined. We seldom have our true desires well defined when we begin our journey. But something that guides us knows far better than we ourselves what it will take to put our heart’s true dreams together. And in the end, we get more than we dared to wish for, treasures of far more worth.
Along the way you have to keep an open mind and be ready for surprises. Always remember your vision; watch it evolve. And when inspiration comes, be ready to grab it, right now, and to run wherever it points you.
It’s all an act of faith, you know. Just put on a smile and whisper, “I believe. I believe.”
The grasses lining the roadways are golden-brown now as if the sun has been toasting their seeds, and above them mullein rises, its leaves woolly, its stalks putting forth their first yellow flowers, so delicate for such a large and stalwart herb. A fine breeze dances through the trees. carrying the scents of it all, pushing heaps of clouds across the warm sky, clearing its blue after a night of rain. And everything sings life and is reaching for its fullness.
Well, look at that! They don’t sew children’s mouths shut after all. That was just a tale told to us by silly grown-ups as a tease. What they sew are the holes in leaves. I caught one today sizing up the job.
This. This morning green, alive and breathing, which greets me. This radiant green, filled with the whispered stories leaves tell as the day begins, and with hidden birds who have stories of their own, and with the countless creatures who claim this space as home—this green, singing of sun and summer, writing the opening lines of this new day across my heart, filling me with the certainty that all is Yes and born of joy.
