about plants, babies and Love.......

 
 
Last week while I was running errands, I noticed that beside someone's trash cans that were next to the curb was a sad looking flower pot. In it was a bedraggled begonia plant: a sickly green color with no flowers, no nothing to convince me that it was worth having. Yet I looked at it and, without a second thought, brought it home. It desperately needed water, which I gave it, as well as a sunny spot, which I had. In two days I was rewarded with one single, perfect pink bloom. I felt so blessed. In the past week, it has thrived, putting on a darker color of green and filling out. All it needed was love and someone to care for it.
I think about the movie, "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Raise your hand if you remember his little, bedraggled tree that held only one ornament, before Linus and the rest of the gang showed Charlie Brown that all this tree needed was some love!! I cry whenever I watch it--ah, the faith of children!

Mother Teresa said that the greatest poverty the world will ever know is the poverty of the human spirit. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” And how true is that? Babies who are born in very poor countries and abandoned in orphanages suffer from lack of touch. They become sullen, withdrawn and many die. It is a proven fact: people without love--die.
When I met my now husband, he had told himself as well as the world that he would die a grumpy old man. He had been single for twenty plus years and lived with only two fish to keep him company. His health was poor; having high blood pressure as well as a host of other maladies. I fell in love with him because of his compassion, his gentleness, his concern for others than himself. Within just nine months, he no longer needed the many pills he was told by his doctor he'd have to take for the rest of his life! 
Love can do that!

It is a known fact that if you rescue feral (wild) kittens before they are about eight to twelve weeks old, they can be tamed forever. But it takes determination, lots of snuggles and hugs, lots of reinforcements to prove to them that the world is a kind place and the kitten needs not to be in fear of anything.

We live in a world where we don't want to be tied down or inconvenienced by anything that makes us go out of our way to do. Here in the Twin Cities, we have Skyway systems that can literally take you all over the cities without setting foot outside! These Skyways are patrolled by security guards; in fact, you many times need a key or a password to get from place to place. The restrooms are also locked, only those who work in the buildings have a key to get in. In short, one never meets up with the "poverty of society." There are no homeless people, to beggars, no addicts. It is clean and sanitary. One can lose touch with reality here.

Is this you....losing touch with what is real...important? How many of you would take the time to get to know someone? Is this why people avoid making eye contact, because we just don't have the time it takes to deal with another's life story? Is life REALLY all about you?
How sad.
I know of someone who has good intentions to "change the world." A Facebook page was set up, a name was introduced for this program, a website was created, but for all of the good intentions, the person who began this is in fact, presenting something that makes him feel and look good. He brags about every little thing he does, taking bows at every turn. His narrow view of life is in contrary to what he is promoting. Again, is this you? Is it REALLY all about just you?
Today, begin by getting to know what is happening around you. Make an effort to love something or someone who is unlovable. Instead of sitting in firm judgment, take the hand of another, walk in their shoes. Then you'll see how the world isn't just all about you--it's all about ALL OF US!