MARCH NEWSLETTER

A CUP OF TEA AND A GIFT

December 2005 newsletter

In the middle of this busy holiday season when we are being pelted with advertisements for things to buy, people we should contact and causes we would like to support I want to take you into my garden and have a quiet cup of tea with you. Lets walk through the back yard past the apple tree that has lost most of its leaves, past the weeds that are getting higher at each rain, past the wood pile, past the rose bushes undressing for winter and through the gate which is missing one of its hinges. I’ve prepared a seat for you by the rainbow chard which is happy to feel the cooler air on its leaves.

Let’s take a moment to just be together. Let’s feel the chill in the air, that crisp goodness and the slight breezes that whisper of change. Let’s smell the wood smoke from the neighbor’s wood burning stove across the street. On the arms of the garden bench are blankets I’ve left out for us to wrap ourselves in. There is a small wooden table set with tea and some slices of apple, figs and cheese. We sit and take in the greens and browns and golds and reds of the autumn garden. Our eyes meet and smile, grateful to be here on the beautiful blue green planet, grateful to be together to share this moment. I offer you a cup of tea. Steam pours off the tea pot and into our cups. The smell of hibiscus and licorice warm our nostrils with a spicy warm scent.

I am so happy to take this moment with you. I want to share a story my mother told me. When she was a young mother, feeling incompetent and unable to give her children what she felt they needed, she consulted Irwin, a wise psychologist. He told my mother that only the best mothers felt like they were not good enough. I read a story by a monk named Ajahn Brahm. The story is about building a brick wall. He was new at this business of brick wall building and when he finished he noticed that there were two bricks that were out of place on one side of the wall. He was haunted by this imperfection and wanted to tear the wall down but that would be uneconomical so the wall stayed. When he showed visitors around the monastery he would try to avoid showing them that wall. One day he was walking with a visitor around the monastery and the visitor casually said, “That’s a nice wall.” Ajahn Brahm asked the visitor if he was blind, didn’t he see the two bad bricks? The visitor replied that, yes, he saw the two back bricks but he also saw the 998 good bricks as well.

We are on the path of opening to our true radiance. As we evolve we see our imperfections more clearly. This is a natural part of evolution. When we see our imperfections we can develop a generous and forgiving attitude towards them. By developing this generous attitude towards ourselves we can then extend it to our friends and families and beyond.

During this dark, fertile season I invite you to remember your strengths and the strengths of those around you. Rustle the embers of your radiance and let them grow into a warm fire. Take a pen and paper and write down a list of your strengths, write down a list of the good things you’ve done for your family and friends. Let the two bad bricks be held in the sturdy shelter of the 998 good bricks.

Out in the garden, bundled up and warmed from the tea, take one piece of paper for each of the members of your family. On each paper write down a list of their strengths. When you get home you can put the paper in a beautifully decorated envelope and give it as a gift to your loved ones. Long after the toys and gadgets are forgotten this gift will continue to give light.

It’s time to go back inside now. Thank you for spending this time in the garden with me. May the beauty of nature, the warmth of a friend who loves you and this still, quiet moment to reflect on your goodness nourish you throughout the new year.

Jacqueline