Today’s thought (from this web link):
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”
Bobby – age 7
An author and lecturer once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a 4 year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
..and now Kabir Day 41:
The couplet transliterated:
Guru dhobi seekh kapada, saabu sirjan haar |
Surati sila par dhoiye, nikasai jyoti apaar ||
Translation:
Teacher, washerman, student and the cloth, all are cleansed by the soap of the Lord’s name |
On the washing stone that is the Love of God and Neighbor, the cleansed glow with inner light ||
My understanding:
Another beautiful opportunity to step beyond this marketing-driven material world, and step into the wonderful garden of love. Here resides true peace, complete satisfaction and real happiness.
Kabir highlights what little Bobby says – it is not the presents, but the peace in the room and the satisfaction in the air that is the real spirit of Christmas. It is in the quiet of the little boy who, by just being, allows the other person to come to terms and even accept the loss as another step forward.
Prayer and the Lord’s name are a name we use to explain and quantify what we cannot see, touch or feel, and explain that which we cannot express. Instead of rationalizing, if we stop to just experience, true love – not just of our near and dear, but of everything and everyone near and far, known and unknown – will envelop us and allow us to transcend all differences.