The raindrop glistened on the rosebud and then slowly it began to fall to the ground where it disappeared from sight. I was standing at my window looking out at the garden. Everything was so neat. The flower beds had been trimmed; the poplars stretched up, providing shade and a home to the birds and insects; the green grass had been freshly cut and its fragrance hung low. A rainbow appeared in the grey sky as the sun made every effort to come out, and yet my attention was drawn away from this splendor, into a drop of rainwater glistening on a rose petal.
Being drawn into a raindrop was a spectacular experience…an experience that reminded me of Alice in Wonderland who became so tiny she could escape into the magical garden of her dreams. My escape however, was not that pleasant, for I sank deep into the Earth and was lost forever. For a moment I was stunned and then relieved as I realized that even as a drop of water, I would be brought back to life either in an underground river or a cloud. I wasn’t a drop of water though – I was a human who was being challenged by life to stop and to take in each and every facet of being. I tried doing so and decided that I wanted to embrace each and every flower in the garden; to climb a tree and rest on the grass and admire nature in all its splendor and beauty. I wondered about being; what I was trying so hard to be, and concluded that I was extremely grateful for each and every moment when I was reminded by life, to take stock. Taking stock required that I sink into the depths of my own self, there to find the many shadows that were lost, abandoned and in want of love. I sank and opened the doors of my inner world. I spring cleaned, dusted and transmuted broken aspects of self. I gathered subpersonalities together and hugged them, asking them to find their own peace no matter how hard it would be. I checked in with my ego and reassured it that I would no longer keep it chained to the wall of my dreams but that I would train it to work with me rather than against me. Spending time spring cleaning my own personal garden I realized that I was simply mirroring the beauty that I had seen in the external garden and that my life’s purpose was actually to be human and to let go of all the pain and fear that caused me to run down the road of havoc and desolation.
I cut the rose bud and placed it in a jar of water. Its stem was clear of thorns and the rose bud still glistened until it ran down and I caught it with my finger and raised it to my lips. My life took on greater meaning as I realized that I was a rose bud, a drop of rain, a rainbow, a cloud and the sun. Greater than all though, my life took a turn when I realized that we are all humans learning the art of being and the art of grace and the art of love through living. I saluted the world and it winked back at me whispering softly, “Welcome home my child….how long has it been that you looked to find me sitting in the garden of your heart?” I looked up at the sky and admired the vast expanse above me knowing that my life was beginning all over again, afresh and new, simply because I had realized the magical mystery of being human.