Calm after the storm

I drove through town this morning, sun shining, sky blue, birds singing. One couldn't help but feel that sigh of relief sort of feeling. There are branches down all over our land. Emery's live oak tree split in two, the goats were busy feasting on its leaves. The tree is a loss but it can be replaced. Emery called me this morning earlier than normal from work, just to tell me that he saw such a calmness on my face last night. No matter that the sky was wrecking havoc all around us, or a few folks were trying their hardest to wreck my own personal peace. Peace is within us, we take it with us, no one can take it from us, but we can give it away, let someone else carry it with them to do with it as they please. We hardly ever give it to a peaceful soul since they would never take it in the first place.

I saw such a connection to this mornings calm in nature and the calm I feel within myself today.

For me, its a sign there is growth within me. Emery saw it in my face and my demeanour and he knows me best. I suspect it has to do with understanding how my own ego works. How the ego draws me into a place of indignation or feeling flattered of feeling fearful of the impermanence that surrounds us. Living in the moment is the only true reality. What happened yesterday is gone, no longer in existence, no longer a present happening. You can't change that moment. Tomorrow is not here, neither is 5 minutes from now and I know from experience that what I think might happen is more often than not, nothing like what the reality of that moment to come. Our anticipation is often an exaggerated version. Its work, takes one conscious thought after another to keep yourself in the moment and not let things become big deals in our minds. Jesus certainly taught that. "Don't worry about tomorrow". It would be a wonderful world if we lived by those words and a few others that are quoted often, lived rarely.