Hello Reader. I offer you my best wishes for a festive and safe holiday weekend.

In this "Joy is a Garden We Grow" series, we've spent time together cultivating Joy, choosing our seeds carefully, tending with mindful intention, syncing our actions with God’s seasons, and enriching our blooms from the Living Source.

Let's look at harvesting Joy today.

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Micro-compassion—deliberate acts of great Love

The season of giving doesn’t end with the last unwrapped present.

God wrapped His Love and His Truth in bone and sinew, with a human brain and a beating heart, and He gifted himself to us. Love—living, breathing among us. Immanuel: God is with us… God is for us... God is in us… always Love, till the end of time.

Generous, inside and out, God moved into our neighborhood, into our hearts. Filled us to overflowing with Love and Light, so that we may open our hands and our hearts, and through our actions and our words, share the generous abundance of Forever Love—show the world who God is.

Not feeling like you're overflowing with abundance today? Then begin at home, through intentional acts of self-love. Be compassionate with yourself, especially on those grumpy days. Offer yourself a bouquet of loving-kindness. Kindness is muscle we learn to develop inside, so our compassion toward others unfolds as a natural (not forced) reflex.

Gratitude helps. And tending the garden of Joy.

When harvesting our Joy Garden, we witness abundance in action. Overflowing beauty to share: blooms of smiles, bouquets of loving kindness, fragrant perfumes of kind words and actions. In sharing, we show the world our reason for our Joy.

You don’t have to do it all in a day. To build on my favorite quote, think about micro acts of compassion. Intentional acts of kindness in tiny doses: helping your neighbor with her groceries, smiling as you hold the door and let the pushy person in ahead of you, saying hello to the cashier while looking them in the eyes. Small acts done with great Love (Mother Teresa!) The key is poised, active awareness, always on the lookout for opportunities.

Some days are easier than others. Some days we are met with people who wish to throw darkness into our world because the light hurts their eyes. Remember, those who protest loudest are those whose hearts may be crying the most for Love.

We assume that when we encounter someone who is snarky, pushy or rude that that moment defines them. But honestly, haven’t you been low on blood sugar or troubled by a challenge and reacted a time or two from a place of scarcity and frustration?

This is why we must hold each other up with our words and our prayers, encouraging when we have the strength, so we will be encouraged when we don't. The tenacity of small acts of kindness done with great love. This embrace holds us together in Truth and in Grace.

Always compassion. Did you know that loneliness has the same health risks as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day?

The breathing practices I offer are a way to help you stay rooted with the Living Source to give you space to breathe and so you don't return anger for anger. Micro compassion for yourself.

When you take a breath in an intense encounter, you have the opportunity to pause, and if it feels right, to plant a seed. True, the seed may fall on rocky ground or be choked by thorns. But maybe the seed will land in fertile ground. (see Mark 4:1-9) And as you know, seeds take time to germinate. You can’t always know the long-term effects of one act of kindness. The seed you chose to plant may bloom and grow and spread more seeds beyond your time here on earth.

A single act of deliberate kindness blooms beauty that lasts beyond our time on earth.

Tap into the Living Source when your energy runs low, and grumpy clouds rumble through your inner landscape. Nourish yourself with the Love that never ends. Love that overflows and empowers us to show our neighbor who God is. The God of Forever Love.

Consider this quote from Fred Rogers:

Each heart, grumpy or smiling, has been hand-crafted by the Great Compassionate One. Always kindness. Take the time to appreciate and participate in the sacred embrace that hold us together in Forever Love.

Always Love. Never underestimate the long-lasting power of kindness.

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Poetry Garden

Plato said that we are born whole but need each other to become complete. As flowers need bees and butterflies and birds, we need each other to prosper love by scattering seeds of loving kindness…

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Breathing Practice

Savor the quiet moments, the happy moments, the sweet moments of connection. Celebrate your victories and have compassion for your setbacks. The best way to love others is to love ourselves as we are Loved by God.

I offer you a prayer. Try the words on. Keep the words you like and modify the words if the Spirit directs you otherwise. Always, ALWAYS listen to your heart and pray from a place of rootedness.

Sync the prayer with your breath in whatever way feels comfortable. Repeat the prayer for yourself until the words flow naturally, whichever words you have chosen.

Next, think of someone you love dearly. Hold them in your heart. Say their name, then in rhythm to your breath, repeat the prayer:

Next, think of someone you see regularly, but maybe you don’t know their name. For example, someone you see at the coffee shop or on the subway every day, the cashier at your favorite shop, someone in your exercise class, the mail carrier… the list is endless. Picture that person’s face. Hold them in your heart. Repeat the prayer.

Last, and this may not feel comfortable at first, but think of someone with whom you feel a little grudge or conflict. Nothing huge, just someone that you’d like to develop a little more patience with. Picture that person’s face. Hold them in your heart. Repeat the prayer.

If at any time the prayer causes panic or turmoil, stop it and return to praying for yourself.

Finally, imagine holding all living beings in your heart.

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Bloom to Share

Today’s bloom was sent to us from Barb in Plymouth, Indiana—the epitome of the long-lasting effects of kindness. She says, “The tulips… my mom ordered for me a number of years prior when I had fallen and injured my ankle.” Barb’s mom rests in God’s arms now, but these tulips bloom every spring—a gorgeous reminder of her mom’s generous love and kindness. Thank you, Barb, for sharing.

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“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone―we find it with another.” Thomas Merton, Love and Living

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See you next year!

May 2022 bring you the Joy that lasts in all seasons and the Peace that transcends all understanding.