Gratitude

I am grateful 

for the way my soul is sometimes 

drawn to move with other souls and then separated 

from them. I observe here a law of soulmaking 

with exciting possibilities for 

understanding. 

Scenes of how it operates appear: People in arctic cold, others in the tropics. Oceans, high desert canyons, wooded valleys, all in harmony with “the One who has no partner”. There is a group that sings and moves in pure joy; another is quiet in the midst of tremendous grief and carnage. A tree bristling with thorns: jealousy, meanspirited revenge. Then the white jasmine 

flowers bud, open, and drop the 

gift of themselves. 

Why are we shown this? 

So we can appreciate the whole as given. 

When I am grieved and without hope, I accept that 

as grace, as well as the removal of pain. A deep 

knowing comes as we are shown, receive, 

and grow to love both. 

Bahauddin (1318–1389)