Good morning…
A friend in our “sue2you” community shared with me this interesting quote from Ram Dass. “When you go out into the woods and you look at the trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is that way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You’re too this or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
The poignant word standing out for me from this sea of beautiful words is “practice.” We need to “practice” appreciating ourselves and others just the way we are. As we “practice” seeing our real selves, every person, and each created thing through the compassionate eyes of God, we shed the worldly urge to compare, to criticize, to compete, and we begin to grow into Christ’s gracious nature, welcoming to all.
And He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk]…” Matthew 4:19a (AMP),
Sue
P.S. If you have ten minutes to “practice” appreciating creation through the eyes of God, please enjoy this video, https://www.youtube.com/embed/ mMq1FqiM8Qc, shared by another loyal “sue2you” friend.
