new friends & family

[Martin Ray]

Hi Maybeth -- oh yes, a big family here.  You know, as I look to see
what I'll carry with me, sorting things down to their "essentials", I
feel like I'm getting naked! & more & more vulnerable.  All this stuff
here in my nest is like a cozy habit, but I'm really tired of the
sorting, cleaning, fixing, insuring, etc-ing that goes with being
possessed by things -- my nest starts to act like a fortress, and an
enormous distraction from living.  If my life is a big end-sum zero, and
I can't take it with me anyway, I might as well get started!  My spirit
is certainly eager, which is my first and best guide...  So, leaping
into the "unknown" really begins to train the faith muscles first!  The
heart then has to open, and gosh! we've got a real pilgrimage on our
hands, replete with all our brothers & sisters we imagined we needed
protection from.... Huge!  Then we start to really "get it" -- the REAL
treasures in life lie in the wealth of our heart, and the love we allow
to flow to all beings (even the stone people) God offers to us each
moment of the day.  And everything becomes a gift, a gift that will grow
as it is shared.... Our vulnerability is truly our place of power.
     One more little story -- last week I decided I needed a hair cut,
so I took out my electric clippers and the attachments, and just
startied whacking away everything longer than, say, an inch.  (to allow
this uniform length, I had used the biggest "attachment", and  I took it
off to trim around my ears...).  Well, then I noticed a fair-sized bit
on the back of my head that I'd missed, so I jumped on it.  When a
fist-sized ball of "fur" dropped into the sink, I froze with a big
"oh-oh".  And looked up to see a totally bald streak running across the
back of my head.... I giggled... my path was chosen, as I lept with both
feet (ears?) into the unknown... Yep, you guys have been talking with a
bald guy for the last 5 or 6 days.  Did you notice?  No, of course not
-- it's all heart to heart here.      Love to all, Martin