Unexpected Blessings

I wasn't expecting a Holy day. My mind was full of peeps, jellybeans and thoughts of Uncle Wiggly and his dear friend the Easter Bunny whispering in the new grass outside of our house this morning. You all know how much delight I receive almost daily from the whimsy and silliness around me. Anyway, I went to church this morning so that son #2 could help hide easter eggs for the children. I should go more often, and I always resolve to do that whenever I go but I was again struck by how unexpectedly blessed I feel while I am there. First I got to hug my sweet friend Lizabee, and wish her and her little family a Happy Easter. Then another gift- I walked into the foyer and one of my very favorite customers came right up to me- a lovely friend who's knitting is always so creative and here she was, a member of UU! The service was pretty good too. There was a poem by Mary Oliver about a big black bear that I need to look up and read over, and a good sermon about Jesus and hope and spring. The best blessing of all was the Easter egg activity that we do every year. Yes the children get candy, but this is even better- each adult gets a plastic egg and during the service we are invited to write a blessing for a child and put it into the egg. Mark said to imagine, if we were that child, what blessings we might like to recieve. My heart opened, and I wrote "For you, love, hugs, flowers, chocolate, warmth, peace, cartoons, happiness, comfort, toys, peace, sweet dreams, joy"
Then I sat and listened to the music and realized how many tender hearts were uplifted this morning and that everywhere people were feeling hopeful and reverent and miraculous.

This was enough of a gift but it got better. In order to understand better, a small story- I've been struggling lately with my snark. I like to take the laughing Buddha approach in my adventures with people, but there are times when I lose my balance and laughing with the world feels more like poking fun at it. In a mean way. It has been bothering me lately that my irritations have turned into a snarkfest, and although funny there is a part of me that wants to go on a snark diet. Story over.
So after the service, as the children were hunting their eggs outside, we adults went into Sandburg Hall to socialize and find the eggs that the children had hidden for US. I opened my egg, purple of course, and was delighted to receive such a blessing- I like to think that it is not just a sweet, which it definately is, but also a phrophetic, hopeful guide for my springtime: "YOU ARE NICE"

I hope I will be. A little child will guide me.