Loves Me, Loves Me Not?

When we tug at a single thing in Nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world. -John Muir

Once upon a time, pre- APP's for relationships,

there was a simple tool used for the complex questions of love.

An innocent flower with petals.

Think: daisy, aster or other flat-faced flower

with extensions of petals that could be plucked, one by one.

On petal one, pull for "Loves me."

Next, "Loves me not."

Until the last petal offered the final answer and directed either pursuit of the love interest,

or ultimately a dead-end.

It was a sad activity for the dear flower,

and a sad outcome when the last plucked petal pronounced: "loves me not."

Until we got wise and counted the petals to pre-determine the outcome,

starting on the phrase we knew we'd end with.

So much for mystery!

Yet we're still playing the game with the many petals the world is peddling:

Want to be loved? Pick your petal:

Say this, not that. Eat this, not that.

Wear this, not that. Hair - this, not that.

Blend in so you don't stick out.

Shrink your brain, your size, and your thoughts

until you're sucked in to the soul-stifling, the smoke-and-mirrors,

claiming and promising -

but desperately disordered and devoid -

of. actual. Love.

The conditioning is real, our ill condition.

And once we start getting close to another, hoping for love,

the mind-pedaling begins:

Will I really be liked, as I am (without makeup)?

Will I really be accepted, as I am (when I speak my mind)?

Will I really be welcomed, as I am (when I share my true feelings)?

And if so,

Will this love last - or is it just "like" until the real me is revealed?

Isn't it the same

when we try to name and claim a Love greater than we can conceive...

Heavenly Father, Spirit, Universe and The UnNameable?

That we are constantly plucking the petals of:

I'm loved - IF.

I'm loved - When.

I'm loved - conditionally. (Aren't we all conditioned to this?)

What would it be like to show up...

without the "make-up" of pretense?

with the humility of a bare heart, or a shaved or covered head?

with real words and feelings vs. "proper" or "acceptable" ones?

With nakedness?

The poor flower after plucking looked so naked,

so devoid of petals,

so unfairly used for this silly game.

Gathering the silky plucked petals in my hand, my heart cried.

What have I destroyed?

And what is destroying us in this ever-questioning process

as we keep asking the same question

in every way

using every behavior imaginable?

Am? I? Actually? Loved?

Covering up in the Garden of Earth, we're hiding our nakedness.

Covering up Truth by closing-off to the all-inclusive Love of God, we're Hope-less.

Reducing Love to a game, the nonsense is hurting us.

The insensitivity is hurting every living thing.

Are we not incensed by this cycle of insanity?

Better to leave the flowers in the field, to refrain from pulling petals.

Better to sit amongst Nature and to Be

Enfolded by the art of the Creator,

every color, texture, expression and pattern

simply Art to call Attention to this:

"I love you!

See? Hear?

Touch? Taste? Smell?

Look what beauty, surprise, comfort, lesson, stillness I have for you...

Here. Now.

Just as you are. Just as I Am.

Enjoy My Love! Yes, do Enjoy, My Love.

Breathe it In."

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

or let the fish in the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In His hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind. Job 12: 7-10.