Good Help and Good Pine Aren't Hard to Find

"Life is a mystery. Hopefully we are not too busy to miss the vital clues."
-from "The Return of Merlin" by Depak Chopra

I learned through email that last Sunday was not only Valentine's but also the New Moon which happened to begin an Aquarian cycle. The email suggested since Aquarius relates to the future that this was the perfect time to raise one's energy and get unstuck. One of the rituals suggested involved placing greenery such as pine in one's home to assist in the process of inviting in the new and clearing out the old.

What a beautiful idea. Prior to taking a walk, I stated that we should look for a few sprigs of pine we could place in our home. The walk began. We've a nearly two mile path we take, walking to a certain home in the area then turning and following the same path back most times. Sunday was no exception. Early on in the walk, Jerry said, "There's pine" only to realize as we neared it was cedar.

We walked and talked, got to our turn-around having forgotten the pine until for some reason we looked down and we were literally standing on several twigs in the road. They had fallen from two large branches that were now on the ground torn by a heavy snow from nearby trees.

We hit the jackpot. We had not only twigs, but branches that we walked home with one under each arm. Once home, I tucked pieces of pine around the front door and window as well as in the back by Venus our outdoor fireplace and around the bench near our bird feeders where we often sit. Jerry placed branches in each room inside then we held a ritual invoking the new.

Days later, I'm still curious as to how moments prior to walking out the door, I placed an intention to find pine twigs then literally walked over them. Fortunately they found me, me standing on them while returning home.

How is it I ask for something then so blatantly miss it? At times I stop the process of things coming to me through procrastination stemming from a bad attitude based in not-so-helpful beliefs.

My website references my desire to be the Good News Muse, but this Muse often finds she has bad attitudes. Here's what I mean..

For months we've needed a few minor home repairs. It's been so long it's a bit embarrassing. The story at least for me goes 'good help is hard to find' or maybe it's 'affordable good help is hard to find' and if I find it I'll have to rearrange my schedule which will be a hassle and then the person probably won't show up on time or do the job 'right.' This being the case, I had procrastinated calling anyone until prompted by weather rumors of big rain a month ago.

It was a Wednesday when I finally called Leonard, the roofer we had used eight years prior, to see if he could come by and check our gutters which had been popping away from the house, not a good thing rain or no rain. I didn't know if he was still in roofing let alone remember me.

How happy I was to find Leonard was still in business and recalled exactly where we lived. He offered to come out later that day. By Noon, the gutter situation had been assessed, and the source of a ceiling leak discovered along with two other potential leaks. He agreed to return the next day. As we stood and caught up on life over the past eight years, I asked if he knew a painter since many of our windows needed sanding and repainting around the trim.

By the following afternoon, not only were our gutters reattached and the leaks fixed, but the trim around the windows was sanded, caulked and painted as well as the door all for an extremely reasonable price. Equally as satisfying was the sense we had reconnected with an old friend.

These two small but important vignettes remind me of the New Testament directive, "Ask and you shall receive." How often do I get in the way of receiving the very things for which I've asked? How often does busyness or bad attitudes keep me from seeing and hearing the Mystery, the Mystery, call it God, Spirit, whatever you choose, that desires our engagement, the Mystery that needs our engagement in order to make itself known in the world?

If good help and good pine aren't that hard to find, what else is right before our very eyes?

-Dawn! The Good News Muse, 02/17/2010