WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Friday, November 26, 2021

CREATE

            Sometimes it becomes clear to me that I don’t create anything, and never have. For most of my life, I believed the opposite – that I am an excellent creator, a generator of countless thoughts, feelings, plans, and projects. I saw myself as a separate ‘machine’, you might say, an individual ‘force’ capable of producing products to be proud of. Now, though, on my 80th birthday, I realize, as I have for many years, how silly those beliefs were. To think that I create my own thoughts is as foolish as believing the sunlight on the house next door is created by the house. Somehow, in some mysterious, fanciful way, thoughts appear in my life as beautifully as breezes appear among the branches of a tree. Somehow, by a shadowy magic, goals have been accomplished in my life, results have happened, projects have been completed – but thinking that I was the maker of all of them is as silly as thinking waves in an ocean make themselves move. Waves move because the vast ocean moves, and goals in my life have been reached because a power far greater than little ‘I’ made it happen. 

            Today, as I turn 80, I am grateful to know that I am part of this immense power, sometimes called the Universe, or God, but I prefer to call it Love, or Peace, or Gentleness, or Patience. I plan to relax today and let this almighty power push me along in its immense and restful way. 

ROBBIE RECEIVER
11/23/18

When he turned 27,
Robbie Doer decided
that he was not a doer
but a receiver,
and therefore he found himself,
one gift-giving day, 
at the Social Security office 
asking for his name to be changed
to Robbie Receiver. 
He told the clerk 
that he now knew 
he didn’t create
thoughts to think and words to speak, 
but simply received them, 
and that he was the beneficiary,
every single moment, 
of amazing miracles,
like his mouth making 
the words he was saying to her,
and the specks of dust on her counter
staying exactly where they should be. 
He said he knew now 
that he was awarded a fresh breath 
every moment, 
and that he won wonderful prizes
called new moments 
all day long,
so, he said, since he was a receiver,
not a doer,
could he please 
have the name Robbie Receiver from now on, 

and the clerk 
called for help 
from her supervisor.
   

Here’s a candid shot of my very best friend, reading in our sunroom yesterday …

and here’s a very special message I saw in our dining room window early this morning …