Late Spring

The ancient one opens leaves in frost and sun.

Celebrating better health and good news from the medical folk, late spring finds me in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. David and I join Quakers from the Utah Fellowship of Friends for a long weekend. It is late April and the night temperatures drop, even destroying the apricot crop. The days are in the 40s or 50s and windy. We hike in the morning. Afternoon we share news. Then glories, luscious potluck dishes and singing. Night comes on and the full moon rises over reefs.

This ancient tree captures my attention. How old is it? Surely it is more than one hundred years. It was probably here before the pioneers settled in this valley in the 1800s. Their fruit orchards still stand and are well attended. The apricots were lost this year when the temperatures dipped to twenty-three degrees two days before we arrived.

What lessons are there for me this late April?

New growth

my hope embraces

the mysteries

of the ancient one.

Good news, congestive heart failure is ruled out and the echocardiogram shows that my heart has strengthened in the last fourteen months. It is Parkinson's. my spiritual mentor at play. The diaphragm muscles are affected and I go into shallow breathing yet The Holy One who created us all, also created an incredible brain that can make new circuits. Are we open to learning to follow inner guidance, even when the specialists think that there is nothing to be done? Research show that the brain is able to develop new paths. In this case, it is the C Pap machine which is developing the new path to regular, normal deep breathing.

Alleluia.

Gnarled beauty continues

bringing joy

and blessings.