SOULS' BREAKFAST - Day Nineteen

Beloved Souls,

I am happy to be continuing the octave of Breakfast for the Soul, and for the next nine days, I hope to make you fat with joy as I offer you a two-course breakfast!   

What feeds me most is being in nature – God’s Art.  Wherever I go, the first place I seek out is the nearest park, forest, river or mountain.  When I am in nature I am fed so completely that my soul grows big and vibrates with joy!   I walk in the woods and I feel as though God has lifted me up, put me on His knee and lovingly embraces me – with the warmth of the sun He kisses my face, with the breeze He caresses my cheek, with the sounds of the forest He introduces me to new friends so that I know that I am not alone, and with all the wondrous smells, He tells me a thousand stories all at once!   I open my mouth, breathe in deep and taste the freshness and purity of the air. 

Because of the extreme joy my soul experiences every time I am immersed in nature, I am sending you a portal so that you may “jump into” God’s glorious creation and be fed by it.  This is your “first course”.

Before joining the academy, the only time I read poetry was many, many years ago in school and only because my teachers made me read – it was not fun.    Then one day last year, in a meeting, Melisa looked into my eyes and handed me a book.  I opened it randomly to a page and read out loud to the group, and when I was done I started to laugh because, for the first time in my life, I experienced sheer delight when reading a poem.  The poem was “Tripping over Joy” and I give that to you today.  And so, Beloved Souls I give you the poetry of Hafiz as your “second course”.

Love, Evelyn

Tripping over Joy

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess Game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think

You have a thousand serious moves.