Wednesday, June 22, 2011

More Love . . .

I was holding my granddaughter Avery today, after giving her a bath and settling into the couch. As she lay there, snuggled in her little pink blanket, sleeping so peacefully, I thought of my own Grandmother.

We called her "Granny." For almost 10 years of my life, she lived 7 houses down the block. I spent a lot of time at her house, both playing in her yard, eating her food and helping her with chores. When I think of the concept of "unconditional love," her face comes into my mind. I can close my eyes and smell her talcum-powdered body or the Jergens lotion that she used several times a day on her hands.

Sometimes, my memory reminds me of the Juicy Fruit that she always had in her purse!

I don't recall ever hearing my Granny raise her voice or speak in any manner other than loving. She always wore an apron (except for church!) and always had a pie or fried chicken or biscuits ready at a moment's notice. (Biscuits and her gravy . . . mmmmmmm . . .)

As I sat there in my daughter's apartment, alone with Avery, the love I felt swept over me and I was taken back in time. I was sitting at my Granny's knee in her livingroom, and then outside on her back porch. Eating watermelon was one of her favorite activities and her back porch hosted many of these summertime treats.

At her knee, I would just drink in her love, her way of just "being." And this allowed me to just "be," also. I always felt like I was "off duty" at Granny's house, free to just "be" ME! Isn't that a wonderful gift to give to a child?

So, as I thought of my Granny, I thought of Avery and how very much I want to "be" that kind of unconditional love for her. How much I want to give her the gift of just "being" her.

Those are big shoes to fill, and I'm willing to go for it!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

My New Love Child . . . Avery

Or, maybe I could say, "Child of Love!"

My granddaughter was born yesterday. Her name is Avery Catherine Bench and she is precious, perfect and pure love! She can teach us so much about love and trust. She trusts that all of her needs will be met. When she is hungry, she cries or makes little sucking sounds or tries to eat her fist. She doesn’t say, “Oh, should I eat now?” or “I’m too fat,” or “I’m too skinny.”

Yes, she asks for food when she’s hungry and someone attends to it. When she’s wet, she cries or makes those little noises and kind of scrunches up her face. Then we know to help her, to take care of what she needs.

As I watched her, I thought of how much the Universe is like this; if we will allow good things to come to us. We create a desire, put emotion behind it and it manifests.

What gets in the way is our:
· shame
· limiting beliefs
· guilt
· lack of deservedness
· feeling that the world is a scarce or scary place

How pure and innocent she is. Just think, she has:

· No shame
· No limiting beliefs
· No guilt
· No lack of deservedness
· No feeling that the world is a scarce or scary place

In fact, she is PURE LOVE! She loves everyone, unconditionally and we love her, unconditionally, too. At this point, she hasn’t stayed out all night or skipped school or done any of the things that usually bother us parents. She is just this little bundle of joy and love and happiness.

I want to be like Avery: trusting and pure love. As it says in the Course in Miracles:

The awareness of love’s presence is our natural birthright.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Teach only love for that is what you are.


So, I want to recapture that state of Pure Love. Thank you, Avery, for teaching me about Love!