Spring?

"In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher." Dalai Lama

"Basically, universal responsibility is feeling for other people's suffering just as we feel our own. It is the realization that even our enemy is entirely motivated by the quest for happiness." Dalai Lama

Let me refresh my memory, Mother Nature. The first day of Spring was March 21st and Easter is Sunday. Correct? So why the freeze alert and snow flurries? Sigh weather in the Midwest is so unpredictable. I grew up in California where we had two seasons, wet and dry.

Yesterday was my older cat's birthday. Merlin is a whopping nine years old now. Of course we are talking chronological age and not maturity. Maturity wise I think he is stuck at six months. He is the biggest mamma's boy. It is hard to believe that I have had him this long. I got him when he was four weeks old and remember him sucking on my fingers when he got upset.

If I believed in coincidences I would think that my Ancient Wisdom of the Orient calendar having a quote from the Dalai Lama on the same subject as today's quote on my Dalai Lama calendar was a coincidence but I actually believe that such things happen for a purpose. We are now into Holy Thursday with the Last Supper and tomorrow we observe the death of Christ and on Sunday his resurrection. "Forgive them Father they know not what they do."

Forgiveness is something that many people have problems with. It is hard to forgive someone who has caused you harm or pain. It is something that I have struggled with all my life and am finally starting to learn. One of the most shining examples of forgiveness is the late Pope John Paul II forgiving the man who tried to assassinate him. He not only learned Christ's lesson but he practiced it.

In my own life it has been a struggle but I have finally let go and forgiven my abusive ex-husband for putting me through six years of hell. I realize that he is a very sick and unhappy man who will never get well until he gets the help he needs. I sincerely wish that he one day wakes up and realizes he has problems and that it isn't always someone else's fault. There is no "guild" spying on him and trying to destroy him. He is destroying himself.

I have also forgiven the lady who forced me out of a job I loved because she was jealous of me and the fact so many people loved me for the good job I was doing. I received a late birthday present from one of my former nurses because she and the people I helped still remember me with love. Getting me out of the company where she doesn't have to deal with me hasn't changed a thing. I am still loved. She is still consumed with jealousy of others and until she learns to let go of that crippling emotion she will never know true happiness. She is sabotaging herself. I have survived and will continue to survive.

As much as I hated leaving my old job it has been for the best. I am living here with my mother and taking care of her in her declining years. Being able to return the care for her that she has lavished on her children is the greatest reward in my life.

Another lesson to be learned in this Easter season is that God never gives you more then you can handle. When I lost my Dad at the same time my marriage broke up and I was at my lowest point in self esteem and courage I wondered if I could ever get through. But God gave me the strength to carry on even when I was angry at Him for things being the way they were. S/he understood that I had to work through the anger and pain and S/he was patient and knew I would come back.

So this Easter season I would hope that we would learn the lesson of forgiveness. When we hate our neighbor the only person we are hurting is ourself.

With snow flurries predicted for the entire weekend I figured my picture called Easter Egg Delivery in the Midwest was highly appropriate.

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