86,400 Free Tulips

The great American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, was born on May 25, 1803. How many of us remember him? his writings? his impact on the still-developing American Idea? This morning, while walking downstairs to awaken Rose of Sharon for school, I almost absentmindedly grabbed the book Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays and Journals from the bookshelf before proceeding with my happy task...

Later, after everyone had left for their schools, Michelle to teach in the Montessori Public School, the boys to their last few days in Middle School, and Rose to her last days as a fourth-grader, I sat down with Waldo... Here's a gem of a line from his essay The Over-Soul: "We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul."

Advancing through my middle-years has me frequently pondering time... and this week, I decided to no longer refer to "time"... but rather, to Sacred Time... There is a difference... "Time" is what we "spend" as if comparable to an unlimited bank account: "this much" for sleep, "this much" for work, "this much" for family, "this much" for play, "this much" for TV, videos, and social media, "this much" for eating, "this much" for chores, "this much" for study, reading, or conversation, "this much" for sex, and sleep again... Oops, but then there must be time for parenting or planning or dating or dancing or running or bathing or whew! where does all the time go?

Sacred Time isn't church, mosque, or temple time (although that can be included)... Sacred Time is the observation of tulips. Tulips hide out most of the time. We do not give them a second thought after they rise up in early spring, flower for a few precious days, collapse face forward into the soil, and then disappear once again. An avid gardener would notice, though... like how the mystic notices Sacred Time... The mystic knows there are twenty-four hours in a day... and "spending time" is the last thing in her mind...

Every day of our lives we are gifted with 86,400 free tulips: bright flowering blossoms, specifically and exactly for our pleasure and delight! Now, you might be thinking, "What the hell would I do with 86,400 free tulips every day of my life?" But in point of fact, every day of our lives we have a treasury of 86,400 seconds given freely to us: not to spend, but to revel in! Sacred Time! (But, of course, there will be one last tulip for each one of us...)

This last tulip points to the awakening of the mystic. Since there is absolutely nothing of greater value than this last tulip, the mystic rightly assumes "This could be the day!" And so she lives according to a new reckoning of time: every breath is as sacred as it is going to get! Every breath is of supreme importance! If I am not gifting my Sacred Time in loving, then I am out of whack! Adjusting our thinking away from "spending" to "gifting" is of out-of-this-world importance...

Each of the dominators in our lives (politics, economics, religion, and culture) expect us to "buckle-up" and get to it (whatever it might be). The mystic, on the other hand, chuckles at the thought of "buckle-up", knowing that "un-buckling" is key. The dominators ain't driving us anywhere worth getting to! So get out of their fast car! Slow down and kiss more... kiss your baby... fall in love multiple times every day... adore every tulip... volunteer in a Soup Kitchen... don't "say your prayers": become a walking / breathing / loving prayer... read to children / listen to them read... lay down in a forest... join an intentional community that creates possibilities for you to both serve and relax... 

86,400 free tulips every day of your life: give them all away through your loving-practice: you have enough time when you live in Sacred Time: enough time to become a living-mercy: it's all as simple as closing your eyes and opening them...The mystic knows, in her humble simplicity, that she is the summation of beauty: because she practices her freedom to become love...

"We were created by Love, for Love, to become Love."
​-- Simone Weil