Making Beauty is a Choice

Last Monday, I was gathering pine cones for a ritual, and this is what the trees told me: 

"Make beauty despite the devastation."

So much on Earth (of Earth) is hurting

and yet these trees—tall—making beauty!

I would be returning to the Earth what had stopped working: either she would take it back within herself and make it her own, or it would become a seed for something so new, it is even beyond imagining.

​Who else could hold it better than her? Who else could I surrender it to, but her that I come from?

"Making beauty is a choice"

Making beauty is a choice
in service of the immensity of love we feel--
we are

Warrior! focus on every breath--
every breath opening the door of gentleness before you

Sometimes you don't know how the design will complete itself

It is about trusting, holding what you are given close to your heart and walking

and the right flower shows up

Trusting the gentleness of your steps that are walking you forward--
in them is the strength you need to live this day

​And then it is not enough to think about it.
You have to surrender. And that is the hardest part.
And all you have is your next breath, next step

and the power to make a choice 
to listen to the voice from the other side of night

and then there will be a bird you can follow 

A falling leaf will acknowledge you

A boat will open up in slab of stone before you

This the lesson I am learning, dear one. Each time grief shows up, your heart grows even wider.
 
It's the moment to choose deeper healing. It's the moment to choose conscious self-knowledge, vibrant self-love. It's time to turn to myself, to mystery, and to turn over a new leaf, or maybe a new lush forest.

"Summer Dreaming" by Catrin Welz-Stein