MY FIRST BLOG 11-11-2015

November 11, 2015

It's a perfect day to start a blog. Eleven, eleven (11-11). Can't beat that! A good day to count blessings and reflect on everything that has happened this year. So much has changed and yet at the same time, so much remains the same.

Funny how things evolve. When my daughter Julie and her husband Gianni were married in Italy, throughout the trip I would tell my friends and family, "If this was heaven it would be just fine!" We went to the Gulf of Poets, Vinci, Rome, a winery, the Gardens of Collodi where Pinocchio was born and stayed at a Villa that overlooked the Tuscan Hills. The weather was perfect, the wedding was beautiful and it really seemed like if heaven was like that week we spent with family and friends it would be awesome.

After the trip I began thinking that anytime we experience love, peace, joy and beauty it is like heaven on earth. I began collecting memories as well as current events and wrote 100 vignettes of appreciation that I put in a little book I call, If This was Heaven it would be just fine. Each one ends with the same phrase as the title (or one close to it).

I have heard that gratitude is the most powerful vibration in the universe. Willie Nelson wrote in his book, "when I started counting my blessing my life began turning around." I love that.

Here is one of my favorite stories from my Heaven book.

Is That God Nana?

“Respect the child.
Wait and see the new product of Nature.
Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions.
Respect the child. Be not too much his parent.
Trespass not on his solitude.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Did you know that in many languages the word heaven is the same word for “sky”?

One evening my grandson Marcus and I witnessed a majestic, beautiful sunset in the West Texas sky. The clouds reflected beautiful shades of yellow, orange, pink and indigo. There was a sparkling silver lining framing the top of the cloud.

It was absolutely glorious!

“Is that God, Nana” my little Marcus said with wonder.

I smiled.

“The sunset is a beautiful gift from God to remind us that God is always with us,” I answered.

“Oh,” he said.

It was a moment I will hold dear for the rest of my life.

I found myself witnessing the sunset through Marcus’s bright blue eyes.

Jesus told his apostles, “When you see the world through the eyes of a child you see the kingdom of heaven.”

I felt suspended in a timeless moment of peace and joy as we looked at the beautiful masterpiece God had created for us to share.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is within.” I know what Jesus meant because in that moment my heart was overflowing with love and appreciation.

I really felt like I was looking at the kingdom of heaven. Marcus is my joy and we were together in the spirit of awe, love and peace.

“Thank you God for this beautiful sunset you gave us to look at!” I exclaimed.

“You’re welcome, Nana,” Marcus said with his cherub little face.

Now anytime I witness a sunset I think of that magical moment with Marcus. 

“You’re welcome, Nana.”

Children naturally know their oneness with God because they are fresh from the other side. Sometimes they talk about their “imaginary friend”. I think these are ancestors or maybe their guardian angel. Just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.

Right now Marcus is 3 years old and knows what I am remembering. I listen to every word he says. “When we look at the world through the eyes of a child we see the kingdom of heaven.”

In time he’ll forget.

We all do.

Then on his journey of rediscovery, Nana will be there to help him remember. That’s what enlightened grandmothers do.

When we remember and communicate in our oneness with God, it’s just like heaven, and it’s just fine!