Today,
Let us take with us into the world.
The word intentional.
New Year's Eve.
I sat on the shore one evening in Hawaii.
And watch the waves roll over rocks to deep pools.
In the pools were crabs and anemone.
The tiny translucent fish that flashed were gone.
Teeming macroscopic life that I could not see.
A clear fresh water washed over the rocks from the sea and flooded the pools.
The foaming water rose and then fell away.
Leaving the water in the pool pristine and fresh.
Later that night as I lay in near sleep.
The image of those pools rose to my mind.
I sense a profound purpose in the movement of the water.
I felt as much as I understood.
That the waves were bringing oxygen and nutrients to the life that filled the pool.
Almost consciously.
As if a hand were gently reaching over the rise of the rocks to offer a gift.
The word intentional spoke within me.
My heart raced.
The next day,
When I returned,
I could not see the pool was the same anymore.
Is merely an interesting bit of the natural world.
But neither could I quite see them as filled with a profound sense of intention.
That I'd fell too deeply in their sleep,
The night before.
I could imagine the intention there.
But it was muted by my own busy and critical mind.
But still to this day at times might feel lost.
Recall that powerful feeling of universal intention.
Let's stop,
Look about the world I live in.
As the wind in the trees.
The lotion of the clouds,
The rain falling.
And I remind myself that,
In some way,
All this world we live in may well be filled with a profound intention.
Then,
When I look at my fellow travelers,
We hear navigating these lives of ours,
Standing in line in a coffee shop,
Waiting in traffic at a light,
Our fingers drumming the steering wheel,
I cannot help but feel a bit more compassion.
The more patience.
Bit more love for all of us,
Here,
Doing what we can.
This world we live in may not be as empty and devoid of meaning as we might sometimes fear.
Possible,
Then the natural world is filled with intention.
We too may be subject to that intention.
Or are we quiet enough to hear it and feel it?
For today,
I invite you to pause from time to time.
Look up from whatever you're doing.
And bring to mind the word intentional.
Seeing the movement of the world,
Attention allowed.
Movements filled with meaning.
Look about you and see if everyone in the world is embraced just a little bit more in the light of compassion.
The Word of the Day is intentional.
