"RED GERANIUMS"
Painting #1172 Oil on linen on board (24"x 18") SOLD
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
"It is always best to do what you know to be right, honest and true to what your head and heart tells you. This is true in all things, but possibly even more so in matters of the heart. Yes of course I am aware that today is Valentines Day, so of course I am going to be romantic. Love can overcome all things, but it cannot flourish in the midst of untruths. Let me explain with a story based on a true experience."
"John stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way along platform 6 of Waverly Station.. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.
His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in the Carnagie Library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in a town further up the coast. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond.
The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. John requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like.
When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at platform 6 Waverly Station Edinburgh. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen."
"I'll let John tell you what happened:"
"A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be, grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment.
"I'm Lieutenant John McEwan, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"
The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"
It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," says the well known saying, "And I will tell you who you are."
May your heart be touched with Love this day and may you share your love with those
who touch your life this day.
FROM THE DAILY WORD Friday, February 14, 2014
RELATIONSHIP
Love blesses my relationships.
Every loving relationship is blessed. Divine Love in me seeks to express itself through my relationships. When I establish a bond with someone, whether for a moment or a lifetime, we meet on holy ground.
If miscommunication or resentment arises, I bring the relationship into prayer. In that sacred space, I release any preconceptions or judgment. I invite love and wisdom to help me see things differently. Focused on God in the midst of us, I see the conflict resolve or dissolve.
My deepest desire is to embody and express the exquisite love of God in all my relationships. I treat my loved ones with honor, respect, and devotion to Spirit within.
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.—1 John 4:8
