The school mistress in a little village had a palsy arm, and an elephant told them to go looking for this boy. An elephant had been born 8 years before with shriveled legs and they thought she'd die and she didn't. The whole herd began to behave differently from any other herd in the wild: all aggression stopped, the herd began walking in a horseshoe formation with this little elephant in the center, the elephants cleared the way for her and would lift her with their trunks and carry her across. She came up to Martha and got as close as possible and held up her trunk to her. And suddenly she could understand the elephants and they could understand her. It was a space of no words. The elephant she understood and was telling her she was here for a reason, pain is not necessarily suffering and disability is not what we think it is.
I love this message!
This summer at work I got into the habit of taking my lunch under a huge beautiful tree outside of my workplace on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In the summertime Temple Square has a garden that is so beautiful that it requires a team of gardeners to tend to it and people come from all over the world to enjoy the grounds and take pictures of the flowers. So as I sat eating my lunch under this amazing beautiful tree (I wish I knew what type of tree it was but I don't), I just know I called it My Tree. It was My Tree because it provided this great shade that protected the flowers all around. And the leaves draped down in such a poetic manner. It was just a beautiful tree. I sat there eating my lunch. Feeling so much gratitude for the beauty around me. All the colors of the flowers were so inspiring and the smell of the flowers was out of this world. I could not help but feel inspired as I sat there happily feeding my stomach good food, smelling the sweet smell of summer and enjoying the beautiful colors- bright reds, pinks of all different shades, bright yellows and purples. I once touched a flower and it was like the softest silk. I marveled at how beautiful it was. And all of a sudden I heard the flower talk back to me. It told me of how beautiful I was!!! and as I kept eating my lunch under that tree I realized the flowers were talking to me. I started hearing messages from the flowers! Another lesson the flowers taught me was the message of diversity and how each flavor of talent and skill is needed in this world. How each person is a universe unto themselves. And we need all the flavors. All the colors are necessary and welcomed. I learned so many lessons from the flowers this summer. It was probably the best summer of my life. One cold morning I was walking to work and realized the flowers were gone. The gardeners had taken them out in preparation for winter. It made me sad to see them go. They were my friends. I do know that they needed to rest and that I will get to see them again in the spring. In the meantime I will reflect on the knowledge they gave me. I also got some messages from the trees. Trees have a lot of wisdom I learned. So now whenever I see the flowers I greet them. I marvel at their beauty and they send me back their love.
If you listen, you will hear the messages from the flowers and the elephants. Just ask and listen.
And if you are having a hard time believing this post, check this one out of the Elephant Whisperer in Africa. And what about the elephants in Thailand who knew the tsunami was coming before any human beings even fathomed the idea.
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