Dear Reader:

Kaitlyn and Tommy gave me this adorable card for my birthday. After all the partying subsided I started picking up, cleaning up, and putting out my cards on display Friday.

When I got to this card…I found myself reading it, re-reading it, and then digesting it. We have all heard familiar stories about no two snowflakes being alike or stars or anything else on earth or in our universe… (actually without fully comprehending the extraordinary significance of this fact)…*It really is tough to tell two ants apart.

Inside the card…it says: “Celebrating the one and only you, Happy Birthday!” 

The thought of every form of human, animal, plant life being celebrated for being alive is pretty mind-boggling! How in the world can anyone not believe in a Creator when faced with statistics like that? Billions, trillions, of life forms on our planet and no two are alike...physically or spiritually?

There has to be a reason why we are all unique and different. There has to be a reason why we were born…a purpose so strong that no one else can accomplish it… but us.

In the book, Light, by Jane Zalben….an old Jewish legend is told which explains man’s purpose in this world.

Amazon’s summary states:

 In the beginning there was emptiness, like a blank canvas. Then, in a swirl of motion, the Creator made the world. The Creator wanted to finish everything with a special kind of light—a light so powerful it had to be stored away from sight. When the Creator tried to open the jar of light, it shattered, and sparks of light flew everywhere.

With flowing paintings and intricate collages made with unusual and varied materials, Jane Breskin Zalben brings to life this timeless legend about why people were created: to find the light and repair the world. 

Awakin Calls has weekly guest speakers and this week’s was Aryae Coopersmith on the topic/theme: Raising the Sparks: Retrieving the Hidden Light Around Us. 

(Coopersmith is founder of OWL...One World Lights...an organization of concerned world citizens working for peace and harmony in the world with the purpose of helping each other while repairing our planet.

The same legend that inspired Jane Zalben to write the book Light inspired Coopersmith to further explore the meaning behind the legend. Some of his discoveries include-in this summary:

Our speaker has been deeply touched by a story told by Rabbi Issac Luria, the great Kabbalist who lived in Tzfat in the mountains of northern Israel in the 1500s, about the scattering of God’s light at the creation of the universe to all corners.

“So what is our job?” Rabbi Luria said. “What is the job of a human being? It is to find these scattered sparks in all corners of the world, to lift them up, and carry them home.

Have you ever marveled at how God, or fate, or the universe, sent you on the journey that you’re on?”

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the great mystic who lived in the Ukraine in the 1800s, in turn said: “if you’ve ever experienced a time or place of great darkness, why are you there? It’s because that’s where the greatest light is hidden.

You’re not there by accident. You were sent. Because of all the people in the world, you’re the one chosen to find and retrieve those holy sparks, the ones that are hidden there. You’re the only one who can do it..”

Coopersmith concludes with some questions for us to ask ourselves…

Reflecting on this story, where in your life have you had the experience of discovering, in the midst of great darkness, the brightest, purest light? What did you do then? How did that affect your life? 

Friday morning…I read Ben’s story-Grace Under Fire-(original copy) to help look for grammatical errors and its readability flow.

Soon, however, I forgot about that and concentrated on a pattern that was forming each time Ben encountered God’s “Presence” (in the darkest combat conditions.)

A light of understanding swept over him as he listened to and trusted in… the “Voice.”  (I believe, with each encounter, Ben was bringing another piece of his shard of light with him.)

So until tomorrow…Father, guide us through this world by Your Light to help us discover the inner Divine Spark within each of us and return it to our souls.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Along the same thought of finding our “light”  as our purpose in life…I think this concept applies also to the realization that a moment of time in our life can never be duplicated.

Each moment is special in itself… but not available for a “repeat.”. We must enjoy each remarkable moment …because it won’t reappear exactly the same way again in our lifetime.

Case in point: Anne swung by Friday evening… just as it was starting to get dark for a glass of wine and some catch up stories. The moon was almost full and as we walked to the deck she asked if I had a moon flower blooming.

I told her…’Just one… it is hugh and beautiful.’ She said that she wanted to try to get a photo of the moon with the moon flower in it as a silhouette or outline. Unfortunately the moon flower was on the opposite side from the moon last night.

Un-deterred… Anne took the photo through the back of the moon flower…unbelievable. This is the moon flower as first taken before darkness descended and the moon was high enough (over the trees) to be seen.

As the moon became visible Anne took the photo again…and a mystery developed…another sphere of light (to the right of the moon) showed up again and again in the photos….Was it one of the planets? We could never spot it visibly but it was in every photo…bright and shiny.  Does anyone know or did you observe the same thing…this strange ball of light?

*Last night was the “Triumphant Trio” birthday party….Jakie, John, and me. It was a family party with lots of noise, good food, and laughter…perfect! (The bakery got confused with the order for all our three names on the cake and thought John and Mandy had triplets so John and I both got a mini-cake with our name on it accompanied by big 1st Birthday engraved… beside it. Loving it!

And then Carrie performed the miracle of the night…she managed to get a picture of Boo Boo and the four grandchildren…who are actually sorta, kinda looking at the camera! A coup for Carrie! Thank you so much miracle-worker!