Dear Reader:

When I went with Vickie last Friday to the Hollow Tree Nursery I told the owner,  Lisa,  that my red bud tree was blooming with new buds attaching themselves everyday to the stems. She commented that she would use my name to tell other customers about my success…she has apparently had some that had no luck growing this tree.

*However, I must give all the credit to Luke, Chelsey, and their little nephew, Ryker, for planting it…just right!

When I see new life being created right in front of my eyes…like on the branches and stems of the red bud…I realize just how much more there is to life…the “un-seen”…at least by my eyes,  and yet it is still there none-the-less…simply waiting for my eyes to see what they can’t see now. And that takes trust in our Creator that it is there.

I love this excerpt from Dr. Wayne Dryer about this same observation.

All that I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

My son Sands sent me a story about the passing of conservationist Lawrence Anthony in South Africa. Anthony is well-known for his courageous rescue of Baghdad Zoo animals during the war in Iraq in 2003. He wrote about his experiences rescuing a rogue elephant herd in his bestselling book The Elephant Whisperer. Sands knew I would love the remarkable story of what happened at Lawrence Anthony’s game reserve in South Africa after his death last year. The elephants he saved from extermination walked 12 miles in a sort of funeral procession from their habitat to gather around his house. How did they know their human protector and friend had passed?

As Emerson says, we take what we have seen and trust our Creator on what’s unseen. If all life is connected, the elephants would naturally know to come to their friend’s home to mourn him. Everything in this physical universe of ours is in some way connected to everything else. When we attempt to isolate anything, we find that it is in some way part of everything else in the universe. Just as it is absurd for a single wave to see itself as separate from the ocean, so it is for any of us not to recognize our oneness with all creation.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Yesterday Honey was home from the mountains and as only Honey would do…extended an invitation to Luke, Chelsey, and myself to show the young couple around her home…a treasure trove of Summerville history… beyond anything books can teach us. (Luke has been discovering old maps of Summerville in his work and really gotten interested in local history.)

Chelsey was running late trying to get home off I-526 and since it was her birthday and they were going out…she told Luke to go on with me to Honeys and she would hear all about it from him when they went out to eat for her birthday!

Every time Honey tells her story about her father and mother and their connection to the Pine Forest Inn and so much other local history her audience is spell-bound. This happened once again as she shared local history with us. We started with the original oil painting of the Pine Forest Inn found under the house and restored. Unbelievable…it now lies on the wall over the mantel.

Luke is looking through the original view-master (stereoscope) of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting Dr. Shepherd’s “Tea Farm”in Summerville.

Honey had picked up a birthday cake for Chelsey that Luke took home and then she gave each of us an historical collector’s Christmas tree ornament of the Pine Forest Inn…and one piece of silver from the inn itself with the initials on it. What a treat…what a Honey!

Then she gave me a “Sammy” piece of pottery she created….unbelievable!

I love it Honey and will always cherish it….I might surprise Sammy one day (if the weather is nice) and put some bird seeds inside to lure him over and then snatch a picture…will let you know if I am successful! 🙂

So until tomorrow…What a day and what a way to remember a special birthday and a reunion with a friend who teaches what giving is all about…the seen and un-seen of the generosity of the heart. Honey!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Wanted to add this sweet incident sent in by Linda Carson, my one-time oncology nurse and forever friend. It is in reference to the mystery of the theme of this blog…the things we see and the things left un-seen that we know are there.

Linda had a friend who was stuck in traffic on I-26 (which happens rather frequently) but she was taking it all in stride and just admiring all the beauty around her…especially right now  during these gorgeous first few days of spring. *And then came a God Wink answer to her question in prayer.

***

I have another friend who was praying…giving thanks for a beautiful Lowcountry morning while driving in traffic on I 26. She said in her prayer that she couldn’t begin to imagine all the glories in heaven when there was such beauty here. As traffic does… it often stops and you just sit on the interstate. That happened and while sitting she noticed the license plate in front of her. It said Jst W8. GOD wink!