Guest Post by Dennis Ernst
Love comes in many flavors, and you never quite know when it might show up. I was learning how to give love but receiving it was more of a challenge. A “sticky” encounter one weekend in Ashland, Oregon, left me with a deeper insight about the gift of receiving.
It was a busy weekend and people crowded the plaza in downtown Ashland. I was working on Saturday as our workload had recently grown. I had an armload of drawings and documents and was trying to get through the crowd, all wanting a taste of the famous “Lithia Water” in the plaza fountain.
Blocking my progress was a lady with a tight grip on a small boy. He looked a bit dirty but was grinning from ear to ear. His free hand held tightly to a bag of candy. Ignoring his mother, he hollered up at me, “Hey mister, would you like a piece of my candy?”
You could see the sticky drools on his face, and his hands were sticky too. Somehow, he opened the bag with one hand and offered me some. Normally, I would have been reluctant to accept such a sticky gift, but something struck me. This was more than a gift of candy. It was a gift of love.
I took a piece from his grubby bag and thanked him for his generosity. His eyes sparkled like diamonds. I could see that he felt so happy to be able to share his gift.
The next moment, his mother jerked his arm and chided him for giving candy to a stranger. She gave me one of those looks that said, “who in the hell do you think you are?”
As the woman fought her way through the crowd, the boy continued looking back at me, grinning widely. Sometime love comes wrapped in sticky gifts.
I thought about all the “sticky gifts” I have tried to give others and also to God. It struck me that it is the purity of the heart, not the outward package, that make a worthwhile gift of love.
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Dennis Ernst is a retired Professional Land Surveyor who now devotes his time to sharing the natural beauty he finds on his many treks through photography, blogs, and poetry. Please visit his website, Dennis Ernst Photography, for a glimpse into his fascinating world.
Hal
A lovely story! It reminds me of an experience I had this afternoon in the grocery store. It was moderately busy Tuesday afternoon. IO was trying to get mu bearings to get the 3 items I needed , yet I found myself standing in the beginning or an aisle wondering why I was there?
About 20 feet up the aisle, near the center was a grocery cast with a young girl of approx 3. A soon as she saw me, she pulled herself to her knees as her face lit up with an unworldly gorgeous smile – I could almost see the sparks of love coming from her eyes. I was having a very happy and grateful day and sharing it with all whom I met. I believe she could see or sense my energy from that distance, I stopped and sent he a large dose of spiritual Love, and I was surprised when she did the same back at me, even her gorgeous smile had become even more beautiful! I had a brief glimpse of and insight into that perhaps we knew each other from a past life.
It then all came to an end, mom turned the cart around and headed in the opposite direction – no time to even wave goodbye – but also no need to . It was a beautiful vignette in time, of 2 Souls sharing God’s Love.
Pichaya Avery
Thank you, Dennis, for your beautiful story of Divine Love. I can imagine how that boy might have felt as a giver. Like you, I had a challenge to accept gifts of love from others. Reading your article, I feel inspired to open my heart even more widely to accept all the love that life has to offer.