You Could Have Come No Other Way

“While nothing could prepare me for my son’s life-threatening experience, everything in my life prepared me for my son’s life-threatening experience,” I wrote recently in the manuscript of A Caregiver’s Journey: Supporting an Adult Child with Cancer. I then explained that two real estate clients of mine and a car accident impacted my life in ways that altered my interaction with my son. One client introduced me to metaphysical thinking and set me on the path of spiritual development I still follow. Another client and I shared her journey with cancer before Grant was diagnosed. The car accident I was in occurred before he was born. In writing about these things, I have been able to see my life as a tapestry in which all the seemingly-separate, colored threads are woven into a perfect design. Some of the threads only revealed their part of the design after more than thirty years.

“You could have come no other way,” one of my spiritual mentors, Edwene Gaines, likes to remind others. Everything that has happened to us has made us who we are now. It is a wonderful way to re-frame or re-vision what we consider those not-so-wonderful events in our lives, to view them from a larger perspective which reveals the purpose they serve, the good they contain. Over thirty years ago, I certainly didn’t appreciate our car being rear-ended by a school bus at a red light, having my forehead split open, then lying flat on my back for nine days with a concussion. But when the inch-long scar on my forehead from the accident disappeared due to a friend’s prayer, and it helped heal my son of cancer, I saw the accident as part of a greater picture, a divine order. It’s like examining the brush strokes and details of a gallery painting up close, then stepping back and viewing it from a distance. How satisfying to accept the perfection of divine order now without having to wait for hindsight to reveal it.

Divine order is revealing itself to me more and more quickly now that I believe in it. I recently hung three abstract, contemporary paintings by a dear friend, Johnny Garcia, in my new home. They are channeled paintings from the Divine Mothers, or feminine aspects of God, embodying healing colors and energies. Since Johnny is out of the country, I have been storing his work. With his permission, I am enjoying his art. Out of fifteen paintings, the three I selected are revealing their purpose. In the entry hall is “Gratitude,” resembling green, organic bamboo on a golden background. Within the past week, my meditation CD repeatedly skipped from track one to track four. Accepting that this is happening for a reason, I have been starting there – with a “gratitude” meditation based on chanting the word “om.” Start with the end in mind. It is done. Thank you. The book is already written and a success. All I have to do is get it down on paper.

"Service,” is hung in the dining area off the kitchen where I write at the table, being of service by sharing the light through writing. Last week’s blog entry described Meher Baba’s comparison of selfless service to the sun which shines on everything, unaffected by results. “Service” brings the yellows of the sun to my dining area. It feeds my soul. The pink shades of “Peace," hanging in my bedroom, bring loving, restful sleep to my nights. I didn’t really think of the titles, colors or symbolism when I chose which paintings to hang or where to hang them. I just picked my favorites and put them up. They are revealing their significance in my life and home at this time. With each experience I have, my faith and trust are deepened. I increasingly experience the interconnectedness, or oneness, of everything. Is there something in your life right now that you consider “not-so-wonderful” that might be divine order in disguise? How might it be serving you?