Thank You

I want to share a story.

When I was a new member of Body & Brain, now almost 23 years ago, my experience there was so healing that, after a few months, I began to linger around even after class had ended.  My instructor would often turn on a sound clip of Ilchi Lee speaking some kind of poem in Korean, set to the most beautiful, peaceful music. I loved it so much I would often just lie on the classroom floor, basking in a ray of sun shining through the window, feeling my heart overflow with pure love. There were even times when tears would stream from my eyes as I listened to that poem – the words of which were in a language I didn’t even understand – not knowing why it moved my soul so deeply.

Fast forward 12 years later.  Ilchi Lee’s book, The Call of Sedona, came out. As I read through the many enlightening stories and messages within the pages, I came upon a short poem that filled my heart. I would read it over and over and although its message was so simple, it touched me deeply.  I would often tell my students, “This little poem is my favorite part of this whole book!”

Fast forward 1 year after that.  I was cleaning out a storage room at the center in New Mexico where I was working, when I stumbled upon an old C.D. someone had brought from Korea many years prior.  I popped it into a player and, as I listened to the tracks, I discovered the magical sound clip that had taken me to a heavenly realm in my early days!  It sent me reeling back in time – back to that place of serenity and overflowing love.  I was so happy to be reunited with it, I quickly contacted a Korean-American friend of mine and asked her to please translate this clip for me.  I was eager to know what it said.

When the translation came back, I was utterly amazed as I read the words my friend had typed out in an email.  It was my favorite little poem from the Call of Sedona book!! I could hardly believe it! 

I clearly have some sort of destined connection with this poem. It’s so simple, I’m still not exactly sure why it moves me every single time I read it. I believe it’s because it speaks of God in the sweetest way – not a religious God, but the God of Oneness, the source of Life Itself.

As a Thanksgiving offering, I would like to share this poem here with you today:

God who is in heaven

Thank you for letting us know you.

God who is in all the mountains and streams

Thank you for letting us see and feel you.

God who is in the heart of all people

I pray earnestly that your will becomes realized.

What I’m most grateful for

is that even if I were not to have eyes, ears, and a body

you have given me this soul

so that I can know you, who are invisible,

and for that I thank you with all my heart.

~ Ilchi Lee, Call of Sedona, p.87

Even as I type it out for you, tears well up in my eyes. I can feel the preciousness of my pure soul that is connected with the God spoken of in this poem. I feel the sacredness of this God, this connection, and this ability to feel all of it in my heart. I feel infinitely grateful.

And now I feel inspired to write my own poem to the God of Oneness:

Thank you.

Thank you for the blue sky that fills my senses.

Thank you for the tall pine outside my window who comforts me as she guards over my neighborhood with her majesty.

Thank you for this light of love I feel in my heart – a light I know for certain no-one can ever take away from me. I will always find my way back to this light. For this, I am truly thankful.

Thank you for my path in this lifetime – for all the lessons, the studies, the awakenings. Thank you for all the beautiful souls I have had the privilege to meet on my journey.  Some of them have brought pain and others have brought love. Yet, as I look back now, I see all of them as truly beautiful souls, who, like me, are just trying to find their way through the complexities of this school called “Earth.”

Thank you, God of Oneness, for loving me unconditionally, for embracing me completely, for showing me the way of truth and peace. Even though I may forget you again and again, deep down I know I am always safe in your arms. 

~~~~~

Happy Thanksgiving, Healing Tree Community!!!  I am grateful to all of you! I encourage you to write your own gratitude poems this season 🙂

And, as always, please feel free to share your thoughts and reflections in the comments!