People Are Endearing 2: The Bouquet

As I lay in the hospital bed that morning, I looked at the bouquet of beautiful mixed flowers.  They seemed to me like a bouquet that someone would go out into the field and pick—a big, generous bouquet of soft, quiet, enveloping beauty.  But besides this enveloping beauty, there was a immense quiet intent about the bouquet. It was intent for well-being.  This sincere and intense desire for well-being permeated the flowers and radiated out to me, around me, throughout the room. The nurses felt it too.  They didn’t say anything to me about it.  As they came in to check on me, they paused for a slight moment by the bouquet before caring for me.  Even more heart-felt (and interestingly enough I was in the hospital because of my heart) was I could feel whose intent it was.  The person’s heart-felt deep desire for my well­-being was evident and I realized it was this person’s prayer for me that I was feeling.  I was touched emotionally, spiritually, and physically by it.  I realized I had never experienced a personal prayer this way before.  The experience was humbling and created a sense of awe and deep love and appreciation for this person.  I was permanently changed by this act of love and transformed in a way I cannot yet express.

An Exercise In Reframing

If you read one of my earlier posts, you will recognize the prayer that I have reframed below. The original really resonated with me, but as I reread it, I realized I wanted it to try rewriting it in a more positive, affirmative way.  See my attempt to do so below.


Buddhist Vow

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to protect life.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to be mindful of all that we have.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to see God within all.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to speak truthfully.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We  vow to lovingly take care of our body and mind.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to focus on the present.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to honor and appreciate every living thing and all that we have.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to respect all life.

Knowing how deeply our lives intertwine,
We vow to live truth as we know it.