Dear Reader:

Yesterday was so beautiful…it hurt. Have you ever experienced such a moment…when the landscape and sounds of nature produced such a gift of life it was almost overwhelming?

Mandy, Eva Cate, and I were going to do a little girl shopping but we decided to celebrate the beginning of spring break for everyone by being nice and inviting the boys…John and Jakie…to join us for lunch at Vickery’s on Shem Creek.

We got there just a little after eleven…knowing it would be a popular spot with spring break but were told it didn’t open until 11:30. What a lucky break for us…because it gave us the opportunity to walk the long and winding boardwalk that weaves through the marshes out to the ocean…revealing wildlife, kayaks, paddle boards, and the sounds of nature at its best.

In the distance was the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, which from my angle on the boardwalk looked like two gigantic sailboats slanted forward slightly in their eagerness to head out in the big waters. (title photo) There was a brisk breeze blowing but the temps would climb into the eighties so it just felt invigorating…a day when one silently thanks God for being alive to feel it.

One of the cutest sounds I heard yesterday was Jakie’s two rocks (he had diligently held tightly in his hand until we got to the deep waters) that he dropped. Forget a family photo…this was much more interesting.

He and Eva Cate got to climb on a “giant” crab and just enjoy being out on the water.

When I got home…a God Wink…Awakin.org’s message today was on the amazing power of listening. An ancient tale reveals what we already know deep down inside…We don’t need people to tell us what to do…we just simply need them to listen to us. The power of the art of listening…my ongoing word of the year for 2018.

Listening As An Act of Transformation

Doug Lipman

Two villagers came to a rabbi with a dispute. When the rabbi invited them to sit down and talk about it, they glowered at each other as though to say, “If you sit down at this table, then I won’t!” At last, they sat at the rabbi’s table with arms folded, casting angry glances at each other.

Then the rabbi said, “Do you have anything more to say, Shlomo?” Yes, Shlomo asserted, he had more to say. The rabbi kept listening to Shlomo’s answers and asking him questions about them until at last Shlomo said, more calmly, “No. I have nothing more to say.”

Next, the rabbi turned toward the other villager, Moshe, and asked, “What happened?” The rabbi listened to him and asked him questions until he, too, said, “I have nothing more to say.”

The rabbi rose from the table to leave the room, saying, “I will deliberate on this and come back with a decision.”

Less than a minute later, the rabbi returned, sat back down at the table, and said, “I have reached my verdict.” The rabbi described the verdict to them. Shlomo and Moshe looked at each other and each said, “All right. That solves it.” They shook hands and left.

Another man had been in the room and had watched all this. He said to the rabbi, “You found the solution in just a minute. Why did you let them talk so long, when you knew the answer right away?”

The rabbi said, “If I had not listened to each one’s full story, each would have resented my decision. It wasn’t my judgment that solved the problem. What solved it was listening to their entire stories.”

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh