LIVING WITH HEART

Arrangement of the Heart

Candace A. Croft, Ph.D.
© 2007 Candace A. Croft

Great thought had gone into each selection.  Tender care had gone into the arrangements.  Set in place, they provided a loving connection that, although no longer expressed on a daily basis, nevertheless remained eternally alive.  Others might appreciate their beauty, but what they symbolized, that intimate expression of spiritmind between giver and receiver, was their true value. 

It was no surprise then when someone stole the arrangements, snatching them from the urns under the veil of night, a sense of violation was felt.  Robbing the grave of flowers, the vandals severed a bright, loving connection and left the world a bit darker.  (Note:  I do not know there was more than one person involved or any person at all for that matter.  However, I assume at least two individuals since dark acts, which cannot stand on their own merits, require an audience, regardless of how small.)

You might think that I responded to the news of the robbery philosophically:  Perhaps those who took the arrangements needed the flowers more than the giver.  You might guess that I took a spiritual angle:  There is a lesson to be learned or the situation would not have been placed in my awareness.  I wish I could say I responded in either fashion.  But, I must confess, my first response was to shake my head in dismay and proclaim, “A desecration of the dead.” 

There is something about stating one’s thoughts aloud that gives the words stronger impact.  As soon as I heard my statement through my own ears, I paused.  What I said was untrue.  Vandalizing a grave did not desecrate the dead; it was a desecration of life.  By that, I mean the action was not a slur against the souls in supposedly peaceful repose, although it seemed that way at first, superficial glance.  Chances are, knowing nothing about the lives of the individuals indicated by the headstones, the vandals were concerned solely with the flowers and meant no personal insult.  Perhaps it was precisely that cold indifference to meaning that gave the action its offensive character.

What I meant was the vandals desecrated their own lives when choosing to mock an expression of love and rip it from the vessel.  In that very instant, when who we are is determined by what we do, in that issuance of instant Karma when the universe reflects back upon us all we choose to be, the vessels of those vandals in search of some type of fulfillment ironically become emptier.  With vessels cracked, love and compassion leaked from their souls.   When the honor of life is desecrated by cheap acts, one cannot receive honor in death.  An empty vessel cannot be elevated from its worldly base to join with the divine spirit as originally intended. 

Perhaps the instruction is for each person to examine the vessel of her life and the arrangement of heart it contains, an arrangement that reflects who one chooses to be, each moment of every day.  What meaning does it convey?  What expression does it reflect?  Does it create satisfaction and fulfillment or a sense of death and emptiness?  If you dislike what you see, do not simply steal the arrangement of another.  Take the time and patient effort to shape your sense of honor and integrity as you would a soulful bonsai tree because life is an arrangement crafted at your own hands.

I would like to believe there was some unknown purpose, both noble and worthy, behind the violation of the grave, just as I wanted to believe the vandals did not simply toss the flowers aside with wanton disregard, as so many of us do once we have obtained the objects of our desire.  Yes, I wanted to believe that with all my heart because to believe the alternative carried an assault of its own.  All I know is that, as surely as if they had intercepted the delivery of a dozen red roses, they robbed someone of an expression of love and, ultimately, deprived them selves of joy.

I hope they enjoy the arrangement, just as I hope you will enjoy yours.

KEEP YOUR HEARTLIGHT SHINING