Home is Where the Heart Is

 

Dedicated to Every Soldier 

Home is where the Love Light beams!

        The holiday season that brought the magic of love upon its wings,  savoring the comfort of family and friends, the sweetness of being close, of belonging, of being at home, at ease and at peace with the world, this season has come and gone.  The joy of presents, giving, sharing, the soft peaceful sounds of caroling, singing, celebrating reverberating from the essence of our soul has quickly faded away.  Being the carefree, joyful, innocent child, expecting good at every turn, brought peace and contentment to hearth and home. There was a spirit of good will and good cheer in the hearts of men.  Whether we are conscious of it or not, this is our natural state of being because the glory of love is not limited to a holiday season, love is what we’re made of  and can never leave us.

     

        I got in my car the other day and turned on the radio.  A song came on the air, a song that touched the core of my being. It was an all-inclusive love that relates to  my 'collective self' that is each and everyone of you.  The song was about a soldier who calls home to tell his wife he loves her.  His little boy answers the phone and says: "...daddy, when are you coming home?"

       His response:

" I'm already there
Take a look around
I'm the sunshine in your hair,
I'm the shadow on the ground
I'm the whisper in the wind'
I'm your imaginary friend
And I know I'm in your prayers
Oh, I'm already there"

(Lonestar  - "I'm Already There")

 

      I felt a lump in my throat and a deep sense of compassion for the plight of families of the military who are separated because of love and devotion for their fellowman and for all the families that are separated, for whatever reason, whether temporarily or permanently.

 

Dear soldier, there is only One Heart, that Heart is God's love being the whole scene right here, right now... your heart is my heart, and oh, how I feel, know and am the love that flows there from.  I feel your anguish as you are torn away from your home, family and friends, yet I know, in my heart, that people and things and events, per se, are not good and evil.  The darkness of separation makes love shine clearer and brighter and the dear ones are closer to your heart in their absence.  We sometimes take our loved ones for granted and  we lose touch with the magic in ordinary living, and when we do, we do not feel the gratitude that is the natural outcome of love.  But absence makes the heart grow fonder and for that we are grateful.

 

 I feel and know and am the pain of the broken-hearted soldier going to war, leaving his family behind, yet carrying them lovingly in his heart, seeing them in the sunshine and in the shadows and never really leaving them.  It is a brave soldier that picks up his ammunition, putting his life on the line for his neighbor.  A most valiant Heart he is, willing to kill or be killed, fearful, yet fearless and full of love, as he marches on to war, doing what he must do...feeling the pain, knowing joy and sorrow...seeing what love is, knowing what love is not...yes, Love revealing Itself to Itself and we are the evidence of it.

   

             It matters not if that soldier is a Taliban soldier, a USA, Canadian, British,  Afghan or Pakistani or Israeli.  It matters not if his values are same or different from mine, if his beliefs, his ideologies and convictions co-incide with mine or not, that soldier is someone's son, brother, husband, or daddy and their heart is no different.  They weep the same tears, they too feel the agony, they too are fearful and fearless, brave and valiant.  They fear that their loved one may be harmed, or possibly never return.  The wives grieve for shattered dreams, for their own pain and for the pain caused their children; mothers pine that their son’s life so young and full of promise may be snuffed out.  And their children sob that daddy cannot tuck them into bed at night, they miss the loving arms around them. All hold their loved one ever closer to their heart and in their prayers.

                 The circle of  love expands, the friends and precious ones of all the above are of the same heart and experience the same joys and sorrows,  they laugh with the same joy and they cry the same tears,  making it plain that our hearts are One.   Pain delineates sorrow, the joy of belonging to a family is made abundantly plain by the sorrow of separation.  A rippling effect occurs and touches the whole planet, which explains the saying that the whole universe shakes and trembles as one leaf falls to the ground. And we see that light shines and love is right there in the midst of plain and ordinary daily living. 

         We are more than flesh and bones and muscles and blood, we are really Light and Heart and Soul, and That which is the glory before the world was and that being so, we are not the 'form' in time and space, we are the Presence that is being Love and is the source of all forms...of all mommies and daddies and children and soldiers.  Christmas and all its magic is right here where you are every day of the year!

And so, dear soldier, take a look around ---

You're already there!
  

Love and peace and gratitude to all of you!