The first glorious summer long weekend of the year is here.
And of course in my sick, twisted way it has me thinking about power. It has me thinking about how things work. It has me thinking about making and creating. It has me thinking about love.
I love these days. The sun is out. The air is warm again. The birds sing. I think it is the song of the bird that moves me most.
I play a little catch listening to the skate boards do the clickity-click over the sidewalk while the little girls next door squeal in the cold water of the sprinkler.
I barbequed some burgers for Chuck and his boys. All night video game party ended with their collapse in front of a movie. Morning now, and I command them to clean up the mess in the basement. In spite of my authority, or maybe because of it, they smile and thank me for letting them stretch the rules. We all pretend it’s summer. It is a long weekend after all.
I cut the grass for the first time this year. It looks like a yard after two years of digging up dandelions. Pesticides are easier but they give me the creeps so I try to honor the new laws.
Bill was a little more spring-ish than I. He had me digging in his garden three weeks ago and gave me dozens of perennials for my place. I finished planting them today. I planted a few of them a couple of weeks ago and they have come on strong so I am sure I will have a garden in no time.
Veggie seeds will get planted later.
My mother always planted tomatoes and peppers. She taught me that no matter where you live, you can grow some food
I will plant some zucchini. It grows easy and I like the taste.
About 20 years ago I planted my first big garden. Forty feet by forty feet. Everything from potatoes to carrots to beans and peas. I don’t even like peas but I grew them anyway.
It is fun to borrow the power of life and pretend that I am responsible for the flowers that will soon bloom and the food they will yield.
It is pretending. I didn’t create it.
Last night I made burgers but I didn’t create them. I took what life produced and manipulated it to a tasty treat. I may make a good burger but I didn’t create it.
My back says that I was the one in the yard with dirt in my fingernails and sweat on my face. I dug and raked. I pulled up earth and gently pressed roots. And watered
But I did no more than move the force of life from one place to another. I made a garden but I didn’t create it.
With power I got the boys to clean the basement. A little seduction with burgers and chips. A little influence by looking the other way and relaxing the rules. Just an inflection in my voice and I accomplish a little control reminding my son who is in charge.
The force of authority gets my son to clean or me to dig dandelions rather than spray them.
With power I can get other people to do things. Say things. Think things. But they seldom do them or say them or think them the way I want them done. Power is never as effective as we think it will be.
I am sure I will be down stairs finishing the clean-up in a few minutes.
Power gets things done but it has its costs. Power destroys trust. Power creates a dynamic that never ends and we must be forever vigilant against finding ourselves victim to it.
Power succeeds at the cost of love.
I can be self reliant and depower the world. If I can be in control of my needs – like planting a garden – I retain choice. I can be confident that what life brings me, I can handle.
I plant my garden and I take power out of my life – as well as GMO’s and pesticides.
Making things for my self is good.
But I didn’t create it.
Creation is something that flows from the power of love. Love is the creative force. Love is the thing that makes all other things possible.
I am not talking about that love-because stuff I have talked about before. And I will probably talk about again.
I am talking about the essence of all things. The force that makes all things possible. The source of life.
Love is the source of life.
Need is the source of power. I can manipulate people with their needs.
I can manipulate the world around me with my abilities.
But can I create with the power of love?
Hmmm… it all starts in the mind. I will start there.
Start with a little love and apply my abilities and next thing I know I have my famous tomato - zucchini - onion soup.
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