GOD'S EMBRACE

HORSESHOE BEND IN MY GALLERIES
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There are two thoughts that are rattling around in my brain today.  They are like siblings.  They're related and wrestling at the same time.  They are caused by two stimuli that are also related, but rarely seen together in the same place or at closely coinciding times.  Now, I don't want to sound like I'm related to Socrates are anything like that, but this actually happened to me yesterday.  Maybe it has happened to you too, at sometime in your life.
The first event was a conversation about how surprising it is when someone tells you how important you are in that person's life.  Now, you all have had that happen to you, I'm sure.  No, not by your spouse.  By someone with whom you are friendly and fairly close, but, it seems, not that close.  Then you hear the expression of gratitude and deep influential relationship and it's like a revelation of a different dimension at work in the world.
I walk away from that kind of encounter saying to myself, "Even if I die, I'll still be alive in that soul."
Yesterday, I got a call in the evening from a complete stranger with whom I spoke on the telephone for forty-five minutes. He is the photographer who captured the image at the top of the page.  When I first saw it, I was immediately struck with a leap of faith and exclaimed, "It's God's embrace of His creation."  I was moved to that emotion because of the conversation with the artist. The interchange started out on a business level and slowly evolved to a personal one.  We are so similar in some ways and so disparate in others.  But then again, isn't that what makes a couple, rather than a pair?  We both have openings in our lives large enough to accommodate the other.  The interesting part of it is that we are both convinced that not only can we be mutually supportive, but mutually dynamic in moving one another to the goals we set for ourselves.  In the initial conversation we swapped inspirations and both went away from the encounter richer for the moment.  Is it one of those seminal moments that we will remember years from now and be able to whisper an awe-filled, respectful "thank you" to one another?  Who knows?
We'll see.  
Both of the above human energies are among the reasons why I don't want anyone crying at my funeral.  When you see the image at the top of the page again, put yourself in God's embrace and enjoy it.  It's my prayer for us all that we will enjoy that embrace for all eternity.