We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking.
Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, ‘Hi.’ He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.
I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.
We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled.. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. ‘Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy.. I see ya, buster,’ the man said to Erik.
My husband and I exchanged looks, ‘What do we do?’
Erik continued to laugh and answer, ‘Hi.’
Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man.
The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, ‘Do ya patty cake?
Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.’
Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.
My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.
We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. ‘Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,’ I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby’s ‘pick-me-up’ position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man.
Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby’s bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time.
I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, ‘You take care of this baby.’
Somehow I managed, ‘I will,’ from a throat that contained a stone. He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, ‘God bless you, ma’am, you’ve given me my Christmas gift.’ I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms,
I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, ‘My God, my God, forgive me.’
I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, ‘Are you willing to share your son for a moment?’ when He shared His for all eternity.
How did God feel when he put his baby in our arms 2000 years ago.
The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, ‘To enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little children.’If this has blessed you, you may bless others by sending it on.
Sometimes, it takes a child to remind us of what is really important. We must always remember who we are, where we came from and, most importantly, how we feel about others. The clothes on your back or the car that you drive or the house that you live in does not define you at all; it is how you treat your fellow man that identifies who you are.
The town of Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first gold mining claim was made in the mountains above Telluride in 1875 and early settlement of what is now Telluride followed.
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living is an artwork created in 1991 by Damien Hirst, an English artist and a leading member of the “Young British Artists” (or YBA). It consists of a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine. (Wiki)
Banff National Park /ˈbæmf/ is Canada‘s oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park, located 110–180 km (68–110 mi) west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 km2(2,564 sq mi)[3] of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north. (Wiki)
Beginner Poses
- Corpse | Short Form
- Standing Backbend | Short Form | Discussion
- Tree | Short Form | Discussion
- Happy Baby | Short Form | Discussion
- Fish | Short Form | Discussion
- Childs | Short Form | Discussion
- Mountain | Short Form | Discussion
- Intense West Stretch | Short Form |Discussion
- Standing Forward Bend | Discussion
- Head to Knee | Discussion
- Half Moon 1 | Discussion
- Cat | Short Form | Discussion
- Bound Angle | Discussion
Standing Poses
- Warrior 3 | Short Form | Discussion
- Pyramid | Short Form | Discussion
- Fierce / Chair | Short Form | Discussion
- Extended Hand to Big Toe | Short Form | Discussion
- Crescent (high) | Short Form | Discussion
- Lord of the Dance | Short Form | Discussion
- Extended Side Angle | Short Form | Discussion
- Eagle | Discussion
- Warrior II | Discussion
- Half Moon 2 | Discussion
- Revolved Side Angle | Discussion
- Extended Triangle Pose | Discussion
- Standing Forehead to Knee | Discussion
Floor Poses
- Heron | Short Form | Discussion
- Side Plank | Short Form | Discussion
- Bridge | Short Form | Discussion
- Bow | Short Form | Discussion
- Half Lord of the Fishes | Short Form | Discussion
- Cobra | Short Form | Discussion
- Diamond | Discussion
- Rabbit | Discussion
- Inverted Locust| Discussion
- Upward Bow | Discussion
- Garland | Discussion
- Camel | Discussion
Advanced Poses
- Sugarcane | Short Form | Discussion
- Wild Thing | Short Form | Discussion
- Dragonfly / Grasshopper | Short Form | Discussion
- Peacock | Short Form | Discussion
- Pendant | Short Form | Discussion
- Handstand | Short Form | Discussion
- Eight Angle | Short Form | Discussion
- Two-Foot Inverted Staff | Discussion
- Headstand | Discussion
- Pose Dedicated to the Sage Koundinya I | Discussion
- Feathered Peacock | Discussion
- Crane / Crow | Discussion
Partner Poses
Buddha stated attachment to loved ones and material things are causing us to suffer. When some people hear this they say things like, ‘so I can’t love my family, friends or children?’ This is because they are getting attachment and love confused. They are not the same thing.
Of course we should love and have compassion for our families and friends, in fact we should love and have compassion for everyone. But what we shouldn’t do is hold onto them as though they belong to us and they are permanent. It is this holding onto things tightly that is causing us to suffer.
We think this person or thing is mine and I will always have it. So when it dies, leaves us or stops working we are not mentally prepared for it and we invariably suffer. This is attachment.
If we understand that things change and nothing lasts forever, we will love without attachment, and in my eyes that is true love. Enjoy the people around you and the things you have at the moment, but keep in mind that someday they will not be there. This is love.
Via Buddhism Guide
