How do I say it? How do I convey how inspired I am by people?
Some amazing things happened to me at the Center of the Heart spiritual center in Santa Barbara this past Sunday. We held our art show and reception there.
Before the service, we meditated in the sanctuary. On the walls hung the paintings the homeless people created on our 2008 tour. A vision came to me while I meditated. I saw beams of light shining through all the paintings, converging in the center of the room, and shining outward through the paintings into the world outside. The paintings glowed with this light, like stained glass. And I realized that this is why the paintings where there, on the walls at the Center Of The Heart. They were there to focus and amplify the light of love from within the sanctuary and spread it out into the world. The paintings are the windows in the windowless walls of the sanctuary. I see the people who created the paintings as windows into the heart and soul of humanity. Light shines through them.
Another amazing event, or should I say person, occurred – July Millane. She was a homeless person I met at the Casa Esperanza in Santa Barbara a few months ago when we visited the shelter. We recorded her music and video taped the recording session. I didn’t expect to see her because we had lost touch with her after inviting her to the Center Of The Heart a few weeks ago.
When she saw me, she literally flew off the ground and hugged me with all her might. She walked most of the morning to get there. July couldn’t wait to tell me all the great things that have been happening in her life. She now has her own room in a house and a job too. The day before, someone gave her a nice 12-string guitar which she loves to play even though it only has 5 of the 12 strings so far. She is working on her songs and poetry and looking forward to attending classes at an audio recording school. That was why she came to California from Nebraska last year. But she had some bad experiences on the way and lost all her stuff, arriving with nothing in Santa Barbara.
July told me about her vision of a house in Ojai with 12 acres where homeless artists and musicians could heal and create together and raise money through their collective work to help others. I told her about my vision – the Hearts Of Fire Healing Center – which is remarkably similar to hers. Visions are like that, they spread and grow without words, gathering strength in our hearts until they burst into the world with power, inspiring us with our own greatness.
I truly live a blessed life and it is blessed by people, by people like July. Love abounds around me.