I read this at the opening of my Meditation Class at the Mansion today:

“A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart…The heart is the center of our being, the center of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions. Therefore, a courageous life is lived from the center.” – Henri Nouwen, Bread For The Journey.

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A loving woman in the Midwest sent me the most beautiful box of old jewelry some time ago; I do not know who she was or where she lived.

If I knew her name, I misspaced or forgot it; too much going on. The minute I saw it, I knew where it should go – my Mansion Meditation Class.

I was delighted to return to my Meditation Class today with jewelry for everyone. It is one of my favorite times of every week. I took a lot of photos.

The jewelry arrived about a month ago; I got to the Mansion for the first time in weeks today. Doctor’s appointments and snowstorms kept Zinnia and me away.

I missed them, and I believe they missed me. I know they missed a chance to meditate together.

I asked them if I could take some photos hoping that the excellent person who sent it might be reading the blog still was.

Before the class, I distributed the jewelry to each woman. Art, the only man in the class, declined, but he did accept a bracelet.

We had a moving reading and talk. It was about time. Then we meditated for seven minutes.

Then I talked about time.

Time, I said, has done and will do for us what it wants.

But as we age, it has also drops off gifts as it rushes by.

Here are some of mine, I said. I have blossomed and deepened as a human being. I have lost much of my temper and grievance. I am defining who I am.   I am learning how to forgive. I have softened and broadened as a thinker and listener.

I don’t plot for the future or worry about it or resent those who seem more successful than I was.

I don’t care about that anymore.

I told them it was a privilege to talk to them about aging; I felt I was in a room filled with experts. I said as I got older, I see and hear things I never saw and heard before.

I love sharing them.

I am opening up to the world’s possibilities, from love to forgiveness, and escaping the distractions and greed of our sometimes soulless and aspiritual society.

I find myself, I said, moving towards the end of my long life with a very young soul.

There was more talking than usual, more stories of being forgotten, lonely, and left behind. More smiling at the prospect of being renewed and finding a new purpose. They were listening, nobody fell asleep.

Nothing weighs more heavily on age than time, I said. Nothing has more meaning. Time is now everything; I said – one of the only things – left in life. Time is not for wasting.

Time is life’s precious commodity. We just never knew it.

The residents are opening up and sharing their hopes and stories.

This is very different from a few months ago. This work is beautiful and essential. They all said they were worried about my foot. They know about surgeries.

Several have begun meditating seriously; I got many questions about silence and breathing; one resident said she gets dizzy when she contemplates; she thinks it’s a reaction to learning a lot about herself and facing the truth.

It is a compelling class; I get more than I give. They loved their jewelry and proudly posed for pictures. They couldn’t wait to show it to their  friends.

Next week, bracelets from the Amish farm up the road.

. Thanks to the prophet who sent it.