I am a tulip

Today I just want to share this poem with you.
It causes me to say, "I am a tulip."

Read & Enjoy, Love jules

How did they know
it was time to push up through the long-wintered soil?
How did they know
it was the moment to resurrect,
while thick layers of stubborn ice
still pressed the bleak ground flat?
But the tulips knew.
They came, rising strongly,
a day after the ice died.
There's a hope-filled place in me
that also knows when to rise,
that waits for the last layer of ice
to melt into obscurity.
It is urged by the strong sun
warming my wintered heart.
It is nudged by the Secret One,
calling, calling, calling:
"Arise, my love, and come."
My heart stirs like dormant tulips
and hope comes dancing forth.
Not unlike the Holy One
kissing the morning sun,
waving a final farewell
to a tomb emptied of its treasure.

© Joyce Rupp

The gift of a body

It's been seven plus weeks since my hysterectomy. (52 days). I have come a long way and have even farther to go. When I see people now, most still ask "how are you?" but none expect me to say, "not so great." There is an expectation that I "should" be over it already. I know that many who have gone before me in this experience understand this. I appreciate those women who have shared their experience with me.

Yesterday was a particularly tough day. I was tired and in pain most of the day after a week of activity that I used to consider very normal. Two months ago, I would not have considered such a week to be that tiring now. Now, it feels like I put in three weeks of work in one week's time. As a result, I found myself back in bed over and over again yesterday, unable to muster energy even for writing or reading. I watched a couple of a movies. I took a nap

I'm learning to listen to my body's clues and cues in a much more intimate way than I have done in decades. I don't want to be crude but when it comes down to the basics of good digestion and elimination, every body cue is important. If digestion and elimination don't work well, mamma is not a happy camper. This pain, that twitch, this breath, that ache, that craving...every little cue matters right now.

Though I long for a strong healthy body that doesn't tire so easily, I am grateful that my body has the intelligence to tell me I need to pay attention to the basics.  What a brilliant body it is! No matter how much I ignore it, it continues to tell me when I am hungry, when I am lonely, when I am trouble, when I have accomplished something amazing and when it is time to go to bed. I want to honor this wisdom more and hope that with time, such honor will be rewarded with a happier body.

Here is some more body wisdom: Eat right, sleep well, work passionately, play hard, then just let yourself be. Only lend your energy to that which brings joy and peace to you and the world.

Thank you body...for holding me all these years!

May you find healing and wisdom in your body too.

love, jules