Love Is The Bomb

I’ve been in a pretty low place the last few days–hence my absence. While I recognize the fact that I need to turn this around and get back on course, it’s easier said than done. I am, after all, only human–a work in progress, just stumbling along trying to find my way. Change doesn’t happen overnight.

On a particularly crabby and cranky day, however, I received another wake-up call. Call it The Universe. Call it whatever you’d like. But when I lose my way, if I’d just slow down, shut up, and pay attention, the path I need to take is shown. And I receive what I need to receive in order to find it. It’s a little new-age-y, I’ll admit, but it seems to be the way it’s always worked for me. As Paulo Coelho said in The Alchemist, “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” The problem is that sometimes, I forget what it is I want and meander off down the wrong path. Luckily, there are signs to bring me back to my road, my Personal Legend, and correct my course.

So I was feeling quite cranky–the kids trashed their room the other night when they were supposed to be sleeping, and it has taken two days of yelling and fighting to try to get them to make any headway on it–when my daughter told me there was a package waiting outside. I was expecting a dress in the mail, but this was a little square box, surely too small to contain the anticipated apparel. I looked at the return address, vague recognition firing, though I couldn’t connect the name to the address just yet.

Inside was the sweetest random act of kindness, arriving at just the right moment. Or as the sender called it, a love bomb. The terminology comes from Love Feast Table, who has been sharing love bombs throughout her community for some time now. Unwittingly, I had shared some, too, though it has been quite a while since the last one I put out there. Having never been on the receiving end before, I had no idea the impact one could have. It was as if a little explosion went off in my hands, calling me to attention, making me realize what a jerk I had been these past few days. There is kindness in the world. There is love. There are people out there who are willing to share their hearts with others–those who, other than some words on a screen, are complete strangers–and in so doing, spread the warmth.

I’m not telling you that you need to run out and do this. I’m not asking you to, either. I’m just offering up today’s experience because it might be exactly what somebody needs to see right now. That our little actions, which may seem insignificant to us, can make a huge impact on others. It doesn’t take much. This isn’t religion, charity, or pity. This is simply reaching out into an ever-cooling landscape of life and releasing a little love into the wild with the hopes that maybe, just maybe, it will reproduce, spread, and bring more joy into people’s lives. You just never know.

Thank you. I’m going to enjoy my love bomb while I deal with the latest installment in my crazy, crazy day–my daughter just cut huge hunks of hair off her head while I wrote this. Breathe in. Breathe out. Love, love, love.