Category: Flowers

Look closely and you’ll see…..

Barbara Bullock, M.F.A. Spiritual writer 2 Comments
Look closely to see divine perfection in the spring
Look closely to see divine perfection in the spring

Dear friends,

When you look closely at something, what do you see? What happens when a sight captures you instantly and leaves you in amazement beyond your understanding? I can tell you what you see. Spring time is my favorite season as far as nature is concerned. Running over green meadows, walking through enchanted forests, listening to the songs of the birds, sitting by the lake listening to the sparkling water while enjoying the sun warming my face, I feel free.

Gone are the days of the confinement of winter. Gone are the chills that hold many creatures in captivity during the frigid temperatures and hostile conditions. As new life is bountiful everywhere, something captures my sight. Far in the distance I see something I have never seen before. I decide to get up from my bench and approach it. Bigger and bigger it seems the closer I get. Smaller and smaller do I appear as it stands mightily in front of me. It even blocks the sunlight. “What is this?” I ask myself. Failing to remember what my Biology teacher once told me, I realize that it does not really matter. What does matter is the amazement that I felt on that particular day. “Capture this,” an inner voice told me. I took my camera and held it against the branches. An inner voice instructed me to use the zoom. Knowing that orders from within are usually of celestial nature, I followed my order and held my camera against the object. In astonishment of its beauty, I took a picture of it. As I looked closely, I saw something. Not just something. I realized that this was beauty that only the divine could create. Petal after petal flawlessly aligned next to each other, each contributing its fragment to the seamless whole in pure perfection.

The outcome is the photo included in today’s post. Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t these blossoms amazing? The outcome was my astonishment of divine beauty entailed in details that can only be captured when you look at the blossom of a tree in the spring closely. Friends, take some time out of your busy days to do just that. Go to the park on a sunny afternoon. Go look at the blooming trees and colorful spring flowers. Look closely though. You won’t see divine perfection unless you do so. Look closely and be astonished. It always works for me especially when I feel depressed and deprived of nature’s beauty after a long, cold winter.

Love,

Barbara

 

Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Bullock

Photo credit © 2015 by Barbara Bullock

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Bullock/277533425653786

#Spirituality #Spring  #Blossoms #Beauty #Tree #Nature #Divine #Perfection

Black is beautiful. Not just in February. A tale on perspectives and colors

Barbara Bullock, M.F.A. Spiritual writer
Light and dark in February
Light and dark on Oahu, Hawaii

Dear friends,

I took the photograph, you see here today, in Hawaii last year. Hawaii is known for gorgeous beaches, beautiful flowers, stunning scenery and the famous and welcoming Hawaiian spirit of “Aloha”. Imagine a picture perfect sunny day, lush, green trees, flowers so colorful that no paint would suffice if you’d tried to color them, and blue skies melting into the turquoise Pacific. On my walk along the beach I arrived at a lagoon. I stopped and took the stunning surroundings in as much as I could. Any thoughts of winter disappeared way back into my mind. I did not want to be reminded of any cold, wet, and snowy weather this time of the year. This was February after all.

Suddenly, I felt a presence. I turned around but could not see anyone. I shrugged my shoulders and walked on. There it was again. “Who is it?” I asked. No answer. I had had someone in spirit communicating with me before. Still, no answer. So I walked on.

Then my eyes fell on my camera. “Maybe I should take another picture”, I thought. And so I did. I have always liked taking pictures of something beautiful as long as I can think. I have also been very blessed in my life being able to travel around the world and capture many picturesque sites. I was used to pointing my camera to something amazing. This time it was different. There seemed more at work here than just me. It felt as if someone or something was taking my camera and guiding my hands into something I had never seen before. As I looked through the lens and let my hands and camera go where they wanted, I realized that they were pointing into the sun. Immediately, I remembered any knowledge of photography I had. “Don’t take pictures right into the sun or they will be too bright”, is what I had always been told. However, spirit seemed to want me to do exactly that. So I took the picture.

The photograph you see today is the outcome. It was not taken at night; nor was it altered. I believe that spirit guided me that day to look directly into the sun, take a picture and see what happens. What happened is amazing. What happened made me realize that things are never as they appear. Green palm trees were suddenly pitch black, flowers were gone, the water murky, items unrecognizable, and the sun barely there. If you imagine scenery like that, you would never think that I am still speaking of the paradise of Hawaii. At a first glance, it seems that everything is just black. That’s not considered beautiful, right? Now, take a closer look. Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it magical? It’s not colorful for sure. It’s black and it’s white. Isn’t it gorgeous combined that way?

That day I learned that where there is light there is dark and where there is shadow; there must be a light nearby. Each cannot exist without the other. Colors cannot exist without each other. Otherwise, there would be no difference. Everything would be the same. Everything would be just one. No colorful flowers, no stunning landscape, no vibration raising our spirits, no color. I also learned how beautiful black can be. In addition, I learned that no color is what it appears to be. It depends on your perspective. It depends how you see it and what kind of lens you use. If you don’t like what you see, change your perspective and take a closer look. You might find that it is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Even in black. Just as spirit guided me on that day to trust its guidance instead of my judgment and knowledge, open your heart and mind when you take a closer look at things around you, people around you, and colors around you.

Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t people of all colors just as beautiful as the exotic and colorful Hawaiian Islands? Black is beautiful. Not just in February.

Love, Barbara

Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Bullock

Photo credit © 2014 by Barbara Bullock

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Bullock/277533425653786

#Hawaii #photography #color #February #black

 

To Mommy with Love on Mother’s Day

Barbara Bullock, M.F.A. Spiritual writer

Dear friends,

RoseMay is one of my favorite months of the year as May is the month many of us celebrate Mother’s Day. For many people Mother’s Day means expressing gratitude to their biological mother for everything she is doing for her family. We thank our mothers for her care, for her love and for her wisdom. On a wider scale, mothers inspire us, love us and protect us. This is why I believe a mother can come in many forms.

I think a mother is a form of energy and a concept. In philosophical and in particular spiritual terms, a mother is often considered as positive, loving and caring form of energy. I believe we and everything around us is pure energy materialized. If everything is energy, then we must be of energy as well. As a matter of fact, creation occurs when different forms of energies such as masculine and feminine energy are combined to create a new form containing both energies. Therefore, if we are indeed energy, we must contain both energies inside of us. Consequently, this feminine – motherly – energy is inside of us whether we are or have mothers in life or not. I believe that, when we tap into this energy, we are able to express the love and care for others and ourselves. We are able to give and receive unconditional love as a true mother does.

Many cultures also suggest religious figures one can worship as a mother, in form of a goddess or Saint who protects und and loves us unconditionally, such as Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christian traditions, the Tibetan Tara, Hindu Deities, as well as Native American goddesses; just to name a few.

I also believe a true mother is someone who loves, teaches, inspires, and cares for others no matter whether she has children of her own or not. I believe it is possible to love another person like a mother or love someone like a daughter or son when one taps into this loving and caring energy inside of us. The question is, how do you name this energy, this concept, or this particular person, your mother or mother figure? I call mine “Mommy”. While the name “Mommy” is often given to real mothers by small children, I call mine “Mommy” even though I am an adult. I don’t find it as inappropriate; I find the opposite to be true.

I call you mommy because I would like to express the unconditional love I feel for you. When I see you, I do so with the innocence and wonderment of childhood. I call you mommy because you mean the world to me. Mommy, when I look into your beautiful eyes I see your soul and I see mine. As our energies combine, my heart fills with unconditional love for you. I feel immense gratitude for your love and for allowing me to love you this way. You are the best that has ever happened to me. You are my world. You are beautiful like a rose, created in pure divine precision. As the rose petals are aligned next and in each other perfectly, so is your inner and outer beauty the perfect divine reflection of the real you. Ever since you came into my life, it changed completely. I am a better person because of you. I see myself in you. I understand how I want to be when I grow up. You teach me and everyone around you more than I could ever thank you for.

I thank the heavens for your existence and I thank you. Thank you for being my “Mommy”.  As your love fills my heart, I hope mine fills yours. May our everlasting bond of love connect us through eternity and beyond space and time. Happy Mother’s Day, mommy.

May, you, my friends, find your “Mommy”, inside of you or around you.

Happy Mother’s Day to all.

Love, Barbara

Copyright © 2014 Barbara Bullock

Photo credit Barbara Bullock