Quilting Bee # 20

Good morning!! I think being it is our twentieth meeting, cake is in order! So I have invited our favorite Barrista to come by and create delicious coffee and tea creations for us and the cakes... well let me tell you. Warning this is not a low calorie meeting today!! We have Black Forest, Coconut, German chocolate, White cake with the most delightful lemon custard filling and a lemon butter cream frosting, Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, traditional white cake with white frosting, and traditional chocolate cake with fudge frosting. I have set them all up on lovely milk glass pedestals. Ohhh they are pretty!! I have racked an interesting quilt inside today as it is cool and rainy here, please pull up a chair and join me won't you?

Do you have a shelf full of books at home? I do...some are new and perfect, some old and worn, some fancy coffee table books and some old worn paperbacks. There are lots of subjects and genres. Some I've read once, some I have not found the time for yet others are worn and dogeared by my loving hands as they have been read again and again. I believe people are like books. That old adage, don't judge a book by its cover, is very true I have found.

I am guilty of judging others. I try hard not to, but I catch myself now and again judging the cover rather than the soul. I did it more before I was suddenly thrown into the group folks labeled; poor, welfare parent, person standing in the food bank line, woman with food stamps. Yup I have been that woman. It was a huge wake up call for me to suddenly go from being one of those lovely coffee table books to a used up paperback. You see I still felt like a lovely coffee table book, what I was lacking was the depth of that well used, well loved paperback. It was painful to be judged constantly. But like most lessons we are given..pain hopefully leads to understanding.

I found that the more I looked beyond my perceptions of what my eyes saw and looked at what my soul saw, the more beautiful souls I saw. Some of them were so profoundly beautiful and wise it shocked and embarrassed my soul. I had looked on them as a label..not a person. It was like someone had opened a curtain and all of these amazing people stepped out to greet me, welcome me, care about me. All of the people I had thought of as used up paperbacks were in fact precious old manuscripts to treasure and hold dear to my heart.

One such couple live in our little town, they are "slow" but the most giving people I know. I am greeted with a hug from them both each time I see them, they come running to me with "Ooooh Sarah how wonderful to see you!" They might not have seen me for ages, but never forget my name. Or they might have seen me yesterday..the greeting is the same, pure joy to see me!! They are to me a perfect example of being present in their perceptions of all. They do not care what we wear or what socioeconomic group I hale from. They see the soul!

So I was thinking this weekend as Nonni and I sat in our coffee shop, wondering if my ability to stay present with my own perceptions were in line. Was I still looking at people's souls or was I back to judging their looks and circumstances? I had to remind myself..people have their own path to follow, their own lessons to learn. Some of them are not pretty or fun..but ultimately it makes their book a much better read.

The cakes are calling me..I adore a good piece of carrot cake - I do. I will have a small slice of that and hmmmmmm maybe a skinny, double shot, English toffee latte. What can I get for you?? I am beyond blessed that you have come again! That I am still writing - whoo hoo I am writing- my 20th Quilting Bee!! Thank you so very much for coming!! Namaste, Sarah