Raking leaves on a beautiful crisp autumn
day was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.
With dear friends helping, the job was completed
in less that 3 hour. We filled almost 32 big
brown lawn bags for the recycle truck.

I couldn’t help but remember the days as a kid
and how we would pile leaves higher than the
fence in order to be able to jump into them.
We would throw them at each other, stuff them
down our shirts, bury ourselves, and spend time
looking at the clouds from that fresh bed of
foliage.

Many of the leaves were still brilliant and
perfect from their peak showing of the season
and others were faded, torn, wrinkled, wet
and soggy.

What if you were to gather up all the parts
of yourself, as if you were raking the leaves
in your yard. Rather than leaves, they would
be all the parts of you that make up who
you are and your own unique qualities of
preciousness.

Imagine that you could dive into the pile
of lovingness and with compassion and acceptance
love all yourself….even the soggy parts.