What are your life props?

Angelic Blessings to everyone.

About a week ago, Chuck and I went to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We went there for the Galileo exhibit which features one of his telescopes along with about 100 other scientific instruments. Galileo didn't invent the telescope. He improved the magnification abilities of the telescope from 3x to 20x. That's a quantum leap of the visual kind. It was amazing to be standing next to his telescope on display in a case, and being able to see his handwriting on the side of the instrument. I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion.

I recommend this exhibit to everyone. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and it is the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope. This is the first time the telescope has ventured out of Italy. As I have shared in classes I teach, I encourage people to pay attention when art is on the move - especially objects that have never been outside of their native land before. When that happens, something big is going on energy-wise. Galileo's telescope and other crafted instruments not only have great scientific significance; additionally, they are beautiful works of art. So we have the energy of science and art on the move together. Just imagine, prior to the exhibit's arrival in Philadelphia, the Paul Revere angels excitedly announcing, "Galileo's telescope is coming! Galileo's telescope is coming!" We are blessed to have this magnficient instrument (and the entire exhibit) here on loan to the Franklin Institute from a museum in Florence, Italy.

While at the Franklin Institute, Chuck and I were treated to a delightful surprise. We were also able to see an exhibit of the movie props of the movies made from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; and also Prince Caspian.

We went into a room where we waited our turn to enter the exhibit. While in the room I discovered that part of the exhibit was C. S. Lewis' writing desk. Some of my favorite life moments have been when I have had the opportunity to tour the homes of favorite authors and see their writing desks. A writing desk (or now a computer desk) is for me where heaven and earth come together. It exemplifies sacred space that honors the gift of imagination and inspiration. The writer receives divinely inspired ideas and thoughts and captures them with pen or computer. It was a pure joy moment for me to receive the surprise blessing of seeing C. S. Lewis' desk. I stood there and kept saying, "Thank you, God, for this sweet surprise."

And then quite magically, the doors of the wardrobe opened up and we were ushered into another world. Just as the children in C. S. Lewis' story had done, we walked through the mink coats contained in the closet. We stepped out of the wardrobe into the land of Narnia and just as in the movie - the snow fell softly upon us. We were in Narnia.

It was a magical experience. We got to see the ice queen's sled; the costumes worn in the movies (Prince Caspian/The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)and swords and shields. We got to go inside one of the little houses of the animals where I think I overdosed on cuteness. For those of you who live in the Maryland area, you may remember Enchanted Forest. Well, being in the little animal house took me right back to my childhood days of visiting Enchanted Forest.

Reflecting upon movies, I thought about how important props are to a movie's message. Props create the atmosphere and the environment. Props support the experience that the movie director wants us to have. When you are watching a movie, aren't you sometimes enthralled by the detail of the props in the background?

And so here's my question. What are your life props? If, as the director of your life, you want to support and convey the message of love in your life script, what props are you filling your life with that create an atmosphere of the importance of love? If love is your message, then live with love. Look around your home, and see the props. Is your home filled with flowers your love, music your love, art you love, etc?

My life message is to be an earth angel of inspiration. One of my messages of inspiration, is to take time to play and be joyous. We're here at Camp Earth, where our divine parents sent us for a lifetime of play.

We have a stairway that goes up the center of our house. I go up and down the stairway what seems like a zillion times a day. At Christmas time, I delight in first choosing a special bear for each step of the stairway and then in seeing daily all the different bears as I go up and down the steps. At Easter time, the stairway is a Bunny Trail. I just packed away the bunnies and now every step shares play space with a gnome. There are those who run with the bulls. There's a book entitled, "Women Who Run With the Wolves." Well, I run with the gnomes. The banister is wrapped with garlands of flowers - purples and pinks - and adorned with dragonfly lights. The lights I purchased at Five Below; the garlands at Walmart. Many of my gnomes were purchased at Weis Groceries. Chuck loves unpacking the groceries: milk, bread, gnomes.

It's all about what we nourish ourselves with. Good food for the body. Good food for the soul. And good food for our eyes to feast upon, too. Giving our souls' eyes the bountiful feast of seeing spiritual props in our homes and in our lives; props that remind us our spiritual ideals and message for our lives.

Sending you lots of love from the sacred space of my computer desk here in our Gnome, Sweet Gnome.

Love, Jayne