By Dana Lovell, Minnesota

One morning, my friend Karina and I did a spiritual exercise that contains the question, What do you know as truth? (See the Contemplation Seed at the end of this story.)

I thought of truths for me such as these:

• God is love.
• God loves all equally.
• Love has no limits.
• God’s love connects all life.

I decided to focus on the last one, how God’s pure love connects all Souls. I asked the Mahanta, my inner guide, to bring me an experience to expand my certainty of this truth.

Later that day, Karina and I went into a little boutique that smelled of flowers and fresh lavender. While Karina paid for her purchase, I decided to go outside and wait in front of the store.

As I stood near the store window, I heard a loud buzz. I looked in the store window and saw a beautiful dragonfly trapped in a display. It made an effort to escape again and buzzed with all of its might but could not take flight.

Inwardly I heard its cry for help. I invited the help of the Mahanta, who represents pure love, and went into the store to see what I could do to assist the dragonfly. I sang HU softly inside, so that my heart was filled with God’s love.

I put my hand as close as I could to the dragonfly, but it jumped away.

By now, I had caught the attention of the store clerk and Karina. The clerk was aware of the dragonfly but said that because of the display, she couldn’t see how to help it out of the store. Karina offered love and support to the situation by also singing HU inwardly.

I put my hand as close as I could get it to the trapped dragonfly. I spoke to it gently: “If you get on my finger, I can take you outside to freedom.”

The dragonfly let me softly touch its wing and wrap my hand around its body. Then I lifted it out of the display window.

As I stepped outside, I opened my hand, and it climbed onto my index finger. It was so beautiful! I offered to put it down on a nearby plant, but it stayed on my finger.

I felt it send a vibration of love through my finger! It was saying, “Thank you,” in a dragonfly way. God’s love connected us, and I was as grateful as the dragonfly for the gift of love between us.

I lifted my finger up toward the sky, and it took off in joyous flight. Freedom! Karina and I looked at each other, and our tears welled up.

I realized that the experience had been exactly aligned with the spiritual exercise of that morning. God’s love had connected me and the dragonfly, Soul to Soul, for an experience of the heart. My understanding of this truth had expanded, and it brought me a big smile inside.

Just as the spiritual exercise promised, the experience had been a priceless gift indeed.

—Opening photo by Karina Vople

Contemplation Seed
You are invited to reflect on the spiritual messages in this story by contemplating on this passage from Spiritual Exercises for the Shariyat, Book Two, by Harold Klemp:

Expanding Truth

What do you know as truth?

Shut your eyes, and sing HU for several minutes. As answers come to you, watch for the one that seems to come alive when you think of it. It may appear as a feeling, a thought, a memory, or an experience.

* * *

The Mahanta will bring you an experience in your inner or outer life to expand your certainty of truth.

A priceless gift.