Polishing The LOVE

I’ve come to know that LOVE is available to us in many thousands of forms.

Behold the celestial Eastern Goddess of Compassion and Mercy, Kuan Jin.

She’s an adored and treasured gift from my son and husband in honor of Mothers Day. Actually, it’s her incredible shining radiance that is their gift. Her solid brass form was an act of loveliness from a dear-hearted friend who carried her through the streets, taxis and airport inspections of China a few years back and, after a conversation we had about my desire to have a Kuan Jin of my own, graciously shepherded her to me.

The gift of her radiance is held within the multiple layers of tending that transformed her from dull and tarnished to her current gleaming glory of gorgeousness. The intention, attention, time, energy, pride, and sheer graft that lies beneath the weeks of devoted polishing is the essence of pure LOVE I feel, and that she so appropriately symbolizes.

Kuan Jin is a high-ranking Goddess, a Bodhisattva, meaning that she is eligible for Buddhahood. Yet, she has chosen instead to stay close to Earth until all beings are enlightened, another testament to her embodiment of Compassion. She hears all the cries and the prayers of the suffering and responds to them with the comforting gentle power of divine LOVE. This is her sacred vow.

She teaches us to release any burden of the heart through the gateway of forgiveness and she’s a beautiful reminder for us to treat ourselves and all other beings with compassion, kindness and mercy. She is known to awaken our intuitive knowings held within the wisdom of our heart and soul and is a revered protector of women and children.

At gazing upon her, may you see the reflection of your true Self, that this perfect, loving, compassionate essence is carried within you. That Love is not something to “get” from another, but rather something inherently residing within each and every one of us. And, having discovered that, we can choose to share it with another. We can apply that same level of tending we place within polishing the brass and give that to our loved ones, our community, all beings, our planet, and ourselves.

She may just be my most favorite Mother’s Day present of all time, outranked only by the good grief gratitude gift of being Golden Boy’s Mum.