Love. Generosity. Kindness. Extension within Awe. Gratitude. Space. Humility.
I always become aware, when these Chesed days roll around, just how much I need of that good Lovin'. I am brought, as I have been on some other days of Chesed within something else, to the sensation of Divine Chesed inside of me. Tonight, this Presence awakens my Awe and Gratitude.
It also creates Space in me to receive others, which awakens in me a desire to Extend myself and Give of whatever Love and Generosity is needed. I experienced this tonight as I sat in a recovery meeting I visited near where I am staying in Davenport, IA. As happens these days, I became aware of the sun making its final dip below the horizon and tuned into the energy of the new Omer day. As I looked around the room, I became acutely aware of the miracle of all these men and women who had been lifted out of the depths and were here getting well together. I was filled with Awe and Gratitude at this, and with a great Love for everyone there, though we had never met, and probably won't again.
The experience I have described of Chesed activating Awe activating Chesed activating Gratitude (and on it goes) brings into stark relief the two-way street of the interaction of Divine expression of the sefirot and our own human expression of these attributes. A wonderful sensation to be inside of. An infinitely unfolding dance of Divine and human Unity.
Finally, a thought on Humility. One of my favorite descriptions of Humility is that it is a state of being right-sized. This could easily sound like a comment on diminishing of oneself, but actually, it is a comment on acceptance of ourselves exactly as we are in any given moment. It is about occupying exactly the right amount of Space allotted to us - body, mind, and spirit. It is about contentedly being exactly who we were intended to be when we emerged as a thought from the Divine Mind. Full of G8d's Chesed, Everything is just Enough. (Did I mention Dominic Kelly's album by that title available on iTunes???)
May you be blessed today with awareness of Divine Chesed filling you. May you be blessed with the experience of the infinite reciprocity of Chesed and Awe and Chesed and Gratidude and Chesed and...