Last week I donated blood. It continues to astonish me that a small sack of red fluid is of such value. I cannot calculate the costs incurred from nurses, administration, disposable tubes and needles, never mind the snacks and water they hand out. For someone I will never meet, my AB- brings fresh hope. 

 

A neighbor is out of town and I offered to check on her chickens. She thinks I am doing her a favor, but I know better. A chance to listen to their soft clucks, and entice them with watermelon rinds is fun for me. I refill the hanging feeder and replenish the waterer. In this sweltering weather chickens must have both available at all times. It is not difficult to pull the extra long hose across the yard to reach their predator proof pen, and splash fresh liquid into the dish. I even brought an extra container, because there were times in my chicken years when the hens knocked it over or it ran dry. We cannot have that. 

 

As the hose spurted I thought about the appreciative hospital patients. Blood corresponds to love in that it brings our bodies energy, and nutrients. We cannot live without it. Yet I did absolutely nothing to concoct it. All I did was stick out my arm. 

 

The flock that depends on water is grateful too, in a birdish kind of way. I hear it in their murmuring when they gather around for a long drink. Water is a metaphor for truth, because both quench our daily needs. Yet here again I can claim no credit. I merely turned the faucet and steered. 

 

These days my morning begins with responding to comments on Off the Left Eye. People who are craving reassurance about heaven, or God' protection write in with questions. It is my blessing to offer quotes, or more videos. I did nothing to produce either, and yet I am able to offer them to someone in need.

 

Showing up with love for a friend can look like an act of altruism. Then again, I suspect that the generosity has less to do with me than meets the eye. Sometimes all I do is reach out my arms. 

 

Offering wisdom to someone who aches for it is also an exercise in misdirection. I may fool myself into thinking it originates with me. But really I just swiveled a spigot. 

 

It behooves me to remember, because to get puffed up about my own beneficence would be absurd. We cannot have that.