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Straight to the Heart
By Ellie Braun-Haley

It was my three-year-old grand daughter, Jani, who gave me the answer to a question I'd been puzzling over.

I was visiting both of my daughters in the city that day and had taken the youngest grandchild for a walk. It was only by chance that we came upon that little park, complete with tiny hills and lovely greenery. It was like a little hideaway that not a soul knew was there. Even the sounds of traffic were blocked out.

Jani was enjoying the swing and I sat back to watch her from a wooden bench flanked by shrubs. That was when I felt something indescribable yet so peaceful. What was that?

I knew I'd felt something like this before at our little country home, but even there I was unable to really identify it. That indescribable "feeling" was the reason we ended up buying the place.

We had been looking for an affordable home in the country and finally discovered an old farmhouse on an acre and a half thirty-minutes from the city. The house had been built as a one-room schoolhouse in 1911. The basement was still a dirt cellar. Looking at this old place and thinking of giving up my beautiful home in the city with wall-to-wall carpets, a lovely fireplace and a bay window, was a bit of a downer. I just didn't know if I could do it. Then we walked out across the land and that beautiful feeling hit me. I commented to my husband, Shawn, "It feels so good here."

We looked through the old place and once again walked out in the yard and as we traveled down a wee slope to an enclosure, that wondrous feeling again came upon me. "Shawn, I can't describe it, but it feels so good here!" I guess I told him that at least three or four times that day.

In the weeks and months that followed our purchase of the home, I received that feeling each time I walked in my enclosed "secret garden."

But I was not the only one to feel this warm energy. When we had company I encouraged each person to spend some alone time in the secret garden and every single one reported the same warm good feeling come over them. But what was it?

Now here I was in a park and I had that same lovely indescribable feeling.

I called over to my rambunctious little granddaughter. "Jani, come over here and sit with grandma."

She climbed up on the park bench and managed to slow down her little energetic body long enough to listen.

"Jani, will you sit here with me and just close your eyes and see if you feel anything?"

Bless her, she didn't question my weird request; she merely closed her eyes and sat perfectly still. I waited to see if she would experience what I did. And then I kept waiting, as she seemed in no hurry to open her eyes. Strange inactivity, for such a lively little bundle of energy!

Finally I could wait no longer. "Jani?" I touched her shoulder gently encouraging her to open her eyes. As she did, I asked, "Jani did you feel anything?"

Trust a child to cut through all the fuss and head straight for the heart. She broke out with a beautiful, radiant smile and she said, "Oh Gamma, it feel like God giving me a hug!"
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Adapted from: http://www.beliefnet.com/nllp/ChickenSoupSoul.aspx?date=8-3-2006&WT.mc_id=NL49

~12:28 pm