Imagine a young man who walked through the gently sloping path of the forest and sat down under a large shade tree. It was not any special kind of tree, but simply grew there quietly in the forest, with its limbs outstretched and its leaves turned toward the beauty of a blue sky with many-hued clouds drifting across above it every day. As the young man sat resting under the tree, his mind drifted up high above the forest and saw the sky.

His vision blurred slightly and he remembered many days like this, walking along the streams and up the mountain sides. But here...by this tree in the quietness of its strong presence, with the rough bark against his back, he found a comfort in not walking far today. Just to rest and dream of good days with good people seemed enough, and he noticed he was happy, even though alone. And yet, he was not alone, for the forest and the sky were here with him.

After awhile, he awakened and thought to rise up and perhaps walk on toward home. But as he thought of "home", he remembered many moments with his mother and father, and how free he always felt when around them. He carried this feeling with him everywhere he went, but today, in this moment of pause, the memory of this seemed to transport his interest back to many times where the quietness itself seemed to gently nudge thoughts to swirl like a song in his mind. So he thought he would just continue, there leaning against the tree, and give his mind permission to listen, perchance the song might come again. Whether its lyrics seemed like old friends who visited often, or like a thoughtful stranger, it did not matter, for it was always an enjoyable moment to reach out and touch them as they flowed through, seeming to ride upon the song.

I made you this morning from the deepest, most wonderful essence of my being and my love for you is without end. Every morning you are born from my heart, and I walk with you through every hill and valley, for you are the joy of my life, and my very reason for being. When you savor the smells of the meadows, I notice your happiness. You are my joy, there in the peacefulness of the world I ready for you every waking day before its dawn. I am overjoyed that you hear my voice singing in your heart, and how you seem to know that we hear it together, and never alone.

With you, I am that which walks through the world and who delights in every sight and sound. Here in the quietness, my song arises as I sing it for you, and lean toward your presence to hear the breath of your sighs and see your smile. As each day...as each moment comes, I am here with you. I imagine each day and every moment in which we touch in heart and share our being...together, as one.

Today is the day I found you in me, and built a world around you. Walk with me each day through the world...your world, for it is yours. As far as your eyes can see, forever it is yours. Whenever you drift off to sleep in dreams, trusting that I am there to remind you to awaken and enjoy your world once again, I am here holding you in the peace of our being. And when you awaken, our day begins once again, fresh and new, beckoning us to walk together beyond the limitless horizon.

Your parents, your brothers and sisters, and everyone you see, walk through your world for your enjoyment, and for theirs...and for mine. My heart sings because we are always together, and ever have been together as one joy rising into expression as the world, fresh with aliveness and wonder. Your smiles are your gifts to me as mine rise up into your senses to give you all that I am, for I am yours.

I am so happy to see you today, and to watch you rest in the shelter of my peace around you, for it is our gift to one another. My peace I give you, for it is this simple sharing that gives me joy, as we walk together as one. Thank you for being the friend of all that I am in you, and that all are in us.

What if such a world exists? Does such a world exist? Are we willing to find out? If what we've believed in, and if how we've thought, and felt, and believed, and behaved in the world isn't working for us, and isn't working for us in a big way...what would we give to have it be different, perhaps more like this peaceful reflection? Our pride in our beliefs?

We are invited to walk with that one.

We have often experienced the world as difficult, and have found making any significant changes a long and hard task. But what if seeing a different world was not a hard task, and if not hard, perhaps also not a long way off in the distance called future?

We have chosen the world we see. We have chosen what we think and believe, and as a result also what we have felt and what we've thought it necessary to do. We have tried choosing new ways of living again and again. But what if the path leading toward this fresh new world was not a path one can choose. What if it already lay before our feet...even under our feet? If that path is here, right now, in front of us, we need not choose it, but simply need to see that it is there...and walk along it moment by moment, savoring the world we then see...as this one with its difficulties fades away from lack of use.

What if?