A Bar of Soap

A bar of soap
         One night in my sleep, my mind reflected on an image of myself and my boy bathing earlier that evening. This dream was one that I received very warmly because I love nothing more than these moments with my children. As the vision disappeared, my mind focused on a bar of soap we shared to wash ourselves with. And I found myself thinking that the bar of soap was blessing. I was so happy that this simple thing could clean and purify our family. It was useful at the sink. It was useful in the bathtub, and it was handy every time we needed to wash the grime off ourselves.
         I soon found myself taking a journey with this particular bar of soap. The soap was made from herbs and oils, and it was gifted to us at Christmas time some years earlier. I remember how I received it then. It was given with a host of many things, and I recall thinking “oh great, another trinket." It was then chucked it into my Christmas sack with all the other crap. And as I considered it crap, it was abandoned in my car for a while. It melted a little bit and it got smashed around the edges. It almost went into the trash a few times. But it was saved by my wife because it was her friend who gave it to us. And when it was saved from the car, it was thrown in a box with many other unimportant things.
         It stayed with my family as we traveled. And as we moved around, we moved it along with all the other things we had acquired. And when times started getting hard, and money became a subject, I started looking differently at all of my belongings. I found I needed to get the most out of everything I had. And at some point in time, this trinket became a bar of soap.
         As I woke from my sleep, I was left with the very real understanding that this bar of soap was a great blessing upon me and my family. And the giver of the soap must be a saint because it was such a great gift. And as my vision cleared from the dream, I focused on all of the material objects in the room and saw them all as blessings. Then in my mind, I thought of all of the relationships in my life as blessings. Everything I’d been given by people was in fact a gift from God. Every brick, every hook, every stitch, every smile, and every crumb was wanted and loved.
         I realized that the gift did not end with the object alone, but it continued in all gestures of peace and love no matter how small. After the dream, I could never value things the same way as before. I was only then able to witness the potential happiness contained in all of the objects that were collecting dust all around me. I thought of ways I could give things back to friends and strangers who desperately needed stuff. Not just the objects, but the loving gestures. And perhaps, I could return some of the favor back to God by doing so. I remember the Christian lesson that our real treasures we keep in heaven. Strange, that it took a dream of soap to wash my mind. It took a trinket to bring the wisdom that it is love that is the greatest of all gifts; a gift that I should be eager to pass on forever.
         I wanted to share this message of love and charity with others today, and I encourage others to share their messages of love also.