SOUL MAIL Sunday: Be an Eternal Blessing to Everyone
Greetings Everybody! This Sunday, July 26th, 2026, our SOUL MAIL message for the day is: Be an Eternal Blessing to Everyone.The fourth Sunday of July is observed as the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. How meaningful that I am spending this day with my own dear mother, who will soon be 100 years old. For me it is a reminder to honor and give thanks for all those who have come before us. I wonder: What is the best way to honor our elders? What is most important to me now that I am an elder?
We trace our roots through many traditions passed down from those who came before us. When I think of my own ancestors, their creative traditions included painting, drawing, sculpture, singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, crafting, decorating, cooking, and sports like tennis, baseball, golf and fishing, and many other acts of creativity. Today I'm going to focus on only one: gardening. It is the one my mother has sustained throughout her life, grounding us to our Mother Earth and connecting us with each other throughout the generations.
The changing life of the Blood Lily we have been watching on my porch has become a living metaphor for our own family’s journey through the generations. The photo at the top center shows all the parts. Going around the circle counterclockwise is the string of vibrant leaf stalks in their prime that have become the new star. Then we see the original withering leaf stalk that fell to the ground and had to be supported to stand up again. Next is the once brilliant red blossom that stood tall but is now fading and bowing down. Then we see the little seed balls forming inside the blossom sphere with the possibility of coming into their own one day. And lastly, there seems to be a new surprise leaf mysteriously growing along the edge of the pot.
Yet, with all these separate parts, it is still one family with a core living bulb hidden under the earth.
The celebration of this day is full of memories of how the whole family has been evolving. My mom's mother and father were farmers who immigrated from Croatia and had a thriving vegetable and fruit garden in their backyard. In the photos below on the top row are photos of my mom's small vegetable garden in her own backyard and the beautiful flower gardens she created around her home. She created the garden featuring the little girl and her dog as a memory garden for my daughter when her dog died. A couple of years ago when my mom was in the hospital for rehabilitation after a stroke, I picked a fresh bouquet of flowers from her garden for a vase in her hospital room. When I moved to Texas after my husband died, my mom and I created the mosaic birdbath together for my front flower garden. I expanded on her gardening by creating a medicine wheel—a healing tradition I learned from Indigenous Americans—and created a mosquito-repelling garden on my front porch. My son carried this tradition forward by creating a rock garden in front of his home with a cool, funky, curving shelf to display my SOUL MAIL cards for passersby. And my daughter has a home with beautiful blossoming lilies and continues her dad's tradition of giving beautiful roses and lilies on special occasions. Now my grandson is carrying the tradition into another generation and has been helping me with my garden since he was about two. He learned to dig in the ground, water the plants, lay down the stone edging, and even make his own medicine wheel. These memories have become roots that bind our family together, connecting us to one another and to Mother Earth with all of her healing gifts.
Like the hidden bulb beneath the Blood Lily, love quietly lives at the center of every family. Generations blossom, fade, scatter seeds, and begin again, yet the life beneath continues. May today's SOUL MAIL remind us to tend that living center within ourselves, so that we too may become an eternal blessing to those who come before us, those who walk beside us, and those who will follow after us. You may view the art image and read or listen to the message below.
May each of us nurture a loving connection with ourselves and who we are truly meant to be, so that the love we cultivate within our own hearts may blossom into an eternal blessing for the entire human family.
