One of the things I have enjoyed doing for several years now is looking for “drops”.  The antlers that deer shed each winter in preparation for new growth.  And, for several years I searched but never acquired.  

Until this year.   When I wasn’t looking, the “drops” found me.    

Strategically placed on my path I was running or walking, a Universal message for my soul.

The most recent one I found this past week.   A frosty morning run with the girls and with the aid of the sunshine, this small horn reached out and gently whispered hey, look at me. 

Of course, this shed came at the “perfect” time. I was meditating and reflecting on words someone dear in my life had shared with me just days before that from her perspective my journey over the past 18 months has been connected to “shedding my skin” like the symbolism of a snake. 

Now, let me say, I have grown such that my reaction is only a slight yip or an intake of a deep mostly quiet breath when Slithers, aka SNAKE! suddenly crosses my path.  I don’t know about you, but for me, they are always SUDDENLY there!  

Like an antler that grows through the years, this is significant progress for me; history was that I jumped, leaped, screamed, and became like a bouncy ball on high speed for several minutes after.  I came to appreciate snake’s healing symbolism through my running years, shifting from bouncing down a trail like I was fighting with a swarm of bees to helping them scurry across a public path so as not to get squished.   Many a snake has received my parting nice voice Namaste.  

So, why share about a snake when we were talking about a deer shed?!   Because I was struggling in my meditative time.  Though I really loved the thought of shedding my skin, of that letting go to let come process, I was struggling to let come images of a snake into my reflective time!   

I set an intention and asked that I be sent a different shedding image.  And then I let go.  On a frosty morning, sunshine, not looking, merely trusting my ask would be answered.    A shed.   (smile)

I ponder what may grow in place of this shed next Spring.  Perhaps this deer will add two more points to next year’s antlers to become a four-point.   Or add six, eager to grow by leaps and bounds.  Or maybe the antler will grow a little larger in diameter and remain at two points.  

What comes from what was let go is in the “hands” of the deer, so to speak.  In the choices a deer makes in the nutrients it takes in through eating, the alertness of its surroundings and where harm may lurk.  And in the soul of this deer and how this deer’s purpose is meant to be threaded into the greater good of the collective Earth.   

Like us humans.  The choices we make.   And our soul’s plan for this lifetime.    And the thread of our lives into the greater good of collective humanity.   

Into the greater good of the collective that is stitched together, even when we can’t see the weaves.   Like this deer’s shed that was placed on my path in answer to my request, the Universe knowing that how I often receive my answers is in and through Nature.

I hold this shed and I think about expansion upward.   The antler reaches out and up.    I think of outward as outreach.   Filling more space.  

Touching more people.  

And I think of upward as a reach to the sky, to the stars, to infinity.    To unfathomable limitless space.   To the realm in which increased awareness and wisdom can also reside.  

The larger the antlers become, the more I witness a buck exhibit wisdom during the seasons in which harm is prevalent (hunting).    I observe larger antlered bucks cross our yard, slowly, steadily, a grace-filled regal walk conveying unafraid in September.   In October, wary alertness is in their more hurried steps.  They do not cross our yard as November nears.    In late December, the slow, steady, graceful walk returns through our yard.   The smaller bucks may still appear during season, running through the yard without pause, not yet carrying the wiser antennas.   Though in their runs, they are still very much following natural instincts.  

Knowing of the soul.      

I hold this shed and I think about the natural rhythm this deer follows.  To shed an antler.  To grow new.   I ponder if it is this deer’s first shed.  And how it doesn’t have to focus on trying to control when the new will appear.   The natural rhythm and design of this deer will allow the expansion to happen.  

A letting go to let come with ease.   With trust.   With faith.   

I hold this shed and I think about how very different this deer and I are, and yet, for a moment, our paths intertwined.  Where this deer had placed a footprint and left me a part of itself.  

No matter how big or small, one person or many, what “drop” do we leave for others to find?   

As life continues to bring sudden life-changing moments, I have become very conscious of how I am showing up in life because I know that how I show up is impacting one person, many, a collective.  If my life came to a close tomorrow, what drop did I leave for someone else to find and hold?  

I hold this shed and I feel in my hand is the certainty of hope.   For though I won’t know what grows next for the deer who left this for me, I hold what has been let go as a promise that there is a continuation coming.  

 On a frosty morning, sunshine, not looking, merely trusting…

A shed.

Whispering

Faith, Hope, Love.     And the greatest of these

Is all three.  

For in these is life’s continuity.