The Wisdom of Letting Go

(The following story, meditation, and bio are reprinted from GOD'S MESSENGERS: What Animals Teach Us about the Divine by Allen and Linda Anderson, New World Library 2003. Visit www.angelanimals.net for details about The Angel Animals Network.)

Last April my bright green and yellow parakeet, Summer, started having a tumor grow under her belly. It got HUGE. My vet said that it was probably cancer and that Summer could go any day or live for a long while. Surgery would be dangerous, so I declined that.

Summer didn't seem to think there was anything wrong. Sometimes she had trouble reaching the perch or swing with both feet because of the size of the tumor, and flying didn't always go as planned with all of that extra weight. She continued to act like a happy, healthy bird -- eating, singing, playing, and getting around as well as she could. I changed the food dishes in her cage to ones that were easy for her to get into and filled her water dish a little higher to make it easier for her to drink.

She was in my prayers each day as I asked for the highest and best good of all to happen. I also have a friend who does wonderful healing work on both a physical and spiritual level and she worked with Summer to make her more comfortable and with the message that it would be okay for her to cross the Rainbow Bridge, if she wanted to do that.

The tumor grew and grew. Her feathers didn't cover it, and it was getting cooler at night. Each day when I took the cover off of her cage, I expected to see her on the bottom. One morning there was a lot of blood here and there in the cage. Summer sat on her swing, as usual. I thought it was the end.

It wasn't.

Sometime after that, I noticed the tumor getting smaller and smaller. Very recently, it completely fell off -- a little brown lump in the bottom of the cage.

I feel that the combination of prayer and the process of letting go of Summer on an emotional and spiritual level allowed her to heal.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

Has an animal helped you find serenity through surrender?

By Nancy Miller
BIO: Nancy Miller shares her home with six parakeets and four cats. She loves informally sharing with others written stories about her life and her wonderful pets. Nancy also works in the area of aura photography, astrology, astrocartography, and numerology reports.

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