Give and take

After yesterday's Clay Day and watching everyone work with the coil method of building pots, I'm sure this had an influence on my mandala :-)
I was so restless afterwards, my mind could not still itself. I read a page of my book over and over and over... so I went to the mandala for some focus.
To help still the mind, it is a great meditation.
Never quite knowing what it will be about until it begins to unfold, I began in the center with the spiral.
As I spiraled outwards, it reminded me of reaching out.
Reaching out to community.
We reach out and we pull back. From our centers, we reach out to others, giving a part of ourselves. We touch others with our ideas, our gifts. We teach and we learn.
And then we draw back in, taking with us all that we've received in our relationship with others. We give love, we receive love back in return.
We give gratitude, we receive gratitude.
We give of ourselves and we receive the gift of reflection, understanding, wisdom, friendship.
Give and Take. A constant exchange that benefits us all.
It's about community. What do you contribute and what do you receive?
It's also about a balance between the two.
Putting yourself out into the world, and allowing time for inner reflection.
This seems to be an area that our world needs to remember, as do I, that we need to take the time to go within, to center ourselves and balance it with our giving to the world.