Everything is a Test

Hare Krishna,
So yesterday I worked for hours cleaning and getting everything very nice and ready for my guests, trimming bushes, mopping, sorting things out, etc.  Then, I started cooking a feast for everyone and made a savory mung dal, rice, cauliflower and squash subji, and even a ginger-peach nectar.  I was listening to a lecture by Radhanath Swami as I was cooking.  Right as I was about to finish the feast I get a call that no one is coming over and everyone had cancelled.  Although I was feeling hurt and very disappointed I tried to maintain focus on finishing the cooking in good consciousness and offered it with surrender to Krishna's will.  But, it was disappointing and quite sad for me that no one was coming over, especially after all the work involved and loving preparations I had made.

Right as I was going through these emotions and thoughts Radhanath Swami starts telling a story about a little child on the beach making castles out of sand and how he's so happy and proud of his little castle, until inevitably it is dissolved by the waves of the sea and disappears.  It really hit me how everything is simply a test and can lead us either to suffering and desire, or to freedom and wisdom.  I realized that everyday I should be working as focused and intensely as I was that day, and doing things with that much consciousness and effort.

Everyday we should be cleaning the temple of our heart, putting flowers their, decorating it, and making it the perfect place for God to come and reside their.  We should make our heart the perfect temple of God through all that we do, say, think, practice and act on.

As I was offering to Krishna the meal I had cooked, I was meditating how Krishna never cancels on us.  He will never disappoint us and never let us down.  Especially if we dedicate to making our heart His temple and serving Him with love and devotion.  He's always there in our hearts, waiting, waiting.  He's patient enough to wait forever.  As soon as we wish to make our heart open to Him, He reciprocates immediately, when we are really ready.  He will know.
So instead of playing in the sand making castles, I need to be making my heart God's temple.

Srila Prabhupada saving us from the ocean of birth and death