The Synchronicity of the Purple Heart
by Chris Duvall, RScP
We were traveling home. It had been a dual-purpose trip, taken to promote healing within my maternal ancestral lineage and to bike the Katy Trail along the Missouri River near the historic town of Boonville. We were on I-40, heading West towards Albuquerque and listening to a Tony Hillerman e-novel, A People of Darkness, set near the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. Being from the Southwest, we love Hillerman’s stories. I’m particularly interested in the author’s descriptions of the “Beauty Way,” a spiritual discipline for inner and outer harmony that enables the author’s Native American police officers and detectives to follow a Higher Law as they encounter crime, piece together puzzling mysteries, and restore justice. Often, the officers undergo cleansing and restorative ceremonies, because they have been exposed to whatever “evil” the crime involved.
At the very moment our story referred to a character’s purple heart medal, I glanced up and saw a small sign on the shoulder of the highway identifying this part of I-40 West as “The Purple Heart Trail.” I observed a few more purple heart trail signs as we drove onward, and I recalled that the medal honors courage in military service, especially when the recipient has been wounded or killed.
On arriving home, we off-loaded bikes and luggage from our bug-splattered car. My husband dismounted the bike rack, and I drove to the car wash. After discussing the best cleaning option with the attendant, I bought the highest-priced wash and wax and got in line to enter the tunnel. I noticed a shiny red truck in front of me aligning its left tires into the conveyor. The truck seemed so clean I wondered why it needed a wash. Then I saw its white license plate with honorable script: “Purple Heart. All gave some. Some gave all.”
The highest-priced option did not get my car clean enough. As I wondered how to deal with the remaining dirt and splatter, the attendant came by, read my thoughts, and encouraged me to go through the tunnel again. I got the same wash and wax, but this time for free. The second try cleaned it up much better, and I removed remaining residue with little effort.
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Reflection: I believe the Divine uses whatever process and content It can to communicate and help us evolve as we journey through life. Synchronicity signals me to watch and listen. The above message emphasized themes of material cleanliness and metaphysical purity; the heart’s fully aligned and costly service; my ancestors’ heroic pacifist Anabaptist martyrdom juxtaposed with heroic military duty; a westward direction. I wonder, “What do these themes mean to my understanding of my soul’s purpose and full expression?”
I share this experience to encourage you to pay attention to messages you may be receiving. Do certain themes come through? How do your messages inform or guide you? Is recording and sharing a helpful practice?
In closing, I affirm that no power is greater than the Light-filled Love that now surrounds, infills, and elevates me and the world. Only good comes to me. Only good goes from me. And, so it is.
