I cannot ignore the cool breeze today. The heat and humidity have given way to something freer, something that soothes every ache and every forlorn wandering. It is tempting to acknowledge the movement, the sounds, the lulling, and then move on. But something is calling, and callings take time to decipher. This will have to be church today. There is nothing in this moment that says rush to shower and dress and drive a distance to bump into what is already here. Spirit isn’t requiring anything of you today. Spirit has an open invitation to love what is present in this very place.
I am thankful for this understanding. We need people and rituals with people. We need to do all that we can to be of service and to be a student always in this school of life. But more and more I find that quiet time in which to detach is intricate to the well-being of the soul. Of late, I thirst for time in which to simply sit. Not create. Not fix. Not communicate. Not worry. Not persist towards the next item on the ‘to do’ list. Just sit. Maybe walk. Maybe roam. But not much past those gentle activities. Let the mind and the hands and the soul grow quiet and still. Allow this wind today to sweep away the heaviest of cobwebs that constrict the interplay of joy and sorrow, and instead, let the body and the mind refresh.
We come into this world fully known to ourselves and our Maker. Somewhere along the way, we lose or forget or become so bombarded by this earthly life that the knowledge of who we are and how we are meant to be in this world becomes what we seek to connect with once again. We can spend years practicing this return. We can explore lots of paths. We can try on lots of jobs and organizations and practices trying to discover where we fit and what brings us life and joy. And then we can arrive in this place of understanding, and finally feel we have embraced the fullness of self to only realize that we still must compromise, still must give our time, energy, and focus to days full of what do not match our understandings. This is where I am in my life. This is why when God’s Spirit comes to me in wind on my little front porch, and I have the chance to do something that makes sense to my soul… I must honor it.
We are in a conflicted time. I cannot even bear to list again the sadnesses and the insanities taking place each day both near and far. Everyday our heart breaks or learn how not to break. We’ve just got to keep going, right? Like those pillars of caterpillars in “Hope for the Flowers.” Remember that book? All of those caterpillars trying to get to the top for something that they have no idea of… but something that all of them think will give them what they want or need. And they hurt each other on the way up, and they devote all of their time and energy to the quest even as they witness more and more caterpillars falling, falling, falling.
Soon we encounter Yellow and Stripe, who both decide to come down from the pile and go still. They were scoffed at by the others… but they trusted that deeper intuition. Whether you’ve read this book or not, you know what happens when caterpillars go still. Do you know what happens when you grow still?
To you and to me: Keep going when you need to keep going. Do what you must when you must. Allow every part of you to deepen and radiate and give. But when your soul calls you away and when the breeze whispers your name… invite the path to nowhere to carry you home
I am thankful for this understanding. We need people and rituals with people. We need to do all that we can to be of service and to be a student always in this school of life. But more and more I find that quiet time in which to detach is intricate to the well-being of the soul. Of late, I thirst for time in which to simply sit. Not create. Not fix. Not communicate. Not worry. Not persist towards the next item on the ‘to do’ list. Just sit. Maybe walk. Maybe roam. But not much past those gentle activities. Let the mind and the hands and the soul grow quiet and still. Allow this wind today to sweep away the heaviest of cobwebs that constrict the interplay of joy and sorrow, and instead, let the body and the mind refresh.
We come into this world fully known to ourselves and our Maker. Somewhere along the way, we lose or forget or become so bombarded by this earthly life that the knowledge of who we are and how we are meant to be in this world becomes what we seek to connect with once again. We can spend years practicing this return. We can explore lots of paths. We can try on lots of jobs and organizations and practices trying to discover where we fit and what brings us life and joy. And then we can arrive in this place of understanding, and finally feel we have embraced the fullness of self to only realize that we still must compromise, still must give our time, energy, and focus to days full of what do not match our understandings. This is where I am in my life. This is why when God’s Spirit comes to me in wind on my little front porch, and I have the chance to do something that makes sense to my soul… I must honor it.
We are in a conflicted time. I cannot even bear to list again the sadnesses and the insanities taking place each day both near and far. Everyday our heart breaks or learn how not to break. We’ve just got to keep going, right? Like those pillars of caterpillars in “Hope for the Flowers.” Remember that book? All of those caterpillars trying to get to the top for something that they have no idea of… but something that all of them think will give them what they want or need. And they hurt each other on the way up, and they devote all of their time and energy to the quest even as they witness more and more caterpillars falling, falling, falling.
Soon we encounter Yellow and Stripe, who both decide to come down from the pile and go still. They were scoffed at by the others… but they trusted that deeper intuition. Whether you’ve read this book or not, you know what happens when caterpillars go still. Do you know what happens when you grow still?
To you and to me: Keep going when you need to keep going. Do what you must when you must. Allow every part of you to deepen and radiate and give. But when your soul calls you away and when the breeze whispers your name… invite the path to nowhere to carry you home
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