circle of friends

     This statue of a circle of friends with their arms linked stands on the table on our screened porch.  It is a constant reminder of the blessing of friends, and how important it is to stay linked together through all the changes of life.  Behind the statue in the picture you can see colorful prayer flags, which are another reminder to remain linked through heart-felt prayer with loved ones.  I have already had occasion to sit at this table with friends in the flesh,  whose love and support have helped me flourish in many ways.   Their faces, their smiles, their wise or funny words, their open-hearted sharing, all come to mind when I walk by the table and this statue on my way into the living room or out to the deck.  And my heart fills with gratitude for the friends I am blessed with.  

     It is said that our friends mirror aspects of ourselves, often unrecognized by us.  That's why we are drawn to them.  Perhaps they have qualities we admire and would like to have more of ourselves.  Always, they are our teachers, whether or not they know it.  

    It is interesting to me that friendship is a universal thing in all cultures, whatever forms it may take.  I am struck by the fact that one of my favorite poets, Rumi, will sometimes refer to God as "The Friend."   Certainly in his life,  the friendship of a roving spiritual teacher had a huge, life-changing impact.  It might have been that his friend opened him up to his ecstatic experiences of "The Friend."   What a friend!

      

Soaking it up

     For so many years,  John worked very, very hard as a surgeon----long hours, lots of tension, always on call, people's lives in his hands.   He did take some time to play, and enjoy vacations with the family.  But now, having lived more than seventy years on this planet,  he finally has time to live the wise Jewish sage Abraham Heschel's words: "Just to live is holy.   Just to BE is a blessing."

     So here is John,  experiencing the blessing of being.   It could just as well have been a picture of me too, but I was the one with the camera this time.  We both love luxuriating in the noon day sun on a winter day in Sedona,  soaking in all the beauty of sky and earth,  listening to the many birds that live in the pine trees around our house.   Every now and then,  their singing and chirping is punctuated with the whir of hummingbird wings as one of several that live nearby visits the feeder I hang on the porch.   The distinctive cry of a quail in the neighbor's yard adds to the music of nature.  The sun's warmth is gentle and healing, and as we soak it all in,  we are so grateful for a time like this in our lives.  I admit, however, to a tiny twinge of guilt once in a great while, probably from my upbringing, in which being productive(always) was highly valued, and sitting around doing nothing was not.

      My Mom used to sing a little ditty when I was a girl, usually when she observed someone she thought should be working. "O lazy bones, sittin' in the sun, how d'ya ever 'spec to get a day's work done?"   Now a good work ethic is a fine thing, but my opinion is that in the circles of people in which I have lived,  it is way overdone.   The healthy balance between work and play, business and leisure, is just not there.  Our society has one of the lowest number of vacation days for the average worker in the industrial nations of the world.  Many people work way beyond the standard forty hour work week.  You can see the toll it takes in people's lives in the form of stress related mental and physical illness,  strained relationships, and harried life style.  Is this the best we can do?  

      Once again, I recall Abraham Heschel's wisdom; "It is not so much that the Jews have kept the sabbath as that the sabbath has kept the Jews."  Human beings need days regularly  in which to lay aside their work, and enjoy just being,  soaking in all the goodness of life, taking time to consciously cultivate their souls, their relationships, and their connection with creation and the Creator of this marvelous world. 

     I think it is interesting that observing Sabbath time is one of the "Big Ten" commandments.  We put ourselves in peril when we fail to regularly take a day of rest and re-creation.

 May you enjoy the gift of Life more and more as you find ways to "Soak it up." 

      

Delicious Wisdom

     On the entry deck of our Sedona house sits this colorful statue of a Mexican woman holding a selection of the fruits of the earth,  her eyes closed in a prayer of blessing or gratitude, or perhaps in meditation.  Above her I have inscribed the words "DELICIOUS WISDOM."       On the railing above her head is a lovely rainbow of stained glass with candles in front of it, given as a gift by Pam and Pete, friends at whose wedding I officiated.  I love to light the candles and sit out on the deck at night,  watching the colors glow in the dark, inviting me to prayer.

     Above the stained glass candle holder is a string of colorful prayer flags which flutter with every breeze that comes by.   They shall be the subject of another blog, since there is a lot they have to say.   For now, I want to reflect on "Delicious Wisdom."  

      I love how this contemplative statue reminds me that Wisdom is something to be relished, enjoyed, tasted, and digested, so that it becomes part of my very body and being.  Wisdom is as important to me as food.   As long as I can remember, I have always been hungry for Wisdom and harvesting its fruits from many sources;  books, family and friends, art, nature, events, dreams and visions, religions, the Inner Voice of the Spirit, and more.

     The colorful presence of Lady Wisdom, or Sophia, as a Mexican woman holding the fruit of the earth, accompanied by prayer flags and prayer candles,  is a wonderful way to remind me every day that our Sedona House, from the start,  was intended to be a House of Prayer,  not only for me, but all who dwell here or visit here, for however long.   

      I pray that over the years, Sedona House will indeed be a place where friends and family members will taste the fruit of wisdom and find it truly delicious and satisfying.

My heart fills with gratitude for the gift of Divine Wisdom given to me in such abundance from so many sources throughout my lifetime.  And I offer myself as one who holds out the fruits of Wisdom to all who are hungry for it.   

Do you know these angels?

     In case you can't read the words on the plaque in this picture, here they are:

"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life."

     Every time I get out of the car to go in the house, I walk past this plaque, which is displayed in a flowerpot on the steps that lead from the carport to the entry deck of our Sedona house.

I smile a little each time I see it, and remember my friend Nancy, who provided it for this place.

     And yes, I know those angels well.   They have done a particularly good job in my life.  Really!

     For instance, when I was just 18, had broken up with my latest boyfriend, and was perfectly comfortable with not having one, and feeling I could live a good life without a man, those angels discomfited me by putting John Rienstra in my path.  Well!  That was a good way of making sure I didn't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss my life!  Considering we met in the bush in Nigeria, and spent the first weeks of our relationship dodging the night watchman on the missionary compound when we took romantic walks in the moonlight, and riding red clay roads on a motorbike into the African jungle,  I should have guessed what those angels were up to.....

     And then, when I was really getting used to being a Mom, taking care of four children, and quite comfortable in our suburban life,  those angels upset the apple cart by prompting us to move into the inner city into an intentional community, and as if that weren't enough, prodded me to go to Calvin seminary, and do it as the first woman going for an M.Div. degree.  Well, that kept my life very interesting,  kept me very wide awake, and often quite uncomfortable, to be honest.

      And then, when I became a minister, every time I got really nice and comfortable in the church I was serving, and everything was going very well indeed,  those &*% angels were on the job again, waking me up to new possibilities and challenges, prodding me to move and change, and making me uncomfortable.....again.   

      Ah yes, I know those angels well!

      Do you?  

      At least, I haven't fallen asleep and missed my life.  Have you? 

House Messages

        Most of us, I suspect,  would like to have the Divine Guidance we seek as we negotiate life's challenges and opportunities, especially when we are in times of crisis or transition.  I have come to realize that I am being guided all the time, if I only keep my spiritual ears and eyes open and learn to receive the messages being offered to me by The Beloved. (That's Rumi's term for God, and I love it!)  

       I grew up learning to expect to be guided by the Bible and sermons and wise Christians.

I found a lot of wisdom as I grew up from great books too, and the teaching of many religions.

I learned from my Native American friends to receive the guidance offered through communion with creation:  the sky, the earth,  all kinds of creatures, and "signs."   

     Just this past week,  it occurred to me that I was surrounded in my house by images (mostly decorative) that had a lot of important messages for me!  I remembered that in Jungian psychology, the house is an Archetypal image for the soul.   I know that in furnishing this house, I had a strong sense of being guided to the things I found to put in this "retreat house" in this very special place called Sedona.  So, I went from room to room, looking at what was there and just letting it "talk to me."    And I took pictures of each thing that seemed significant.  I got enough spiritual direction through the messages that came through these things to keep me pondering for quite a while.  I am so grateful to have discovered this way of receiving Divine Wisdom.   Perhaps you will want to try walking through your home and seeing what things speak messages of Divine Wisdom to you!

      In this and many upcoming blogs, I will be posting pictures of those images/symbols which are giving me wisdom and spiritual direction for this time of transition in my life.  I thought I would share these with those of you who may be reading this blog, as a way of giving you a better sense of my surroundings, and my spiritual journey right now.  I would love to hear your responses via email!

     I begin today with a picture of a banner given as a gift to me by my niece Lenore in gratitude for officiating at her wedding.   It hangs in our house right next to the main entrance/exit, and its words remind me always of the importance of listening to Nature as I leave the house to go on my hikes, or even just sit outside in the back yard under the pine trees.  

     The banner's message hardly needs commentary.  It is just an important reminder to me.

The message I hear from nature today as I sit watching the play of cloud and sunshine, light and shadow, on the red rock peaks across the valley is that I am always being offered the Divine gift of Beauty.  And my heart responds with those beautiful words of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins:

     "Give beauty, beauty, beauty  back to God, Beauty's Self and Beauty's Giver."

shadows

     Aren't shadows wierd things?   Actually, could you even call them "things?"   Now you see them, now you don't.  They shrink or grow,  hide or loom, all depending on the light.  The higher the sun, the smaller the shadow.  Sometimes shadows are before us, sometimes behind, or to the side.  Without shadows, landscapes are a lot less interesting and beautiful.   Would we be too, without our shadows?  Robert Louis Stevenson has a poem about shadows that begins: "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of it is more than I can see."

     Some psychologists do "shadow work" with people, which means they help them see their "shadow side"--which is the aspects of themselves they are unaware of or in denial of.  One way to realize our shadows is to notice what aspects of other people evoke very strong positive or emotional reactions in us.   Those aspects are our shadows.   I doubt that any of us get rid of our shadows ever.  Maybe just realizing they are there, and taking the time to notice and maybe even appreciate them  (yes, even what seems negative to us)  is a good thing.   

       The shadow pictures on this blog are, to me, fascinating and even beautiful.   In this life of light and shadow, I am grateful for the patterns they create, and their invitation to stop and take a closer look at the dance of light and shadow throughout our lives and landscapes.

Lift Up Your Voice and Sing!

     Do you ever wake up with a song going through your mind?  Do you listen to it?   It's message?

It happens to me often.   Sometimes I puzzle over the why of this particular song on this particular morning.   But THIS morning, the day after we finally got a new president and a new direction for our country and maybe the world,  I was not puzzled.   

The song was  LIFT UP YOUR VOICE AND SING!

The words:  (sing them as you read them if you can)

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears

Thou who has brought us thus far on our way,

Thou who hast by thy might led us into the light

Keep us forever in the path, we pray...

     Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.

Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand

True to our God, true to our native land.

Let us keep onward still, keep our resolve until

We achieve unity for all people.

Look to the rising sun, new work each day is begun

Daily we strive 'til we true freedom find.

(words: James Weldom Johnson, music: Rosamund Johnson)

The pictures I posted above seem to mirror the feeling and the words of the song.

They also express how my heart is soaring with hope like the sunrise balloon; 

how glad I am that at last we are entering a new day.

Yesterday as I joined the millions watching the Inaugural, I did feel as if I was on the mountain top, and that mountain top still glows in the rising sun.

I pledge myself to look to the rising sun, and to stay on The Way as Godde leads us into the Light of a new age.