Blessing
May the God of small things
delight you this day.
Jan Richardson
Where do we find the fullness or the blessing in this day? How can we listen and know what we really need, or even want? How can we calm the noise that surrounds us, telling us what we must want? It is a discipline. It must become a habit, like so many other things that help us care for our bodies, minds and spirits.
"Unless we empty ourselves of such preconceived cultural or intellectual images and expectations, we not only cannot understand the Other, we cannot even listen. "
M. Scott Peck
Sometimes I think life is like the Mole Game at an arcade. Do you know the game I mean? This is a game that as you approach it, you see a large hammer object. It is cushioned and not made for damage of any kind, but does allow a person to bang or hit the machine. The surface of the game is a series of holes. When the game begins, figures that are designed to look like moles, pop up through the holes. Each time one pops up, your task is to punch it down so it retreats into the hole. As the game progresses the speed with which they pop up increases. I bet you can tell where I"m going.
As a teacher and leader in a faith community, I am often saying, take care of your body, mind and spirit. We all say it in different ways, and with different approaches, but the theme remains the same. Take care of the instrument God has given you. But for the record, let me say that I really believe we are called to teach the very thing we most need to hear. This is so hard some days.
The Mole Game is often my example of how I feel when some aspect of life feels out of control. Whether it's my need of "stuff', or maybe my complete lack of desire to exercise. Maybe it' is my love for food that in the end of the day is not life giving. We all look to things outside ourselves to comfort or inspire us. Whatever our reason, the result is always the same, it fails us in some way. We may enjoy or should so many things in our world. Blessings surround us. But when we look to them to fill us up in some way, or to fix something in our soul that is longing to be filled we will always find ourselves feeling frustrated and lost.
In a meditation this morning written by Jan Richarson, I was reminded that it is in the small things that I find joy. It is in the small things that I find God. Prehaps the smile of a friend, the warm dog snuggled in the curve of my leg, the card I find on my desk as I enter my office.
"In the very stuff of our daily lives-food, shelter, work, community-God makes a home, looking for ways to offer us what we most need. "
Jan Richardson
So on this day, as I still feel a bit like I am fighting the Mole Game, I am stopping and reminding myself that all is well with the world. All is well in my life. I have everything I need. I am wanting to stop and ask God for help with quieting my mind. Gracious God, help me to put down the pillow hammer, help me to give thanks for all my Blessings this day.
Plenitude
At lunch today
it was the purple
of the olive pits
against my cobalt plate
that stunned me.
At tea,
the gold of peach
bloodstained by it's stone.
I do not know
where the greater part
of the miracle lies:
that I should pause
to notice this,
or that I,
a woman of
such great hungers,
should be so well satisfied
by such small things.
Jan Richardson
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