85+ 18......One of the thing we can definitely count on, is, change. We are in the midst of one of Mother Nature's most color-full and dramatic changes. What a sacrament is being presented for our encouragement, as we reflect and meditate on what is right there before our eyes. She is laying before us one of life's greatest lessons. There is such tremendous beauty, hidden and revealed in, the dying process. What beauty is revealed as trees change magically, with breathless beauty, on their journey into emptiness, and nakedness. As it is with nature so it is with all the other occupants of creation.
I was first introduced to the gifts that come with advancing years by, Mrs Cotter, I have mentioned her in previous blogs, was a grey haired gracious senior citizen and a widow. There was a such kindness oozing from her every pore. What a wonder-full example of what can happen, when aging results in graciousness , acceptance, and inclusiveness. (Offered to all, but they do not get to break into our spiritual journey. So all creation suffers.) In her aging, maturing process she was able to reveal the great mystery that with dying we are birthed into a new way of living. She was blessed by grace, and said Yes!!! as a consequence the gift t transformed and transfigured her give life. For your meditation and reflection--- the following quote from The Mass of The Resurrection, " Death is not an end, death is a beginning".
To help on the journey into "the deep", where abundance is hidden and awaiting our arrival, let us reflect on the following gift the great Irish, Nature Mystic, John O'Donoghue's," For a New Beginning."
" In out-of- the-way places of the heart, where your thoughts never think to wander, this beginning has been quietly forming, waiting until you were ready to emerge... .. For a along time it has watched your desire, feeling the emptiness growing inside you, noticing how you willed yourself on, still unable to leave what you have outgrown...... It watched you play with the seduction of safety and the gray promises that sameness whispered, heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, wondered would you always live like this..... Then the delight when your courage kindled, and you stepped onto new ground, your eyes young again with energy and dream, a path of plenitude opening before you."
WOW !!!! what a gift John has bequeathed us. Grist for the mill. Words that challenge us, no matter what stage in life we are at, we are to be ever and always vigilant. There is a wonder-full, awe-full potency in our depths. The power that, when allowed to operate in freedom, beyond our fear filled anxieties, will reveal the deepest truths about who we really are, in The Gracious Creator's original scheme of things. The slow journey of discovery, always being guided by the Spirit will will challenge us to go beyond the easy, and the security of the familiar. O how I ache for the security of entrenchment, but then we are not designed for safe harbors, we are built to face the unsettledness of life's oceans.
From our shipwrecks, our disasters, our frequent encounters with the impotences revealed to us, we are slowly schooled in the wisdom, essential for a joy-filled trudge through the unknowns of life. The Divine is revealed in ways we could never imagine. When we say, our Mother/ Father God is One of endless surprises, we ain't whistling Dixie !!! The thing certain is there will always be change. The change will come as we enter into and emerge from the darkness of faith. As we are, literally, brought to our knees, we will rise up with a vital newness of understanding, which is also called, wisdom.
"In the-out-way-places of the heart.....this beginning has been quietly forming waiting until you were ready to emerge". Wow !!!! how patient is The Infinite Creative and Creating Power of the Holy Spirit. A unique gift is prepared for us, and when the time is right, it is revealed to us. We may think this is a sudden event, but "the mills of God grind very slow but they grind very true." We join Thomas Merton in prayer: "my Lord God I have no idea where I am going", within those uncertain steps into the darkness of Faith, a new beginning is slumbering, waiting for the right moment to break into consciousness. We think these gifts are to be seen as somewhat sudden, far from it.....( HOPEFULLY this thought can be continued. What do you think ? Love and blessings. Great Grandpa Joe.
No comments:
Post a Comment