Meandering

Tags

autumn, beauty, blessings, fall, gratitude, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wandering

Finally, the leaves are beginning to show some colors of autumn! It’s not that I long too much for this miracle of beauty; it means the approach of cold and often inclement weather, after all. It is, however, one of God’s great gifts to those of us who live in the Northeast of the United States. One could spend a lot of time thinking of autumn as metaphor. (Going out “in a blaze of glory” comes to mind as an image.)

I wonder sometimes if all of life is not meant to be that kind of alternation of beauty and dissolution so we don’t hold on to anything too long. I wait for the autumn colors and would love to see them for months, but that would hold back the wonder of snowfall and interrupt the natural order of things…Some of you are already saying, “Fine with me – if I never saw snow again it would be okay!”

I could go on but I don’t know how I even got this far. It doesn’t take much sometimes to set my mind to wandering. I guess my point today would only be one of gratitude for God being in charge of the workings of the world and a wish that we would stop interrupting the flow…of global warming, for example…but there I go again with a new topic!

Enough! Blessings on your Tuesday!

October

Tags

autumn, awaken, Celtic Benediction, foliage, goodness, J. Philip Newell, life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I was mowing the lawn yesterday I woke up to the shift in the season. The colors are changing, the smells and earthiness on the breeze in the back field are different and there is a wistfulness that bubbles up in me to know that once again we are moving away from the lightness of summer. At the same time, I am now alert for the glory to come as I search the trees for the tinges of color that announce the autumn miracle of the leaves. It’s always a risk that the summer was too wet or too dry to allow much color in the autumn leaves but we are usually wrong and nature puts on a lovely show. I found a little prayer this morning, just right to accompany me this day.

In the beginning, O God, when the firm earth emerged from the waters of life, you saw that it was good. The fertile ground was moist, the seed was strong and earth’s profusion of color and scent was born. Awaken my senses this day to the goodness that still stems from Eden. Awaken my senses to the goodness that can still spring forth in me and in all that has life. (J Philip Newell, Celtic Benediction, p. 26)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Ground

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autumn, beauty, Earth, God, ground, growth, life, Mary Schneider CSJ, nourishment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As the temperature struggled to get up to 60 degrees (F) yesterday, I walked outside and noticed also that it was time to cut back plants that had flowered so beautifully, yet briefly, earlier in the summer. It feels already as if the autumn is upon us although the prediction is that we may return to milder temperatures in the coming week, as is often the case – ironically – when children return to school. I feel as if being outside tending to the earth would be a noble and restorative occupation today.

I was encouraged in that determination by a prayer by Mary Schneider, CSJ in a reflection booklet produced by my religious community, a welcome gift on this Saturday morning. Mary offers the following blessing:

May God, the Ground of All Being, the Ground that gave you life and nourished your growth, help you realize that you are fruit of the ground in which you grew. You reflect this ground, bringing special gifts and beauty into the world. May you realize, too, that each person, each living, growing thing, also reflects the Ground and colors the world with unique gifts and beauty.

God, Ground of All being, fill us with appreciation of all growing things – their variety of shapes, sizes, textures, intricate patterns and colors.. May this beauty help us accept the diversity in all human beings and allow us to acknowledge the gift of ourselves, the gift that life is, counting each person as part of the earth filled with the goodness of God.

 

 

 

 

 

Creation Sings!

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autumn, creation, glory of God, natural world, psalm 119, psalm 139, psalm 8, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I occasionally mention my three favorite psalms (8, 19, 139) that all speak in some way of the grandeur of creation. I find it fitting that today, when we are at the peak of autumn beauty in the Northeast USA, Psalm 19 appears in the daily readings to wake me up (just in case I am missing the splendid show!). Perhaps even those not lucky enough to experience the brilliance of color in trees and the clarity of the chilly night sky full of stars can give thanks today for our natural world. There are oceans, mountains, deserts, birds and animals to observe and be amazed at – because of diversity as well as complexity. Whatever our experience of today, may it evoke a sense of what the Psalmist felt in singing the following:

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork. Day pours out the word to day and night to night imparts knowledge. Not a word nor a discourse whose voice is not heard. Through all the world their voice resounds and to the ends of the world their message. God has pitched a tent there for the sun, which comes forth like a groom from his bridal chamber and, like a giant, joyfully runs its course. At one end of the heavens it comes forth, and its course is to their other end; nothing escapes its heat.

Longing for Light

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autumn, Lectionary, Lord, mercy, Psalm 130, redemption, Scripture, soul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waiting, Word

It’s staying dark longer these days as we move deeper into the autumn season, so in the morning I often look out the window hearing the words from Psalm 130: My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn from inside me. Today, when appointments did call me to rise in the dark, Psalm 130 appeared in the daily lectionary. Often, especially when the psalm of the day is long, only part of it is used in the liturgy. I knew something was missing from this psalm of only 8 verses. (One gets used to the cadences after 50 years of reciting prayers.) I went to my Bible and there it was; they had left out my favorite verse! To compensate for the oversight, I read all my alternate translations of the psalm and found, among the similar texts, two vivid versions that read as follows.

1. My whole being waits for you, my God, listening for your presence. I long to hear your voice again, speaking. So like a watchman who anticipates the crack of dawn, my heart waits for the first-light of your word.

2. I wait for You, my soul waits, and in your Word I hope. My soul awaits the Beloved as one awaits the birth of a child or as one awaits the fulfillment of their destiny.

Despite the diversity and meaningfulness of those words, the unfolding of the coming of light (now complete outside my window) makes me know I’ll keep my traditional words of welcome that repeat and continue: More than sentinels for the dawn, let my soul wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.