Of Fruit and Fear

Tags

life, patience, readiness, rules, safe, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, wrong

There is a very rotund, very large groundhog living under our conference hall right now. Lately s/he has a routine of coming out and heading directly for the pear tree in the back yard. S/he doesn’t seem to mind that the pears are still very hard and (I suppose) unripe. I wonder at the quality of this amusing animal’s digestion. We also have an apple tree out there whose fruit is looking quite enticing. One of my housemates is eagerly awaiting the first frost which signals the moment of readiness of the apples for consumption. Since they have already begun to fall to the ground I suggested that they may have defied the usual moment of truth this year – but she tried one yesterday and only needed one bite to know the necessity of following the rules. So I wonder: would the groundhog get a stomach ache if s/he ate an apple today? Would the pears go down easily for us? Otherwise expressed: Does the same rule apply to all fruits and all eaters?

Life is complicated and it’s hard to know all the rules, even if you’ve lived a long time. The choice that we face most days is whether to risk being wrong once in awhile or staying safe by never testing the rules. At issue is our willingness to miss some tasty fruit in order to be sure we never have a stomachache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Don’t Wait!

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A Light Grasp on Life, action, Alan Cohen, face, grace, problem, procrastination, readiness, signs, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, warnings

I recently heard that procrastination can become an addiction. I was rather surprised at that designation but have since pondered it as I make my daily lists and check at the end of the day or week to see what has fallen through the cracks of time and why. I can sometimes put the blame on unexpected events or lack of sleep the night(s) before the list was made but have added this practice of awareness to my desire for conscious living in the everyday. The challenge is to be responsible without becoming rigid so I try to remember a favorite book title of long ago:  A Light Grasp on Life.

My thoughts above were occasioned by two things:

1. Tomorrow I leave for an out-of-state family wedding so I need to ramp up my readiness quotient and get busy with all the tasks that need to be completed including what needs to be taken along for the ride. (That list will include my computer but there’s no telling whether or how often there will be another blog entry before next Tuesday.)

2. Earlier this morning I read the following reflection by Alan Cohen that started me thinking about the deeper side of procrastination. He was speaking of an electrical problem in his laundry room that he waited almost too long to attend to.  His words seemed an appropriate conclusion for this “thought for the day” in any situation that we might be tempted to “put off until tomorrow.”

When something in our life is malfunctioning, we receive signs, warnings…In life too, we cannot afford to keep overriding the breakers. We must heed the breaker’s warning and go to the source of the problem rather than simply treating the symptom. Instead of taking an aspirin for a headache, we need to face who or what is giving us a headache and deal with the problem at its source. Keep your antennae up for signals. Take the grace and then take action. (A Deep Breath of Life.)

 

 

 

 

 

Are You Listening?

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agency, Andrew, Eli, Here I am Lord, John the Baptist, Lamb of God, looking, Peter, Psalm 40, readiness, Samuel, Simon, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Although the readings in the early days of this new year often center around the theme of call, there is a fair amount of diversity in the specifics – and, on Sundays, emphasis from the Hebrew Scriptures as well. This morning we read one of my favorite texts from the First Book of Samuel (1 SAM 3) which could be performed as a short comedy sketch. Samuel is a child living in the temple under the tutelage of Eli when he hears God call his name in the night. This being his first such experience he thinks Eli is calling so he runs to him and says, “Here I am. You called me.” Eli, probably a bit groggy from sleep, says to him, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” This happens again, not once but twice and it is only the third time that Eli realizes that it is God calling Samuel.  He then directs Samuel that when he hears God calling he is to say, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The move from Samuel to the Gospel of John is punctuated by Psalm 40 which fairly shouts: I have waited, waited for the Lord and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. He put a new song in my mouth! Then we see John the Baptist standing – as if waiting – with two of his disciples as Jesus walks by. He is recorded as saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Immediately the disciples leave John and follow Jesus. John does nothing to stop them as he knows that his role is herald. When Jesus turns around and sees them he asks, “What are you looking for?” They counter with the question: “Where are you staying?” “Come and you will see,” he says and, amazingly, they do. One is Andrew who goes and tells his brother, Simon, of the experience and brings him to Jesus as well.

Setting these scenes in such detail might seem a bit much but I think necessary to illustrate two things about call: readiness and agency. How ready are we at any moment to respond to God’s call in whatever form it comes to us? Secondly, are we willing to hear messages from others that may move us to such a response? Eli, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and then Andrew were instrumental in the movement of Samuel, Andrew and Peter toward God. Today seems a good day to reflect on our own readiness and then to thank God for those in our lives who have been catalysts on our path to “Here I am, Lord!”