Reality Check: 29 November 2009

As I write this evening, I can well imagine there are a great many shoppers who are now home, exhausted from the shopping frenzy of the day, searching for parking spots, weaving in and out of the way of other shoppers in the stores, waiting in long check-out lines. Even though most all the stores have had Christmas displays and items out for weeks already, this day dubbed Black Friday has become the official kick off of the holiday shopping season. A great many years ago I did venture out to the stores the day after Thanksgiving like so many others and vowed never to do that again. I returned home bumped and bruised from getting banged into with shopping carts. Since that time I prefer to call this particular holiday shopping day “Black and Blue Friday”.

No doubt a great many people found some good deals on items on their shopping list. From the brief images shown on the local news this evening, the parking lots and stores were filled. One woman reported being hungry after shopping and waiting in line for so long (hmm…how many people go to bed hungry every night?). Another couple of people got into a “fight” (argument perhaps) over a GPS system and the store management had to call the police for “crowd control”. It gets me to wondering… Why do we put ourselves though all of this? What are we trying to accomplish or prove? Is all the excess spending really necessary to celebrate Christmas?

There are a great many people who are without employment in our little corner of the world, who are finding it hard to pay bills, put food on the table, afford the basic necessities of life, or do not have a place of their own to call home. Here are a few statistics I found today: Christmas shopping this year is expected to amount to $21.5 billion spent on electronics, $3 billion spent for gifts for pets and $145.5 billion spent on holiday celebration (yes, billion)! A few other numbers: 300 million children in our world do not even have one pair of shoes to wear, 3 billion people around the world live on less than $2 a day and over 100,000 people die each year from parasite infections (because they have no shoes). These staggering numbers of excess and poverty should give us pause – be a reality check for what is going on with our holiday preparations and with our sisters and brothers around the world.

As we begin this Christian season of Advent, a time of preparation, perhaps we can pause a while to remember and reflect on just what it is we are preparing for. Is it really that big bucks celebration or…is it something more – something much more valuable and lasting? The prophet Jeremiah foretold of the coming of one who “shall do what is right and just in the land” (33:15). An often heard comment to justify much of our excessive holiday spending is: “Christmas is for children”. Well, yes it is - for each and every one of us is a child of our loving Creator. As richly blessed and holy children, perhaps this year while we are going about our holiday preparations this Advent season, we will be moved to participate according to our abilities in co-creating a safer, more secure, just world…one person at a time.

Peace on the Journey.

Giving Thanks: 22 November 2009

While on our daily walk through the pasture on Wednesday the Eastern bluebirds were once again spotted fluttering around the field and nearby trees. It just feels so unusual to see them this time of year. Surely they should have been long gone to a place of warmer weather. For their lingering I am thankful. As we approached the woods, a very familiar rustling sound was heard. Though I didn't see it, I knew from past experience it was the would of a deer moving through the trees just beyond the rise of the hill safe for a few more days from the avid hunters in the family. I've grown very fond of these daily walks in the wide open spaces of nature - the changing colors of the landscape, the crispness of the air, the distinct smells of crop harvesting and field plowing, the sound of honking geese flying in V formation high in the sky. For all this wonder I am truly grateful.

After having observed the beauty and abundance of spring and summer it is so appropriate we celebrate Thanksgiving this time of year for there is much to be thankful for: life, health, love, home, comfort, children, grandchildren, family, friends... Even the struggles and challenges and sadness that may have come along this past year are events that warrant gratefulness for they do have a way of moving our hearts and minds closer toward the Holy, if we open ourselves to their gentle nudging (or pushing).

As we sit down for our holiday meal, let us consider all the people, things, and events that have graced our lives and join our hearts and thoughts with the psalmist with gratitude in saying, "I thank you, Lord, with all my heart" (Psalm 138:1) for all the ways our Sacred Provider abundantly loves us and blesses our lives.

Peace on the Journey.

Paths: 15 November 2009

You will show me the path to life.
Psalm 16:11

It is the time of year when many of the fields are prepared for the winter and next spring’s growing season. The barley field surrounding our house was harvested a couple weeks ago and this morning it was plowed leaving a rather dismal looking dark brown landscape. If my recollection of the cycle of plantings in this particular field is on target, next spring it will be planted with corn. As much as I appreciate and respect the gift and toil of farmers, I can’t help feeling disappointed that the field is now plowed because when the grain was harvested it provided an extremely accessible short cut to the pasture where I take my daily walk with the dogs where I can let them loose to run freely and safely. That convenient “path” across the field is now gone.

On the plus side, the paths winding up and down and around the hills in the pasture are quite accessible. And…there is certainly an alternate route to take to the pasture other than the short cut through the now plowed field.

Our spiritual life mirrors the image a path. Sometimes we see the path, or way, clearly and it becomes familiar and comfortable. At other times our preferred spiritual practices just don’t reap the connection with the Divine we have grown to find comfort in and we may experience much difficulty, or even find it next to impossible to find comfort and peace and rest and nourishment for our weary souls. What was once consoling or enriching becomes dry or stagnant. We find it hard to know which path, or spiritual practice, to take to renew our spirits. As a result we may frantically go about searching for other options based on what others tell us (which may or may not be in our best interest) and perhaps make choices on impulse rather than listening for the voice of the Holy within.

When we come to realize it is our task to trust in our Sacred Guide who will indeed show us, as the psalmist writes, the path to life, we take a huge step in letting go of our human desire to be in control of everything. What a blessing and gift it is to let go our human desires and rely on the graciousness of Divine Love to show us the way and guide us along the path created just for us.

Peace on the Journey.

Outward Appearances: 8 November 2009

While out for a walk this afternoon I was captivated by the sight of a soaring red-tailed hawk. The scene evoked an ever growing appreciation of nature’s beauty. Standing atop a hill I watched as it gracefully glided up and down and around above and below the tree tops at the edge of the woods with wings spread out wide and barely flapping in the strong wind and I couldn’t help thinking about the elegance of its movements. But all is not as it appears. Though the hawk’s flight was a joy to behold, we know it to be a large and aggressive sharp-taloned bird and what we may view as a splendid and glorious air show is in reality a search for prey – an unsuspecting rabbit, vole or mouse. (If you ask me, a few less mice in the world would not be a bad thing.)

We can ponder how events or sights in nature can image many experiences in our own lives. The apparent effortlessness of the hawk’s flight evokes a bit of envy – life for us humans is rarely all that easy. And the sheer beauty of the graceful flight is in part a deception for the intent is the destruction of life. Yes, it’s all a part of survival in the animal world but it is not appropriate or acceptable behavior to prey upon one another in the human world.

Jesus cautioned the people of his time to beware of those who outwardly appeared righteous and honorable and yet have the inner intent of causing hardship to the vulnerable (Mark 12: 38-40). There are times when we too need to be cautious of those who would deceive us by singing their own praises with flashy words, promises and titles and those who may attempt to lead us away from our true identity and responsibility as beloved creations of the Sacred. Each of us is richly blessed with our own talents and gifts not to be flaunted but to be unselfishly and humbly shared – to uplift and to care for others with compassion, mercy and love...just as abundantly as we are loved by the Holy.

Peace on the Journey.