Pause More, by Mary Lou Logsdon

Pause more.

I probably didnʼt need to go to Boston and the SDI (Spiritual Directors International) conference to know that, yet it is what rang out so clearly over the three days. Pause more.

The speakers and rituals centered on Cultivating Compassion. We can cultivate compassion through listening, practicing mindfulness, recognizing the interrelatedness of the whole of life, daring to heal the rifts that divide us. In our hurried, fragmented world we need the gift of compassion desperately.

The conference plenary sessions were led by John Phillip Newell. Our very own Rabbi Amy Eilberg was the conference spiritual director. Rabbi Amy paused with us to savor and break open Newellʼs picturesque words and story-filled wisdom.

Relationship, harmony, and love are the yearnings of the universe, as well as universal longings present in all of creation. We are all interconnected, interwoven, interdependent. The actions and reactions of each of us ripple well beyond what we imagine to be our limited sphere of influence. We are becoming aware of the interconnectedness of the universe. A new consciousness is breaking through many fields of study, including physics, biology, psychology, cosmology, and theology.

Newell paraphrased Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar (Burma). In order for us to help compassion grow, we must have the courage to see, the courage to feel, and the courage to act.

We must have the courage to see our interrelatedness even in the midst of the fragmentation that dominates so much of our world. This fragmentation is driven by: fundamentalism, which defines truth in hard-edged terms; the enormous changes we are experiencing; and a world view that sees the sacred as separate from creation.

We must have the courage to feel the pain that is a part of life. We must recover songs of lament, to feel the brokenness that is a part of life. Life is shrouded in pain. We cannot hide from it. We must name the falseness of which we have been a part.

We must have the courage to act. We must not give up hope. Hope and action belong together. The future has not been decided. We can be a part of that future. We pretend that we can love God and not the earth or each other.

To call upon this courage, we must have a spaciousness to our lives, a place of calm from which to see, to feel, to move into action.

What can I do today? Pause more.
Mary Lou Logsdon is a Spiritual Director and Retreat Leader in private practice in the Twin Cities. She can be reached at logsdon.marylou@gmail.com.

 

Finding Middle Ground, by Vera Snow

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry originally appeared on verasnow.com, and is reprinted here by her kind permission.

Right now, my favorite network T.V. show is The Middle on Wednesday nights.  It’s about a blue-collar/middle class family living in Indiana that falls short of experiencing the American Dream one episode at a time.  As much as the middle-aged mother tries to rationalize and sanitize the reality of a life with little money, three outrageously different kids, and a “man’s man” of a husband, she finds herself humbled at the end of every episode.  Not humbled in a defeatist kind of way, but rather in a way that leads her out of her head and into her heart.  Basically, striving to find a balance somewhere in the middle.

She models the idea of letting go and surrendering to the many things (and there are many) in her life that are simply out of her control.  She is a heroine in so many ways, because she never ceases to look her life straight in the eye, call it by name, and embrace all it has to offer, including the very ugly.  No matter how much she thinks her life should be a certain way, she always comes to realize that her life may not be perfect, but rather great just as it is!

This is the kind of radical acceptance that I strive for on a daily basis.  To accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and respect the difference between the two.  A kind of Serenity Prayer practiced in the Twelve Step Programs, yet profoundly empowering to anyone trying to live an authentic, balanced life.

So often, especially during this technological age, we are taught to think our way through anything and everything.  Yet, we often forget that we are so much more than our heads.  In fact, we have a whole body underneath that head that is hardly ever tapped for insight, perspective, and wisdom.  Many times the body is ignored and left dormant. A Sleeping Beauty of sorts just waiting to be awakened and made whole.

Not unlike Frankie Heck, from The Middle, life can sometimes bring me to this awakened state.  Of course, I usually have to be brought to my knees first, laid out flat, and then — and only then — will I give up the fight and finally accept the situation at hand.  Not a fun process.   Gut-wrenching actually!

This kind of leap of faith goes way beyond rational thought and takes over my entire body in a way that brings me back to my instinctual self.  The self that can no longer explain or rationalize things away, and resigns itself to being tired and hungry.  Tired of thinking everything to death, and hungry for a simpler process that comes straight from the gut!

This is the middle ground that Frankie Heck comes to at the end of every episode.  Through the laughter and tears that accompany her and her family from one messy week to the next, she always seems to land steadily on her feet.  No longer in a wishful thinking state, but in a state of unfettered awareness that changes her from the inside out, and surrounds her with an inner peace that clearly shines through and exudes: All is well — all has always been well — and all forever well will be.

How about you?  When have you come to a radical acceptance of something in your life?  What was it like for you and what did you learn from it?

Vera Snow is, among other things, a mother, a spiritual director, and an author.  Follow her at http://www.verasnow.com

First Light, by Ammie Gronert

Spring is a time of increasing daylight.  TPT has been playing “Chased by the Light,” a program featuring the photography of James Brandenburg.  Hearing him talk about his photography and capturing the light is a contemplative experience.  It started me thinking about light.

Spring is a time of light. I look forward to longer days and more light!

I associate Easter with sunrise services.  Two decades ago, Holy Week began to include an Easter service on Holy Saturday, really an ancient service revived by churches that used liturgy.  I remember the first Easter Vigil service I attended.   The church was filled with flowers and the scent of Easter was there .  There was solemnity and beauty, and many readings not used at other services.  I loved it in theory, but it never seemed like Easter.  After the evening service, when I came out of the church, it was dark!  There was no morning light.

Perhaps I had been programmed as a kid to think of Easter as an early service.  I remember being a teen and going with friends to a sunrise service or singing in choir at all the services, the first being early.  That was Easter. It is also about the light.

First light… that is when we are told the women went to the tomb of Jesus.  Matthew says,   “after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning.”  Luke says, “at early dawn they came to the tomb,” and Mark says, “very early, when the sun had risen”.  It’s about light, but it’s about more than light.  It is about something new, something happening.  Nature symbolizes it again and again.  For me the symbol is first light.

The women at the tomb weren’t expecting what they found.  That

First light, seeing your way in what had been dark

Seeing your way in a way that had been no way

Seeing possibility when there seems to be nothing

Having expectations shifted and shifted again

To a new reality.

I am including a picture of Spider lilies, taken in Glacier at the break of day.  The black water surrounds the white flowers.  When I saw the picture I called it “Resurrection.  “ The photographer is my husband’s uncle who has taken many pictures in natural settings.  Spend time with it and see what this photo has to say to you.

 

Ammie Gronert, MA/PS is a spiritual director with Sacred Ground.