Food for the Soul | April 15th, 2020
04/15/2020
Dear Friends,
Alleluia! Christ is risen! During this time we celebrate new life, rebirth, resurrection. It behooves us to distance ourselves once in a while from the fear, anxiety and turbulence caused by COVID-19, if only for a minute at the time, and concentrate on God’s unstoppable energy that will move us forward. One minute today, one tomorrow, and so on. Let us dwell for a moment on welcoming newness.
A PRAYER – A PRACTICE – A POEM
A PRAYER
Reveal Yourself
Almighty and ever living God,
You are beyond the grasp of our highest thought,
But within the reach of our frailest trust;
Come in the beauty of the morning’s light and
Reveal Yourself to us.
Enrich us out of the heritage of seers and scholars and saints
Into whose faith and labors we have entered.
And quicken us to new insights for our time;
That we may be possessors of the truth of many
Yesterdays, partakers of your thoughts for today,
And creators with you of a better tomorrow;
Through Jesus Christ, the Lord of the ages.
–Henry Sloane Coffin
A PRACTICE
The Power of Observation – The Present Moment
I invite you today, or any day, to take a break from your daily routine and take a walk in nature; this could be a forest, a park, a beach, or simply your backyard. Not all State and City Parks are closed. My personal preferred place is either Roosevelt Forest (in Stratford) or Sherwood Island State Park (in Westport). Find a path and walk slowly and leisurely. Breathe in deeply, and breathe out letting everything go. Smell the air as it fills your lungs, feel yourself relaxing as you let go. Now begin to observe your surroundings. Notice all forms of new life sprouting up and out: the tiny little plant in the fissure of a rock; the rebirth of a familiar plant; the unfurling of leaves at the end of a tree branch; the new growth on an evergreen; the rivulet of water finding its way – maybe a new way – towards a bigger body of water; do you notice the gentle gurgling of the water’s flow? Do you see a bird’s nest tucked among the branches of a tree? Listen to the crunch of old leaves underfoot, and the wind singing in the top of the still mostly-bare trees against a vast blue sky. Any flowers yet? There is so much new life going on, it is hard to know where to look first.
This exercise of being in the present moment and observing what is in nature, is sufficient in itself. However, one could expand it and start observing what is happening in oneself. Where do I see my own new growth – physical, mental, or spiritual? What can I do to foment this growth? Do I see a transformation happening? Do I welcome it and help it along? How does my creative energy seek expression? Is my capacity for love and compassion growing?
For all the discoveries made through this exercise let us give thanks.
A POEM
For a New Beginning by John O’Donohue
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 long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey 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 out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plentitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of the opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.