HAPPY EARTH DAY

Happy Earth Day.  As I take out my recycle bin I walk past the beautiful array of spring flowers that were planted years ago by Dan’s father.  Year after year the daffodils and tulips fill the year surrounding my house with exquisite beauty; for awhile.  Then the flowers fade and fall back into the ground where they will go through their own recycling process.  Time and tide, season by season, life goes on; sometimes in full bloom for all to see; sometimes dormant, invisible to the eye.  God’s creation is a masterpiece, untouched by human hands and a mystery to the human mind.

I have many favorite places in nature that I like to remember when my mind is at rest.  Two of them stand out as special; an ancient forest on Gore Mountain, in the Adirondack Mountains in New York, and Easton Beach in Newport, RI.  I visited Gore Mountain with my roommate as she was doing research for her Masters degree in Geology.  She did her research thing and I did my exploring thing.  I discovered a forest and as I entered I felt as though I was walking into another world, untouched by human hands.  It was a magical world, where I imagined fairies and pixies hiding behind the trees and saw little critters scampering along the soft forest floor.  It was absolutely silent and still; I knew I was standing on sacred ground.  I felt at one with all that surrounded me and could have stayed there forever.  I still feel the beauty along with the stillness and silence when my mind returns to that place.

My other special place is the little inhabited rocky beach in Newport.  My father was out on a six month tour of duty and my mom would take my brother and me down to the beach almost every day.  We would set up our makeshift shelter for the day.  We walked the beach searching for shells, surf the waves when the weather was warm enough, and climb high into the cliff of rocks, overlooking the ocean.  Then we would roast hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner or boil lobster and corn.  After the sun went down we would walk the two blocks to our house, leaving our own little island until the next day. 

I love to revisit these special places in my mind often; Simple Pleasures, being one with God’s creation.

THE MIRACLE OF SPRING

As I watch the buds beginning to appear on the bare branches I realize more and more that growth comes from the inner life of the tree.  All that is going on in order for those buds to grow and become visible is happening invisible to my eyes.  The tree trunk and branches that I have looked at all Winter remains the same; but suddenly in the new growth emerges; bud, blossom, leaf, fruit.  It continually amazes me, year after year, this miracle of Spring.

As I watch small changes in my behavior and attitudes I realize more and more that growth comes from the inner life within me.  All that is going on in order for the fruits of the Spirit to begin to grow and become visible in my life is happening invisibly within me.  I look the same on the outside but suddenly, in a particular moment, the new growth emerges; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  It continually amazes me, this miracle of Spring in my soul.

The contemplative life is an inner life.  It can be nurtured but never forced; encouraged but never demanded; desired but never enforced.  It is a life lived inside out, reflective of the Holy Spirit that abides within me.  I can only attend to it and nourish it; it is not mine to control but only to consecrate to the One who gave it to me.