Thursday, December 20, 2007

Dearest God,

The changing of the seasons is a mystical moment in a time, a letting go and a reaching forward. Probably fifteen years ago in December I took a group of women with me for a Winter Solstice Celebration. We traveled nearly three hours to Plymouth, Indiana. There we spent most of the day outdoors, walking in the snow, looking and listening for signs of change. It was cold and very snowy.

I remember walking in silence, reaching out my hand to touch newly fallen snow. I recall wandering in the wooden area, sometimes sitting on a log or rock in a winter wonderland, thinking, reflecting upon the wonder of it all. I remember discovering signs of your presence, leavings of yesterday, possibilities for tomorrow. I remember thinking it was one of the most beautiful spiritual exercises in December, just days before Christmas.

At noontime we walked into the old farmhouse where the aroma of hot soup and freshly baked bread and pie wafted in the air. As we ate our meal and drank our hot beverages, we discussed our spiritual findings. How comfortable I was in an unfamiliar setting where all seemed new, like something or someone giving birth.

This year I invited another group of women to join me at the Museum of Art for yet another solstice celebration. All outdoors we walked through the luminary-lighted path to the Lilly House where grand decorations had been placed. We heard a symphony of sound in the greenhouse. We witnessed an earth-colored owl as his owner made special bird sounds. We patted a real reindeer. (My granddaughter asked me if it was Rudolph. I told her the reindeer was a girl. No matter. She was certain she must be Clarice, Rudolph's girlfriend.) We sat in the museum cafe dining on appetizers and cold drinks.

Later as I drove home I thought about my experience. I decided that change is such a wonderful thing, although sometimes extremely painful. I thought too of how beautiful it is to celebrate in the now the thing that is happening. To know that you have ordained change, that all things are transforming, gives me cause to celebrate the wondrous sacred events of time and space. My now moment will be tomorrow's memory. If it is a suffering time, I will remember that you held me in my grief and pain. Also I will know yesterday is finished, today is happening. If it is a glorious moment, then I shall look back and remember its glory, no matter how far distant in the future.

I am remembering you,
Wondrous God.
Your ways,
your teachings,
your time and space.
I am celebrating
the gift of now,
with no concern
for tomorrow.
For tomorrow
will arrive on its own.
Today will be diminished
if all I am thinking about
is tomorrow or yesterday.
How wondrous
is your life,
O Lord.
My heart is grateful
for moments
when I am given opportunity
to peek into its majesty.

Loving you, Andrea