Dear Friends,
We are preparing ourselves for a more courageous road. One in which, as the poet David Whyte says:
“ …a previously defended identity might not only be shorn away, but be seen to be irrelevant, a distraction, a working delusion that kept us busy over the years and held us unaccountable to the real question.”
The “real question” being, “What must I do to attain eternal life?” (Luke 18)
What do we have to do to see the truth of our own being? What hinders us? Once these questions begin to stir within us, then we can decide to change. We have to be able to recognize the spirits of darkness which would keep us attached to the material world only. We will receive help in this but we have to be willing to change significantly.
We will have to give up the way we think about and work with money. This will be a great challenge. To go from personal wealth to the “commonwealth” will be a great learning experience but we are drawn to it. Many people have lost everything they had to floods and fires. We have to reconsider where everything comes from and where it is going. We have to consider the earth as a living being. When people say, “ I am going out into nature” one wonders where they think they have been all this time. We are nature. We are in her and a part of her.
It is snowing again in February and the forecast shows us that there will be more. It is not as “exciting” as it was in December. We are weary of it. The snow merely slows us down, gets in our way. But what is it “saying” to us? Perhaps the message is to go deeper. Whatever it was you gained from the Holy Nights, whatever you decided to do in January, go back, try harder, renew your intentions, go into that holy place in the center of your heart, and find your true being. Improve the quality of your attention. Make sure that your roots are grounded in the spiritual world and that they are deep and unshakeable.
If you feel lonely and depressed at this time of year, that is like the breaking up of the ice on the river. It has to happen. But spring will come and the water will flow again. It will never be the same water! There will be a new story, a new garden, a new beginning.
The seeds we will plant will be born of suffering. They are the seeds that survived the difficult times. These are the best seeds for gardens because they have made it through the drought, the blight, the scorching heat. These are the best seeds because they are resilient! We can plant them and know that we will receive the help we need. The Spirit will step in where our strength fails.
-Rev. Carol Kelly