Leap of Faith

We are relational creatures. Down to the very core of our being we are made to be in relationship - with ourselves, with each other, with the world around us, with the sacred presence of the Divine. When we open ourselves to such connections our lives are enriched because we are more fully ourselves. When we ignore, deny and sometimes even actively reject such connections our lives are diminished because we cut ourselves off from an essential aspect of our humanity. The good news is that opportunities for connection are all around us in every moment of our living. The bad news is that we don’t always notice them or open ourselves to the richness of such gifts. And the good news after the bad news is that we do not have to remain stuck in old, unhelpful patterns of living. We can choose to live differently. We can choose to pay attention. We can choose to allow more fullness into our lives.

On our journey this summer there have been a variety of opportunities to connect. Some of them were fleeting - like the moment on the labyrinth in Grace Cathedral when I passed a woman who was going the other way and she folded her hands in front of her and bowed in a gesture of acknowledgement and blessing. The whole encounter only lasted a second or two. And yet, because I was paying attention, the effects continue to reverberate through my life. Some connections were unexpected and delightful. While Veronica was in Florida I was camped by myself in the redwoods south of San Francisco. One evening while I was doing the dishes after dinner one of the women who were camped next to me stopped by to invite me over for a piece of cherry pie. Anne and Reba were their names and they just had to meet the person from Idaho with the “Celebrate Diversity” sticker on his van. It was a wonderful evening as we discovered common ground - they are members of a Unitarian church, and one of them had grown up in a Disciples congregation. It wasn’t the evening I had planned, and because I was paying attention my life was enriched. Some connections have been an outgrowth of long-standing relationships. We spent three days with Oz and Ginny Garton at their cabin in northern California. They have been friends for years and that paved the way for this opportunity. And, because we were paying attention, we experienced wonderful hospitality, laughter, warmth, acceptance and a deeper level of connection. 

New friends - old friends - chance encounters - they all present us with the opportunity to feed our souls. But we have to pay attention or we might miss it. 

Blessings,
Roger

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Roger's Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.