At the Circle's Center

Look at the Perfect One
At the Circle’s Center:
 
He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass,
Beyond all that is Rational,
 
To show this dear world
 
That Everything,
 
Everything in Existence
Does point to God. --Hafiz

Wise Woman

           

I am one who knows what it is to feel humiliated, to feel put down, to be discounted as not equal to man.

 Yet I am also one who knows the power and wisdom at

the core of my own being.

I am one who continues to light the fire of compassion,

who lifts my face to feel the grace that abounds even in times of adversity.

I am the ancient archetype of the Wise Woman whose power is there for all women; those who sit quietly and contemplate as well as those who declare themselves to the world.

 

My wisdom for you is to always balance power with compassion.

Lessons from the Labyrinth

The Full Moon 

Walking the labyrinth with the light of the full moon shining down on the path lighting my next step, I am amazed at the brightness even in the darkness.  Perhaps I need to remember this light next time I am in a dark spot on my life’s journey.  Knowing that if even in the darkness of winter,  the full moon will come and shed light on the next step I need to take.  As I bask in the light of  the full moon,  the tiny stars come out one by one, reminders that the light is always there.  Even as I wander amidst the pain and despair that life has delivered, light will always shine upon the path, and twinkle its message of hope.  So I look up at the moon and at the tiny stars that pop out one by one and feel the eternal message of hope that these lights bring to me night after night; messages of hope built into the fabric of creation.

Cloudy Day of Grace

There was no beautiful sunrise on this gray and cloudy December morning; nothing to dazzle you with its indescribable brilliance.  No, the beauty of this day is in its softness.  The very air itself envelopes me like my grandmother’s pillowy embrace.  Without the brilliant colors of the sunrise, I am drawn to the ever changing patterns of foam in the surf as the waves roll forward and pull back.  What lessons there are to see in the ocean?  Some days of my life are overcome by brilliant sunrises, new beginnings, color filled possibilities.  I seem to tend toward wanting my life to be full of sunshine days.  But today witnesses the small beauties of the cloudy day, morsels of grace that would go unnoticed in the brilliant light.  The small still voice speaks and says look at the glorious ever changing waves.  Even in the turbulent gray ocean is the possibility of beautiful patterns of foam.  What patterns of grace have I missed in my life when on gray days I wish for sunshine rather than living with the moments that are here and now in these quiet cloudy days of grace?

The Whirlwind

Leaves, Leaves, Leaves.  I have been raking leaves this morning.  It seemed that the more I raked more of a battle I was having with the wind.  Just when I had things in my neat little pile here came the wind and whipped the leaves up and around, a snow storm of thin pin oak leaves swirling around beautifully, but no longer in the neat pile ready to be raked and dealt with.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit seems to do exactly the same thing in my life.  Here I am focusing on my life trying to make things neat and orderly, doing what needs to be done, when the Spirit blows through.  My neat orderly life is swirling in a whirlwind of new possibilities, a tornado of grace creating something I had never even thought of out of my somewhat orderly life.

Two years ago the Spirit blew through my life and as a result I am no longer sitting safely in the comfort of my Lutheran congregation of almost 30 years.  I am instead enrolled in a program learning to be a Spiritual Director.  I am leading SoulCollage® classes and have started a Women’s Sacred Circle.  So when the Holy Tornado or even the small still breeze of the Spirit flows through someone else’s life, they will have someone to witness the miracle of God at work.  In my new role I can be that safe haven where others can  ask those questions about God that oftentimes frowned upon in our churches,  helping  others find a way to be still and know that the Spirit is at work swirling the possibilities of hope.

We only need to take a look at the stories in the Bible to know that Holy One never does things the way we expect.   The shepherd boy is called out of the fields to slay a giant, a teenage girl is called out of her chaste life to birth a savior, a persecutor is blinded by the Light of the Spirit on the road to Damascus to be a missionary for the very cause he has been so adamantly fighting.  No, just when it seems that we know what it is we are supposed to be doing; God calls us out to do something beyond our imagining. The Whirlwind of the Spirit is at work swirling around beautifully.  How grateful I am that new possibilities abound.

Happy Thanksgiving!

StillPoint

Stepping out of the busy stream of my life and taking time to be in the moment, witnessing the gifts of the Creator and listening for the voice of the Spirit is such a blessing.  I was privileged to be invited to participate in the Day of Prayer at the Ritchie’s StillPoint Retreat on Sunday afternoon.  I read recently that the soul must know stillness before it can discover its true song.  My heart was truly singing after my afternoon sitting quietly watching the ripples on the lake, walking through the woods really looking at how the moss actually blooms in the fall, quietly laying down my troubles as I slowly walked the Labyrinth…each of these moments of stillness was accompanied by my awareness of how often I overlook the abundance of grace that God literally spills at our very feet if we just pay attention.  The Day of Prayer reminded me once again of the ever present outpouring of God’s grace all around me.  The Psalmist truly spoke the truth…”Be still and know that I am God.”

I was moved to write the following right after finishing my Labyrinth walk.

Filled to Spill

Fill me up with your grace and mercy

When I dip my bucket in the well.

To use the refreshing water of your spirit

to empty myself to the world.

Never wanting, never wanting

Even when empty always full

Fill my  bucket, spill my bucket

Splashing grace with abandon.

So much grace, so much love,

Plenty to lavish on all that I meet...

Plenty to lavish on all that I meet.

Tears of gratitude welling

that all that I am and all that I have

Is more than enough

To do all I can do, be all I can be.

Bless each of my actions

That flow from the outpouring of grace.

Empty me so I may be filled again.

Fill me so I may empty myself

To the Great I Am

Whose current runs deep and well never dries.

Oct.  2, 2011

StillPoint Retreat

Zipping Through the Rain

Friday was truly an exercise in mindfulness.  Zipping thru the trees hanging from a wire high in the Blue Ridge Mountains definitely took me out of my comfort zone and focused entirely on the here and now.

Why, you may be asking yourself, would Karen even consider a mile and a half zip line course? You must have guessed that I did not do this alone.  No, I didn’t do it with Timothy, my 23 year old son.  My father was the catalyst for this adventure.  The zip line was on his “bucket list” so we celebrated his 79^th birthday zipping through the air at Hawk’s Nest just out of Boone.

There I was on the first take off point.  Believe me, zipping thru the air, adjusting my grip to keep myself from turning around backwards where I would not be able to see the tree top landing pad and know when to brake, kept me fully in the moment better than any Buddhist mindfulness training could ever hope to do.  However, as soon as my feet landed on the platform high in the trees, my mindful, meditative focus disappeared as I worriedly awaited my Dad’s arrival.

Each line of the course presented a new challenge, a new leap of faith and a new opportunity to be fully present to the trees, the hum of the wire, and the air whooshing by.  But as is so often the case in any spiritual journey, as soon as I was safe, my focus shifted and I began to worry once again. 

Once we made it to the halfway point on our journey thru the trees, I was beginning to feel more confident and comfortable with the adventure and……then….. it began to rain, just a light drizzle at first and then a pouring rain.  I heard one of our guides comment that the lines weren’t too slick YET!

The next line was short and the fastest zip and now it was also slick.  As I took off braking the whole way with my leather clad glove as instructed, I felt the heat from the friction thru my glove, but didn’t seem to be slowing down.  It was kind of like being in labor, once you’ve started there is no backing out.  Now came my lesson in trust.  I had taken my leap of faith, done all I could, so now I had to trust that the guide at the end of line would break my descent before I hit the tree.  Quicker than I could blink he used a leather strap to stop me just in the knick of time, right before I was intimately and rudely introduced to the tree.  Needless to say, I was ready to call it quits, but the only way off of the stand high in the trees was the next zip line.

I felt just a little bit like Peter when he stepped out of the boat and headed across the water to Jesus only to realize that he really didn’t know how to walk on water.  I still had 4 lines to go and my courage was sinking.  Then here comes my 79 year old Dad, my faith is bolstered and on we go.

I make my final leap of faith, soar through the air to the final landing pad, raining pouring down, glasses so wet I can hardly see.  I make it!  Touch Down!!  I did it!  My elation lasted about 10 seconds then the guide pointed to a wooden slatted swinging bridge 100 feet in the air, no hand rails or sides, just the cable overhead to steady you as you make your way across.  So once again, I step out, one foot in front of the other, hanging on for dear life, I slowly make it across the bridge to safety….no, to another bridge, one more test.  As I finally step onto solid, but very soggy wet ground, I look back and there is my Dad, following in my footsteps.  Dripping wet, safe on the ground, proud of ourselves we head to the van, out of the rain with a bucket full of memories.

Just like Peter, I sometimes need to step out of my comfort zone and take a leap of faith.  Just like Peter, I may at times feel like I am sinking, but someone will reach out and help me.  And…just like Peter, I may have gotten soaking wet, but what lessons I learned and what memories I have to cherish.

So, thank you Daddy for a great 79^th birthday celebration.  I wouldn’t have done this without you and I am so glad to have both the memories and lessons from our zipping through the rain.!!