Tag: Light

Unexpected

Virginia Theological Seminary, an Episcopal Seminary, is offering a “word a day” to consider during each of the days of Advent (a Christian season observed during the four Sundays leading to Christmas). The word of the day, this first day of Advent, is Unexpected. (see link below)

https://adventword.org/en/?mc_cid=be6749bb61&mc_eid=0f6a0eaef9

Unexpected . . . what unexpected event, person, insight has come into your life recently and unanticipated?

I am someone who doesn’t like surprises. Unexpected events can provoke in me a fear response whether they are good surprises or foreboding ones. Once I get over a startle response, my heart rhythm recovered, my breath deepening, I can look at whatever has surprised me and take it in or respond in a more measured way. Most people would describe me as a calming presence, and would be very surprised to know how little it takes to awaken my startle response of sudden sucked-in breath, slight tightening of shoulders, widening of eyes. Someone walking up beside me when I am not paying attention and saying my name, touching my shoulder when I am reading. Nothing big. But I often am deep in my introverted world. In those moments the world outside fades and when it beckons me, it sometimes startles me.

Today’s word, Unexpected, can point to many such experiences. Surprises welcome and unwelcome. Joy at a fulfilled hope. Fear of “what next”. Being unprepared for whatever.

Advent is a season of preparation in my religious tradition. Four weeks, plus or minus a few days, in which to consider our “track record” of living our lives as meaningful opportunities to grow, to share, to love, to forgive and be forgiven. And four weeks to prepare for a new birth of Light and Love which we are called to carry out into the world. We are to share life-giving Love and Light so all may know they are Beloved and share the Light.

Predating Christianity, this dark season in which cold wins and darkness seems to take up most of our 24 hours has always been a season of longing for the return of the Light. Whatever your tradition or practices, may these days be gifts of welcoming the unexpected not with fear but with knowledge that the Light is coming — and Love is already here with us.

Five Lines . . .

I just learned about Cinquains . . . five lines of prose that begins with a single noun and the rest of the lines describing it. I’m not a poet. I’m not even a consistent writer on this blog. But writing Cinquains appeals to me because it is simple, accessible, and beautiful in its simplicity.

Here are the guidelines:

Line 1: A single noun . Line 2: Two adjectives describing the noun . Line 3: Three gerunds (action verbs ending in -ing) . Line 4: A sentence or phrase of just 4 words telling how you feel about the noun. Line 5: A synonym of line one.

Try one. They are fun, and sometimes surprisingly insightful. I am no poet, but here are some I’ve played with:

Time.
Moments.Unstoppable.
Filling. Measuring. Disappearing.
Faster and faster now.
Instantly.
Blue.
Cobalt.Sapphire.
Flying.Collapsing.Dying.
The color of 9/11.
Mourning.
Morning.
Fresh.Lightfilled.
Birthing.Rising.Beginning.
Always new, always surprising.
Hopeful.


Awakening to Moonlight

The past several nights, I have awakened just after midnight to moonlight streaming through our bedroom window. I have been entranced with its brightness — bright enough to throw shadows onto the lawn as I peek out the second floor bedroom window.

I never knew the moon to be so bright. But then, I don’t think I ever paid attention to the strength of moonlight before. When my eyes are adjusted to darkness, the moon’s light is strong enough to walk safely and able to spot any obstacles like the gaping potholes at the end of this winter, or stones churned up by the snow plow and thrown onto the road’s edge. The moon’s light is probably strong enough to do yardwork, if I were so inclined to leave my warm bed and get dressed in the chill of my house at night.

The moon is said to be a symbol of feminine energy and monthly cycles. Supposedly the moon was created as a “secondary”, less bright light than the sun which is said to be a symbol of male energy. Yet the light I am entranced by as I awake to it does not seem to take second fiddle to the sun at all. Moonlight is soft yet bright. It changes through the lunar cycle, never the same any single night. It rises and sets in different places through the year and its timing shifts as well. It does not share its light with an “in your face” brightness — rather it gives just enough light that I can see something but only with soft edges, not well-defined boundaries. And the softness of its light — even at full moon — makes me “work” to see things and know what they are. I have to want to see before my eyes focus and my brain discerns the outlines shown in the fainter light.

The sun’s light can blind one with light, moonlight reveals.

And the moon overcomes the sun in periodic eclipses, blocking the bright light of the sun for a few stunning moments of awe. . .the “secondary” light showing its subtle strength for all to see as though to say, “Each of us has our gifts. One is not stronger, of more value, than another. Remember . . .”

A Consequential Life . . .

I recognized the key decisions of living a consequential life is:  Why am I here?  What will I do? How will I do it?  It’s a series of questions that we repeat all of our lives, especially during seasons of change.  When we find the answers, then we are assured that we are on the journey to live a consequential life. These three fundamental, but crucial questions are the map.

From: http://www.deeannturner.com/a-consequential-life-part-2/

One of the tributes I recently heard relating to John McCain, late senator from Arizona, was from Doug Ducey, current governor of Arizona.  Ducey described McCain as having lived a consequential life . . . That was a new phrase to me  and one that has resonated with me in the days since.  A consequential life . . . 

In beginning this blog entry, I googled what is a consequential life? . What came up was a bit disconcerting: consequential life cycle analysis (CLCA). CLCA is not about a life philosophy, it is about the impact on a variety of industrial outputs when an element of that manufacturing process is deleted.  ???

Of the 10 pages of google results that I reviewed, I found one reference each to Barbara Bush, Arthur Schlesinger, and Bernard Bailey as having lived a consequential life.  Not what I expected.  I was hoping for a variety of opinions on what living a consequential life might look like to various folks.  I discovered Dee Ann Turner’s essay on the questions one asks about one’s life path on that 10th page.

The idea of one’s life being consequential is akin to living one’s life in such a way to leave the world better than how you found it.  A consequential life is an intentional life, a life lived with questions and reflections on which path of many is consonant with one’s values and goals.

A definition of consequential offers synonyms like important, significant, major, momentous, weighty, memorable, far-reaching, serious.  Regardless of one’s political loyalties or religious practices, We can hardly disagree with the assessment of Barbara Bush, Arthur Schlesinger, John McCain having lived consequential lives (I don’t know Bernard Bailey’s story).  Most of us will not find ourselves in the public eye nor have opportunities to impact our world as Bush, Schlesinger, or McCain might have.  But in my mind, I can live my life with the intention of leaving my community and those with whom I interact (family, friends, acquaintances, everyday passersby) in a better place than when I arrived on this earth.  I do that through striving to glimpse the Light of God within each person I meet.  I desire to do no harm — but more than that, to do as much good as I can through reflecting on my relationships, my resources, my time, my energy.  And I know I will fail miserably quite often — but I will try anyway.

If you subscribe to the butterfly effect (Edward Lorenz: small changes can have large consequences), perhaps any encounter we have with others at any time — no matter how fleeting — can deliver unexpected consequences — can be consequential.   Yes, the briefest of encounters — how we treat a check-out clerk, whether we wave another car to go ahead of us at the 4-way stop, how we respond to a harried mom with a fussy child throwing a loud tantrum  — a frown?  or a quick “I’ve been there, I understand”?  Silly examples, perhaps, but consequential to someone’s day and also to mine.

I had to call an insurance customer service line this morning because something had triggered their system to reject my pharmacy bill.  The wait was long, the music on hold was too loud, I was annoyed and my tone of voice would have conveyed that if I hadn’t been thinking about this blog entry.  After a countdown (“you are the 4th person in line, please hold for the next available representative . . . you are the 3rd person in line, . . .”) that seemed interminable, a live voice asked how she could help me.  She couldn’t spell Moravian or Theological or Seminary and after asking me to spell them, she apologized for being “so dumb” — I told her she wasn’t dumb, just unfamiliar with the words.  She breathed a sigh and thanked me for being gracious.  I could tell that she was more relaxed and smiling — as was I because I had responded out of my better self.  We finished our business with good spirits and I felt heard and served well — no need to be irritable and pushy as I would have been had I not been thinking of the person on the other line.

If you are still reading this, I thank you.  To many folks such reflections on what is a consequential life may seem pollyanna and unimportant.  But it helped me be intentional with at least one small connection today with someone on the other end of a business call.  And I think it helped shape her day.

Jane+