I haven’t written for a long time, I have been writing, but writing of a different sort, more specifically, I haven’t been blogging. So one morning I was driving south, the temperature was in the low 20s or maybe colder, when I crested the hill, the sun light touched to tops of the wide forest of bare branches and the trees were alight with a brilliance, a radiance, a glorious light. There are of course no words to take you with me to being surrounded by glittering trees, light reflected like diamond on the maple and birch branches, but there I was in the midst of the holy. The song we sang on Iona came to mind, “Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis deo,” in three part harmony out in a sheep pasture looking at the hill where St. Columba is said to have prayed every night. And on that hill, one of his monks saw angels winging their way around the saint. Maybe for us, the trees are the angels, their glittering light is a way of singing praise, a way of gratitude, a way of reminding us that yes even in the cold and mess there is the sacred.
With so much going on, that we can’t even watch or listen to the news without our blood pressure rising, it’s nice to know that there is still beauty, still a reason to sing, a reason to glow. Some of us have been watching a workshop put together by Commune, featuring Zach Bush, MD. He was talking about regenerative agriculture that can turn the soil of the earth back into the fertile ground it once was. Our current big agricultural methods have been depleting the soil for many years. And in the midst of his talk on soil he started to talk about the amazing beauty of the trees, the sky, the smile of a baby. When we pause and take in the beauty it enables us to love more fully. He was making the connection of the sacredness of all life, and how we can take care of the earth and each other. If you’d like to listen to these amazing talks see Commune
Have you made an intention for how to spend this season of darkness. Will you be looking for beauty? Will you be looking for light? Will you be comforted by resting in the holy dark? Will you be busy shopping for Christmas gifts?