Looking through the glass which is me

Honesty. It is so necessary in our lives, our spiritual even more than our temporal. Honesty requires awareness. None of us can step back and look at ourselves and see what is really there. Not at first. It takes years of self-reflection, evaluation, discussion. Honestly must start with ourselves.

Honesty must also direct our relationships with those we hold dear in any way. To have a relationship that reaches beyond the superficial requires a trust that allows me to share with another my authentic self. To do so, I must trust in the other’s ability to respect who I am. Such trust invites reciprocity, begets transparency, and yields honest conversations.

This brings us to our relationship with God. 1 John 4:20 says for the one who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. Our ability to be honest with a brother, sister, friend, partner really affects how honest we truly are with God. For the pattern begins with the tangible here, and only an authentic relationship will teach us how to relate with the God we cannot see.

I believe the first step really begins with myself. My ability to see God depends on my own honesty with self. It's as though the looking glass to God is me, and until I clean the mirror, I cannot find the God within. The cleaning solution is honesty, a true sense of myself, an acceptance of the who I really am.

In effect, our journey can only reveal to us what we are first willing to accept.

Reflecting on the Context of the Meaning

Reflecting on the context of the meaning. I read that line recently. The phrase caught my attention because it said to me, hey! you, stop and think.

Modern day communications don't give us much time to stop and think. We are bombarded with color, sound and sight, objects that flash, words that pack. The hoped-for effect is to excit. But that kind of excitement is short lived, and leaves much to be desired.

Reflecting on the context of our lives can seem difficult and challenging, but it offers rich rewards! Like true freedom and authentic relaxation. Think of how many sunsets we miss because we are buried in work or engrossed in our preparations for the next meeting, the next proposal, the next event. Think of the real cost we pay because we are unwillingness to reflect. Often that includes the loss of experiencing that which is awesome, mystical, and inspiring in life.

I learned to appreciate reflecting not in a monastery cloister walk, but on my early morning walks in the park. I started going to exercise, but ended up using the walk for reflection. That was because the time spent proved powerful. I went very early, before anyone else ventured out. At first I had to fight the temptation to  listen to my favorite podcast as I walked. I feared being "bored". But as time went on, I wasn't even tempted, because I experienced awesome moments of nature. As I walked in silence, taking in nature around me, thoughts would flood my mind, and I would reflect. There were wonderful sights and sounds I could never have imagined, such as the morning I saw deer feeding on a meadow dense with fog. The sight was worthy of a painting. But I saw it for real. Another morning I witnessed a fire that caught the clouds as the sun rose and spread it across the entire sky, filling it with every shade of red imaginable. Recently, I experienced a deeply mystical walk along the Delaware River. The fog hung heavy in the air, cloaking trees, grasses, river and the geese flying low over it. The scene took on eerie and mythical proportions. As I walked, the sights fed my soul, and I came away so enriched I am still on a high from it all.

Reflect on the context of the meaning. If we could but simplify our lives, we would see better, hear more, suffer less.

It's worth a try.

Turning Toward the Light in Preparation

Advent. A time when darkness reaches its longest day, and then recedes. At least in our hemisphere!

Advent is traditionally a time of preparation. In monastic traditions, it is a season rich with customs and advent practices, all meant to put the mind and heart of a person in readiness for a new awareness of the Divine. There is greater silence, fasting, good deeds, and prayers calling the Lord to come.

In this time of preparation, here in this busy world of ours, we too need to make a corner for some monastic Advent practice. An extra 15 minutes in the morning for quiet reflection and scripture reading. Or a time set aside during the day when we can recollect our thoughts and remember the real reason for this season. Take the time now to make a resolution toward this end. Check daily to see if you are faithful in keeping it.

Darkness yields to light. But only if the earth is rotating on its axis. We too need to turn on the axis of our existence, turn away from the darkness of everyday living, and seek the light of God's presence and his truth. For light is more in our hands than we realize, and our actions do make a difference in our journey and in our search.

Making Sense of This World

To keep above the fray, to make meaning out of life, we have to live in two worlds: the world of this day and age, and the world of the spirit. All of us are aware of the material world. But to become aware of the spiritual world, we need to take time to reflect.

The Ammas and Abbas of the desert knew the importance of this function of reflection. That is why they withdrew to the desert. But we need not be so dramatic in our pursuit. For us, it may be an hour in a space by ourselves, or a favored spot we find conducive to quiet and reflection. A time of day that is good for winding down and thinking.

We cannot keep spiritual concepts in the forefront unless we take time to consider. And unless we remember the spiritual world and its values, life will make little sense.