Awe Moments

Last week, NASA landed the Perseverance rover on Mars. 

This week, the rover sent back audio of Martian wind and high-definition, color images that have been stitched together to form a 360-degree panorama of the planet's surface. 

I am in awe. 

"There is no true science which does not emanate from the mysterious. Every thinking person must be filled with wonder and awe just by looking up at the stars." ~Albert Einstein

Awe strikes us with a mixture of amazement and fear. It changes our perspective allowing us to see things in a completely new light. 

It is awe that Peter likely feels standing on a mountain watching Jesus transfigured. In dazzling light, Peter glimpses for a moment his friend and teacher as Son of God. (Mark 9:2–8)

We are humbled by awe, recognizing our smallness within a vast universe. The feeling can hit while standing on a mountaintop or noticing the vivid orange and pink of a sunset. It may sweep through you with the sound of waves crashing or strike in the perfect pitch of a soprano's voice. You may be mesmerized by the delicate wings of bird in flight or get lost in the brushstrokes of painting. 

Awe moments are God moments. 

It's fitting that a new area of science is being devoted to the study of awe. What a perfect and necessary topic to investigate as we humans become increasingly assured that we hold the world in our hands.

Look for opportunities to explore feelings of awe. Don't lose sight of the magnificence around you. Be open to seeing something in a new and dazzling light. 

Your God moment awaits.

"True transformation demands that we shed ourselves as the central reference point." Richard Rohr

For more reading on the science of awe, check out these articles:

Eight Reasons Why Awe Makes Your Life Better

How the Science of Awe Shaped Pixar's "Soul" 

March On

Today is a new day, a new month, a new beginning. 

Beginnings are significant. They spark in us feelings of hope and possibility. 

But beginnings can also be scary. Beginnings inevitably mean leaving something behind. 

I believe this is the intention of Lent. 

Lent is a time of cutting through the layers we have added over the past year. Detaching ourselves from what we've built for the world, to impress, to fit in, to hide behind. The easy stuff falls away first. Now we encounter the ties we cling to more tightly. 

We feel the hope and possibility of living a more authentic life. We sense the closeness we could feel to God and one another if we were able to break free.

But beginnings are scary. 

Take this first day of March, this temporal landmark, to check in. Reaffirm the commitment to your Lenten promises. Go deeper. Don't be afraid. 

What have I learned about myself?

How have I changed since I started this journey?

Is there any part of myself that feels false in this moment?

What would change if I let that part of me go?

What is holding me back from a deeper relationship with God?

Starting today, what can I do to make the most of these next few weeks of Lent? 

"What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it all the rest are not only useless but disastrous." ~ Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert

Surrender

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit."        

                                                    John 12:27

Entering the Second Sunday of Lent, I am taking a moment to reflect.  I have been consistent. I'm digging deep. I'm noticing the discomfort and trying to be present. 

But...I'm starting to feel twinges of resistance. 

Change is hard. The process of change is even harder, primarily because it involves giving up long held habits (or lack of habits.) 

The belief that change requires control is, in my opinion, a myth. To really transform means giving up the need to control. Control is rooted in fear. It's an illusion we cling to because we are attached to a particular outcome. The process of becoming, of dying in order to produce much fruit, is about surrender.

"Night, we cannot stop it, or hasten it; it just comes, and teaches us every twenty-four hours that we are not in complete control." ~Richard Rohr

Surrender is an exercise in faith. It's trusting that whatever the outcome, God will provide for the journey. Don't fear the resistance. Lean in, and keep going. 

"Every time we attempt to avoid a situation, we only reduce our opportunity to grow, to learn from the journey." ~Alexander Shaia

Find Your Flock

Have you ever seen a murmuration? It's a phenomenon that occurs when starlings fly in coordinated patterns. Hundreds of birds move in beautiful, seemingly choreographed formations. Scientists who have studied this spectacle believe it is intended to protect the birds from predators by making it more difficult to single out individual birds for attack. 

How do all these tiny creatures make moment-to-moment adjustments in flight? Researchers have found that each bird is communicating with only six or seven of its closest "neighbors." This outreach is then magnified across the entire flock. A mighty feat accomplished by small, seemingly inconsequential connections.

"Flocks of starlings exhibit a remarkable ability to maintain cohesion as a group in highly uncertain environments and with limited, noisy information." ~ Study on Starling Flock Networks

A devastating impact of the pandemic has been our isolation. We are living in highly uncertain times and often surrounded by "limited, noisy information." It seems to me that we can learn some powerful lessons from the starlings. 

Don't fly alone. Check in with family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers. Build a "neighborhood" around yourself.

It's not about the numbers. Your group doesn't need to be huge to make an impact on your well-being. No need to get stuck trying to reconnect with every person you've lost touch with. Pick one, or two, or seven. The number isn't important, the interaction is what matters. 

Connection creates perspective. The more we focus inward, the less objective we are about our own problems and the problems of the world. Connecting with others helps us navigate the noise and uncertainty with some healthy perspective. Simply talking to someone else about what is on your mind can significantly lower your stress and brighten your mood. 

Take a little time this weekend to find your flock.

"Community is the oldest form of healing in the world. It is the entity that holds us up and holds us accountable." ~ Becca Stevens, Find Your Way Home

Peace I Leave With You

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ~ John 14:27

Can we have peace in the midst of discomfort? 

Peace comes with presence. Think about times when you have felt most anxious. Where was the seed of that anxiety? It is likely you will trace it back to your mind's attempt to place you in the space between now and what's to come. Anxiety is a future-oriented emotion. 

The displacement that anxiety brings makes it particularly suited for times of discomfort. When I'm uncomfortable with what's going on, I want out.  

Context is everything. The Scripture verse above comes from the Last Supper discourses. Jesus knew discomfort was coming for himself and his disciples. His gift--the balm he offered to soothe them in the pain that was near--was peace. Not the world's peace, but Spirit.

Spirit is fire and breath and wind moving in us and through us in this moment and the next and the next. When we let go of fear and allow ourselves to be, Spirit brings us peace--even in the discomfort. 

"Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world."    ~Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life

Collective Grief

Spirit is among us. We are all connected by Spirit. Some may call it energy, others, life force. No matter the name, there is a thread that binds us all. 

You are not alone.

Because of that interconnectedness, we are in a period of collective grief.

"The US death toll is so staggering that a top health researcher says it is hard to imagine an American who hasn't lost a relative or doesn't know someone who died. The virus has reached into all corners of the country and communities of every size."

                       Geller, Adam. "500,000." Chicago Tribune, 23 February, 2021, p. A1. 

This pain has impacted each of us in some way. Even our healers are hurting. For this reason, it is critical that we do not turn away from this trauma. Doing so will make us numb. 

You are not alone.

Grieving is active. It allows us to keep moving so we don't get stuck in the sorrow. 

But grieving is profoundly uncomfortable. We will need to learn, at least for awhile, to be with the discomfort. 

Still...you are not alone.

If you are in a place of strength today, reach out. Call a friend or family member for no particular reason. Send someone a text, an email, or a real-life handwritten letter. Say a prayer. 

If your heart is aching today, don't shut down. Don't give up. Reach out. Ask for help. Close your eyes, take the deepest breath you have taken all day. Feel others who are united with you. Say a prayer.

...you are not alone.

On Becoming

 

"Every creature is a word of God and a book about God." 

                                Meister Eckhart

Lent is a season of contemplation. I find it no accident that it's also a season of change, of turning. We move from winter to spring, death to new life. This is a time of revelation. 

Revelation isn't always easy and certainly not always pleasant. Sometimes what is revealed about me doesn't make me feel particularly proud. I turn a corner and run into jealousy, envy, anger, judgment. How could I be a book about God when these characters get to play a role? 

The good news is that we are in a constant state of becoming. Our stories are still being told and we are part of the telling. Believe in your possibilities, pick up your pen, and write your next page. 

                "Yes, it could be that I am a tiny piece 

                        of God, and

                    each of you too, or at least 

                        of his intention and his hope."

                                Mary Oliver, "At the River Clarion"