Happy Wednesday, TSJ!
(I am so grateful for TSJ followers and I hope you are able to read these Wednesday blogs easily when you click on the green header on your phones.)
Solomon wanted to make his presence known in a more up close view today. As part of my Easter week meditations he knows that I have been learning to choose a word or phrase to help me stay more focused on God and Love. And this week my 
“sacred word” has been Presence. I must credit author and pastor, David Muysken’s books on Centering Prayer and Sacred Breath-Forty Days to a Closer Walk With God for this way of mediation. That word becomes prayer in action. A practice in staying centered.
So whenever I am distracted, this word expresses my consent to more fully living into this moment.
Maybe it is spring renewal of the soul. But I am being reawakened to the truth that familiarity and self-interest – often making us unnecessarily defensive – can obscure our ability to notice deeper truths in people’s stories and life experiences.
Familiarity also tends to squelch curiosity or motivation to learn. And learning is one of life’s greatest joys and adventures! Like an Easter egg hunt.
Familiarity also can often dull our senses to the richness in each moment and in familiar stories or settings.
Have you ever had that experience? For example, have you ever heard or read a children’s story for the umpteenth time and suddenly “heard” it more profoundly? How about a familiar Bible story? Or walked on the same path you always do and seen or heard something you never noticed before?
Isn’t it often a bit startling but usually uplifting when this happens?
This seems to be happening a lot lately and most of it is exciting, even joyful. Sometimes being open to learning something new about ourselves, however, can take a bit of courage,,and that may include learning something really good or something not-so-good that for some reason we want to deny. But in the end, it opens new doors for happiness and purpose. Mostly, it is just energizing and makes each day a new adventure.
This week has been so full of these experiences that I hardly know where to start. But John and I spent Easter weekend with two of my siblings and their spouses and two of my nieces. And they did not know I was carrying around my magic (sacred) word with me; but I was.
My heart was warmed in their presence. Of course with them it was quite easy to be present myself for them. And it was so heartwarming to really listen to them and look at them with full focus and experience waves of love in doing so. My sister made a simple and delicious dinner that felt like the best Easter dinner ever. We all sat around the table enjoying every bite and every piece of conversation.
All of this was made even more poignant celebrating my brother’s good recovery from surgery for his kidney cancer .
So why the word PRESENCE?
First of all, it is a multifaceted and powerful word. And it helps me remember this moment is sacred, infused with God’s presence and mine.
One word can make all the difference. Saying it helps me give consent to the moment’s opportunity for learning or for enjoyment.
Yesterday when John and I took a long walk along the path and beyond, my eyes were opened to new sights and my ears heard heavenly music with birds chirping and baby frogs’ lively chorus.
I noticed fallen trees in the woods and realized I have a tendency to want to clean up messy woods. The fallen trees and branches make the woods look messy. I learned again that nature is messy. And that there is goodness in the mess. Fallen trees of course add a lot to the ecology of the woods. Animals find food and shelter in them and under them and dead leaves fertilize new vegetation.
Presence: I have celebrated new life for my brother, even though nature is messy. New life for the woods, even though nature is messy. New things to learn from each other, even though human nature is messy. There is goodness in all of it.
I also found newness in an old Bible story. Luke 24:13-35
Again and again I have read the story of two disciples walking and commiserating on the road to Emmaus. My new mindset latched onto a couple of phrases.
I am paraphrasing here. About seven miles from Jerusalem, after they found the empty tomb, two disciples were walking and talking. A stranger came up and joined them. The disciples did not know him. He began asking about what happened. Incredulous that anyone would not know what had just happened, they asked if he was the only one in Jerusalem who did not know about the things that just happened. The stranger asked, “What things?” (Notice the non-defensive question.)
The stranger was then present to their story. He asked. And he listened. He then kindly reminded them of scriptures they were familiar with from Moses and the prophets.
The disciples were about to turn in as they came near the village and the stranger started to walk on.
But they said, “Please stay with us!” He did. And he ate with them.
When the stranger took the bread and broke it and said the blessing….they knew. They recognized him.
The disciples exclaimed to each other, “Weren’t our hearts burning within when he spoke?” (Like, “We knew he was special!”)
Today’s Pray-as-You-Go told this story beautifully and you may want to check it out for yourself by going here: https://pray-as-you-go.org. Each meditation is a gentle way to start or end a day. And today they observed the fact that the stranger (aka Jesus) “encourages them to tell their story and helps them make sense of it.”
They ask the question Solomon and I are pondering today, “What most helps you to make sense of things in your own life?”
How that works for me is the fact that I believe – when invited- He does stay with us. The word Presence is my invitation to be present together in this moment. And it takes practice and turns the familiar into something new.
Blessings,
Margie
