I am feeling good today! On the note pad on my computer I post all the tasks I need to get done, it is satisfying to be able to delete each one as it is accomplished. This morning I completed my last task, a "Living Portrait" it had been mocking me daily, for months. I accomplished more things because of its presence. It wasn't that I didn't want to finish it! It was pure and simply the fact that I was "stuck". Now it is done, a clean screen and I wait to discover what new projects will come to me in the weeks ahead. Have you ever noticed how many distractions come to you when you are "stuck"?
This is Christmas week and in a way I am still "stuck". I am stuck at the beginning of Advent, those days of waiting that prepare us for the great celebration of Jesus' birth. Somehow the journey never really got underway this year. I have three days left to Christmas Eve and a month's worth of preparation untouched. I am not talking about external things, but things of the spirit...my heart, mind and soul are not yet ready. The one thing I do know is that whether I am ready or not the day will come, and by some mystery the Child Jesus will transform my life, if just for a moment with wonder.
“How full of the creative genius is the air on which these are generated!
I should hardly admire them more if real stars fell and lodged on my coat.” – Henry David Thoreau, Journal, 1856
I came out of the big snow with the same awe that enthralls me every time the air is filled with, and the ground covered by snowflakes. That every single flake is unique, perfectly symmetrical, and fragile, is a source of wonder to me. Like life and death I know I stand before a great mystery, and in its presence I am enlarged.
I ventured this week into capturing the image of ice crystals (I don’t have the equipment nor the patience to capture snowflakes) looking through my magnifying glass a new world unfolded. I tentatively prepared my camera and held it against the window, clicked and clicked and then headed to my computer to see what I had captured. For me it was a moment of awe – like Thoreau I couldn’t be more thrilled if I had captured a star!
Reflecting on the snow and the year's cycle the following words came to mind – hardly poetry but I share them as today’s meditation.
In winter,
falling snow’s
shimmering radiance illuminates
darkening days.
In spring,
green shoots
through dark earth grasps
a new year of light.
In summer,
diamond beads
dew like on slender threads
a new morning greets
In fall,
last leaves
blown free by winter’s breath
cold earth accepts.
In winter,
ice crystals
on cold surface dance
awaiting spring…..
