Meditation Moment

And when you arise in the morning, you will find that what I have told you is so.

Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass”

What if abundance was everywhere, even during times of suffering and the coronavirus?

What if...our eyes continue see as they always have, but our heart learns how to interpret the world through the lens of love?

Today, take time to breathe. Look for the abundance. See how it moves you.

Even During Quarantine...

To forget the world’s abundance, even briefly and in a moment of spiritual penury, is to lose one’s toehold on the ladder.

Robert M. Cotes and E.B.White, New Yorker, November 20, 1952.

During our moment in history, the one NO ONE ever wished for, Pete and I have chosen to embrace the principles embedded in The Serenity Prayer. We are accepting what we cannot change and changing the things we can. We have shut off our television. Instead of sitting around longing for missed sporting events and every single bit of information about COVID-19, we have chosen to embrace our freedom from tv. Our schedule sounds like something you post on a dating app! Long walks at sunset, sitting by a cozy fire with hot cocoa, staring deeply into each other eyes with accusatory glares during competitive games of all sorts.

We are choosing to look for the abundance, not from a perspective of positivity - because that would require the two of us to both get lobotomies! What we can and choose to do is look for what is real, now, today, that is an expression of abundance. We have seen an owl sitting in the middle of the road. I swear we have had time to see every leaf burst forth on our trees this year. Every Spring I promise myself - this year, this year I will see the leaves burst forth in all their glory. Every year, until this one, my head has been down, looking at my feet as I run toward some duty - whether real or imagined, who can say? More mundane but still abundant - we are amazed at what you can order online and have it show up on your doorstep….eventually.

We have marveled at the number of friends and family who have checked on us. We have thanked God for the hospital staff who allowed my sister-in-law access to her baby sister during her final hours of life on planet earth. We have marveled at the capacity for creative problem solving all around us. So much abundance!

It is possible to see the abundance and acknowledge the suffering. This is that grand both/and that we have been learning at NSC. Who knew it would serve us so well during an unprecedented pandemic! (Yes. I know. I know who. Just checking to see if you are paying attention!!)

Needs versus Wants

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Many of us fear that the law of scarcity is true and we will never get what we need to sustain life.  If we’ve managed to acquire some semblance of security, our fear turns to terror of losing what we have worked so hard to acquire.  This is so normal.

One of the points we attempt to make on a regular basis is this idea that God is for us.  He wants to give us stuff.  Not shiny trinkets or the fulfillment obsessions that prove distracting.  God is interested in giving us an inspired way of seeing that reflects His way of being.  It is in this sacred space that abundance takes on new and richer meaning.

In preparation for receiving this vision, I’m going to take some time today to list my needs versus my wants.  I’m going to ask myself some tough follow up questions that may include the following:

1.     Am I willing to deliberately give up my fascination with my wants for the sake of preparing myself to receive true abundance?

2.    Am I ready to do my part to participate in the work of taking care of my needs so that I am better prepared to help others who cannot provide for their own?

3.    What am I clutching onto so tight that my eyes are closed to a new and different way of evaluating my life?

I’m not super excited about this activity BUT I am extremely motivated to continue my quest for bringing my life into alignment with a God who continues to promise me rest and abundance.