Monthly Archives: April 2020

Larger than Pandemics

darkness and light, depression, Gratitude, spiritual practice, wisdom

Yesterday, I had the pandemic blues.

Then around midnight, I was getting ready for bed when I heard the owls hooting.

They’ve been coming by this creek house for about a year now, the hooting loud even through airport proof windows. I finished what I was doing, taking my time.

Then I stepped outside onto the driveway, hearing hoots out front on the creek when suddenly something swept over me from behind, from the backyard. It swept over me and towards the creek (towards its owl lover, perhaps?) and in the rays of the street light I saw a feather drifting down, landing in the darkness, a small, slight feather I quickly retrieved.

After that, I stood on the front lawn for about half an hour, the blues long gone, the 2 owls flying to trees on either side of me, sometimes talking to each other, sometimes looking at me in silence.

Pandemic blues seemed all the smaller, more fleeting as I stood on the grass, in the dark, positioned between endless cycles, filling with ageless knowing, a part of infinite wisdom.

From The Wheel of Change Tarot by Alexandra Genetti

Imagine a Waterfall

Gratitude, spiritual practice, , , ,

Imagine yourself on a sunny day standing in a waterfall. The water is warm but refreshing. It cascades and envelops you, filling you with love and deep peace, washing away your thoughts and revealing an expansiveness that flows from your soul. This water is God.

You can imagine God as a being who created the world, a father, a mother, a web of energy interlocking us, a waterfall seeping into you. Any form of what I call God or you call Oneness, the Universe or Mystery comes from the imagination and yet is real, coming alive through sacred experiences and stories.

Some of us have been lucky enough to experience moments of true peace, true oneness, true joy, connection, knowing. We name this experience – I name mine God. The experience becomes the touchstone of our faith. It carries a feeling so profound that it shifts our understanding of all life, our life, all that is. It orients us deeper into love and gratitude.

We want to tell others about it, to share the experience but we don’t know how. How to put words to Mystery without sounding trite? Love, peace, blah, blah, blah. But we try, I try, I’m trying now with this little blog, with the children and teens I work for at church because I hope more people open to this experience.

And I’m trying to do it while being real. I experience God and the centeredness that comes with it – but I also experience irritation, fear, depression. Sometimes I’m thoughtless, impatient, rude. Plus, I’m a Southside Chicago girl at heart –  I talk rough, am too confrontational, have a dry, dark sense of humor. I’m rebellious.  I’m still me.

I also have this waterfall of sacredness that I sometimes notice enveloping me. I draw from it even in these scary times of disease and distancing. It helps me be kinder, less fearful.

I hope you can draw from it too.