Today is definitely transitional to Spring! The temperature, for so long wintery, finally broke the sixties today. My crocuses have been up for awhile, little lonely blooms. The tulips and other bulbs have valiantly pushed through the frozen earth--and I am happy to see that the ones that were composted are bigger and healthier than the others.
About an hour ago I walked to the Spades Park Library, a century old structure that is one of the few remaining Carnegie Libraries in Indianapolis, to collect my reserve book. In yards everywhere, people are out with rakes and black plastic bags clearing the twigs, dead grass, leaves and debris that has accumulated since Autumn. I haven't started yet--mostly I am just looking and thinking about it! As I looked lazily upon my garden beds, I did notice lots of debris and some trash--hmmm, how did those Halloween candy wrappers manage to stay in one place throughout the past months? This exercise of debris cleaning will allow lots of new life and growth to appear very soon. Dead stuff is removed so that fresh plants may enter the world unhindered. It is an old lesson that we all know: Life bursts forth from the old and the dead . . . Is that a good Easter lesson or what? Sure, it is about Jesus but it is about the way the earth is wired. In fact, it is the way the universe is wired, if we are to believe the scientists (which I do). Every day I sit in contemplation and silence--most often in wordless prayer. What happens in those moments is a clearing of the debris. It is raked away--the sounds, the mental script, the to-do list (about which I am normally compulsive), the worries, the things that get in the way of my feeling really good. And I am left with what is deep inside. For me it is Being itself. For others, it might be a greater consciousness. For others, God. Actually, it doesn't make much of a difference what it is called. What I know is that it is life giving. But first, the debris has to be cleared away. Sometimes in spiritual direction, we may spend months or years clearing the gunk and the debris away, only to find one day that we have moved deeper both into ourselves and into God. That is a breakthrough moment worth every moment of raking and good work. It requires leaving behind ideas, favorite doctrines, habitual modes and allowing something new to spring forth in its own time. As we clear the debris, we learn to process things in new, unexpected ways. Contemplation, as a new way of processing, results in deeper, more richly textured life and promise.
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March 2023
AuthorDan Hoffman is an Indianapolis USA based spiritual director, supervisor of spiritual directors, and workshop/retreat leader. This occasional blog discusses things he is thinking about and wants to share. Comments are always welcome. |