#MicroPoetry|March ’20 Reflections

Discipline is a very old practice that shapes our spiritual journey. It is a little like preparing for sports, a music performance or dance recital. What we put into something often has a connexion to what get out of it. Spiritual practices are not dissimilar. This connexion leads to this #Verse.

If dreaming is considered a holy act, then doing it well takes intention. The act of creating begins in our imagination and without practice we can get lost or think it is simply something frivolous or ineffective.

What might it mean if we were emboldened to recognise the power of our dreaming?

Blessings are amazing things – they are also difficult things. They are like gifts given to us, but they also carry an expectation that they not be hoarded or taken for granted. Blessings are trusts shared with us so as we might, in turn, so bless others. That may seem like a simple reflection, but doing that, living it, does not always translate into our lives well. This verse endeavours to explore the implications when we not only receive, but so bless others.

Meeting goals, especially those that are aspirational and difficult can seem impossible to attain. This, I have found, is even more magnified when we keep looking to the summit or goal line. Sometimes, however, once our passion is in place and spirit is ready to make the effort, it is easier to focus on each step before us.

Once we know the goal, how might we bravely journey in the moment, as opposed to be overwhelmed by the horizon?

Wisdom and knowledge, information and understanding often stand in tension. We live in a time and space where the breadth of human information is more easily accessible than ever before. This access, however, does not necessarily translate into wisdom or, as spiritual practice might call, awakening. This musing endeavours to tease out where information and ego can stand in reflection to knowledge and wisdom.

The messages we send, though sometimes shared through the written word, are more often apparent by the doing we do. It is not surprising that the old adage, “do what I say, not what I do,” is an ongoing teacher. It is a challenging one, because, as Elders teach us, words can be cheapened if our actions are not clearly extensions of them. This verse explores not only this challenge, but connects with a spiritual acknowledgement that our actions certainly reverberate back into Creation, whether we choose to be those who nurture the #SocialGood or otherwise.

How do you feel when you give?
What motivates you to share with others?
How do you react when you receive kindness?

These questions are important in a world in which we are always interacting with one another in communities of work, play, faith, friends, family and strangers. In moments mundane and normal, the extraordinary always happens. Help and support, care and nurture became evident in need. How we respond remains one of life’s spiritual unfolding journeys.
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Wisdom and the oak tree are often explored as interconnected. This image, from the perspective of life as a spiritual journey, contains many metaphors that can help us reflect on life. In a culture where time and speed, gratification and acquisition can remove us from the beauty in the moment, this old coupling remains a significant reminder of being present.

How we might hold both the journey and the goal in balance with one another?

Patience and time are not touchstones in our 24-7 culture. In fact, sometimes they are framed as in competition or opposite to one another. Another way this tension might be express is as either/or: you can’t have one with the other.

What might it look like if we considered them through the lens of both/and?

When wind and water remind us of their slow and patient ability to shape the stones around us, perhaps patience and time might allow us to recognise the gift of life’s ever unfolding journey.