#MicroPoetry|September ’21 Reflections

Too often we limit ourselves by preferencing the semblance, even the illusion, of the ‘ordinary.’ This can come from our need for the predictable and safety. These are indeed important aspects of our lives, but they can also serve to override our innate ability to wonder and create, dream and imagine. Finding that balance requires intention. Often that intention simply begins with a step that does not presume or assume what will be revealed.

We are not separate from Creation. We are a species blessed with the ability to learn in a way that should remind us of the great responsibility this imparts upon us. When we take this seriously, expanding our understanding and embracing that learning is central to our entire lives. This is an invitation to not only steward that we have inherited, but to ensure we leave that trust in a better place for those for whom we will never know.

Life is neither easy, nor simple. Often, we are lulled to think we can acquire this to make that better or do this to change what is difficult. Sometimes action works, sometimes life changes and recreates the world. Regardless, life unfolds. There will be loss and hurt, grief and sorrow. But that is not our story, simply a part of the texture in which we breathe and walk.

Faith is a funny thing – at its best it does not deny that these lived realities exist. In fact, it names them, recognises them, and accepts them. In this truth-telling, faith ultimately reveals that it is not temptation’s despair that is our reality, but that Hope is ever present to each of us to hold when the Other cannot.

Whatever gift we bring into the world requires commitment and discipline. These are not always easy practices to develop in ourselves or to model in our communities. It is one thing to dream, it is another to commit to making it manifest.

There are many components as to how we get there: to arrive at the place where reality is changed because we have done this new thing. Central to any attainment is to identify the passion to do a thing and then to embrace the courage to begin.

The mystic holds up the inner journey as the ultimate task to which we are called. This inward exploration is never about navel gazing. Rather, it is in an invitation to let go of the trappings of the self – pride and ego as just two examples, This task calls us to begin to bring forth the light we each carry and make it manifest in the world. Some might call this the dissolution of the self, the emptying of the individual or simply Becoming.

Being in a good way with one another, begins with being so with ourselves. Letting go of the cacophony of competing narratives that tell us we are inadequate, lacking, broken and incomplete is not easy. This becomes harder when we realise that we are hardwired, digitally connected and constantly threaded together by streaming and harsh voices. Yet when we make space for the still voice, listen to the Universe through wind blowing and birds singing, we are constantly invited to awaken to our Call to Love ourselves and to so radically welcome the Other.

I was thinking about what strength is. I had some of the traditional images, many of them stereotypical and gender specific. As I was playing with that, I found myself exploring strength as it relates to change and times that are chaotic, in which both potential and fear emerge. This A Deacon’s Musing #Verse, therefore, tries play with strength not as brute force, but as flexible and nimble.

What are examples of strength that connect with this musing?

This Verse was written to honour the first Canadian National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. This day marks a commitment to address its history as a colonising power that caused harm though a policy of assimilation and genocide. For those who have inherited the benefits of this history, it is tempting to ignore or deny these realties, It is also possible to become paralysed by learning of this corrupt past. But those past choices do not define settlers and inheritors of this history. What we do now, will define us and demonstrate the ability to which we are able to live into reconciliation.