Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

Today is Ash Wednesday. That may not mean much to most of us unless we are part of a church community that marks this day at the beginning of Lent. To have a cross of ashes marked on your forehead with the words: "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return" can be a sobering reminder of our mortality. That's no bad thing. We are all heading in the direction of returning to dust!

But rather than that being a morbid thing to focus on it seems to me that "dying before you die" is the best preparation for the final dying when we let go of our earthly bodies. The key words here are "let go". Letting go in a myriad of ways is one of the best ways to grow more like Jesus. And after all it is Jesus's journey to the cross that we focus on during Lent. 

So rather than seeing Lent as a time of "giving up ice-cream" or whatever other rather trivial "sacrifices" we might dream up, I suggest thinking of Lent as a time to focus on letting go in the midst of whatever each day brings. These "little deaths" might be as simple (and challenging) as letting go your need to be right in an argument; letting go the peaceful half hour you thought you were going to have before that person phoned you; letting go your bruised ego when you weren't acknowledged; letting go your planned outing when your friend has a cold… I'm sure you get the idea! 

If you decide to make letting go more consciously a Lenten practice you might want to pause at the end of the day and reflect: what did I let go of today? did I let go easily or with a struggle?

Jesus help me to let go so many things I cling to 

without even knowing I do.

And in my letting go 

remind me that I am keeping you company 

on your letting go journey to the cross.

Amen

Crochet and consciousness!

I'm reading the latest issue of Parabola. In an article by Ram Dass he describes a talk he gave many years ago to a group of young, hippie explorers about altered states of consciousness . In the audience was a  woman about 70 who wore a hat with "little fake cherries and strawberries and things like that on it. …She wearing black oxfords and a print dress, and she had a black patent leather bag. I looked at her and I couldn't figure out what she was doing in the audience. She looked so dissimilar to the rest." Ram Dass goes on to say that this woman was nodding and looking as though she related to what he was saying, so afterwards he went to speak to her.
"She came up and said, 'Thank you so much. That makes perfect sense. That's just the way I understand the universe to be.' And I said, 'How do you know? I mean, what have you done in your life that brought you into those kinds of experiences?' She leaned forward very conspiratorially, and she said, 'I crochet.' And at that moment I realized that people arrive at spiritual understanding through a much wider spectrum of experience than I ever imagined."

I just loved this! I am reminded once again - make no assumptions. Many times in my own work with people I have encountered the  "unlikely looking people" being the ones who teach me most about depth and sacred discovery in their spiritual journeys.

(PS: I don't wear hats with fake cherries and I don't crochet … but I am an 'about 70' spiritual explorer - and I knit!!)

What one teenager can do to change the world

Valerie Weisler’s story begins like this: “I grew up thinking I had no worth. My peers bullied me every day for making friends with the odd ones out – the new kid [at school], the deaf janitor, the nine-year-old boy who skipped two grades.” To read the full story of what she did about the bullying and feeling she had no worth, click here.

I am inspired by a lot of young people who don't just complain about "the way the world is" but set out to   do something about it. Valerie is a case in point. Her decision to make others know and feel their own worth led to the Validation Project which now has branches in all 50 states of the USA and in a dozen other countries. See the website here.

Let's join in! Who have I made smile today? Who has felt a greater sense of value and worth by my presence (with or without words.)

Retreat options for Lent

Easter is late this year but maybe that's good as the beginning of Lent is not far away and we have time to prepare for good ways to use this time of reflection. Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season and is on the 5th of March. The website Spirituality and Practice has some excellent on-line retreat options for the six weeks of Lent. The link to one based on Brian McLaren's writings is here.

If God invited you to a party...

If God 

Invited you to a party

And said,

"Everyone

In the ballroom tonight

Will be my special 

Guest,"

How would you then treat them

When you

Arrived?

Indeed, indeed!

And Hafiz knows

There is no one in this world

Who

Is not upon

His Jeweled Dance 

 Floor.

Hafiz 
from The Gift Translator Daniel Ladinsky

                                                      

Find a Better Job

Now

That

All your worry

Has proved such an

Unlucrative

Business,

Why

Not

Find a better

Job.

-Hafiz 

from The Gift

Translator Daniel Ladinsky

Three kinds of generosity

I am challenged by this quote about three kinds of generosity:

"We can consciously develop the quality of generosity. The Buddhist scriptures speak of three kinds of giving. Step by step, they point the way to increasing happiness by opening the heart. The first is known as "beggarly giving". Perhaps you have something in your closet which has been gathering dust for eons and, after some deliberation, you finally decide to pass it on. Even though it is clearing space for new clothes, you still feel a twinge of concern that you might need it someday yourself. The second kind of generosity is called "friendly giving". You have enough of something you value, or it wouldn't really hurt to let go of something you enjoy using, so you give it to someone. This giving is rather fun and easy with no feeling of sacrifice. The most noble generosity is called "kingly or queenly giving". You give what you prize highly even if it is a sacrifice on your part. It's the kind of generosity I've seen in some cultures when I've traveled. I learned quickly not to admire objects or articles of clothing, because no matter how poor the owner, I was likely to be the immediate recipient."

Awakening to Joy James Baraz & Shoshanna Alexander

The Grace in Dying

This is the title of a phenomenal book I have just finished reading. It is the most comprehensive, compassionate book I've read on the physical and psychospiritual stages of the journey from life in this form to life beyond what we call death. I borrowed the book from the library but my own copy is on its way via Book Depository! The author, Kathleen Dowling Singh, also has a website with many articles, downloads and details of her work. Click here to go to it.

A quote from near the end of the book sums up so much that is significant to me and features often in this Blog:
"Grace is the common thread linking dying, contemplative practice and spiritual growth. The essential unity of dying, contemplative practice and spiritual growth is becoming increasingly apparent."
Certainly my own contemplative practices over the years have been the core of my spiritual growth - and more and more I see that dying is not just something that occurs at the end of physical life but a process and a practice of continual letting go and letting be.

The world is a blue dot.

This is a NASA photo of the world from Saturn. (The dot right of centre is us!)

I've mentioned the Gratefulness site many times on this blog.
Today I noticed this four minute video posted on New Year's Eve with this introduction:

Take Four Minutes To Reflect On Your Place In The Cosmos

"So it's New Year's Eve again and that means resolutions — resolutions to stop this and resolutions to start that. Maybe just looking at where we are from a different perspective is all we need…It may not help you with your New Year's resolutions, but it will fill you with a sense of pure wonder."

New Year, New Day,...

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly."

Richard Bach

I don't go in for New Year resolutions. Each new day is a new beginning, a new chance, a new opportunity. But one attitude I want to develop more fully this year is spontaneity, the "just do it" spark of freedom, fun, challenge… Watch this space!