Love, Light, Life, and Hope

View of Bethlehem

patrick brennan [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tonight we'll sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem." These words from that song have always stood out to me, "The hopes and fears of all the years/ Are met in thee tonight."

We all have hopes, and most of us have fears. Things don't go the way we want them to, and more things are out of our control than not.

But tonight, Christians around the world celebrate Love, Light, Life, and Hope being born into the world for everyone. Every one.

Whether or not you are a Jesus follower, who couldn't use some Love, Light, Life, and Hope?

Another song about Bethlehem touches me with these words:
"The heart is tired at Bethlehem,
No human dream unbroken stands;
Yet here God comes..."

Listen and take hope!

Meditation on Mothers: Happy National Poetry Month!

My poet friend, Nancy Keck, is always inspired by her home in Northern Minnesota. In this dreamlike work, she ponders the eternal cycle of life and encourages us to remember our mothers and other women we have loved.

Meditation


I walked into a forest and looked over the sea
     the Goddess came to me in memories of my mother, Jane
     my grandmother, Margaret, my friend, Martina
all gone from me now, but their love still very much with me.
I asked the Goddess to heal my broken heart
to somehow smooth together the fractures of loss, of hopes mislaid, of dreams forgotten.
I gave to the Goddess a lilac, one stem of purple flowers,
     the scent of spring , the image of my spirit
     of my love for this earth, for this life
     its beauty in brief and eternal time.

The Goddess gave me the hope of my dreams, the continuation of our family’s lineage
     through my cherished daughter, Suzanne,
     a tiny, perfect baby.
I kissed the baby’s fingers and held it tightly, yet gently
     realization of Suzanne’s longing to become a mother
     incarnation of my hope to become a grandmother
     connection with my mother and grandmothers
     link back through the women of our family
          to the ancient rocks of England, to ancient Celtic spirits
          to ancient voices singing through the waves of Lake Superior
          through the branches of pines in the Northern forest
          to the Northern Lights that danced all over the sky following my mother’s death.

I sit beside Lake Superior
watching the waves wash into the shore, then back out again.
One day those waves will carry my ashes, my spirit,
to join those of the women who have gone on before me
to become one with the Divine.



     ~Nancy Ronstrom Keck
     (c) April 26, 2009


How do you remember and honor the women who have gone on before you?

Seeking Answers to Life's Great Questions

(Salazar210 at en.wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons)

"The unexamined life is not worth living," declared Socrates. And most people do spend at least a little time pondering life's great questions.  "What is my purpose in life?" "What is true love?" You know. Those questions.

(By Karora (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

I recently read Lorna Landvik's Welcome to the Great Mysterious. Geneva, a Broadway diva, returns home to Minnesota to take care of her thirteen-year-old nephew with Down Syndrome while her sister and brother-in-law take an overseas vacation. In her sister's house, she makes a great find--a box containing The Great Mysterious. Now, it's not too much of a spoiler to tell you what the great mysterious is. It is a scrapbook created by Geneva and her sister when they were kids at their family cabin. Written out of boredom, it bore precious wisdom as they returned to it years later.

(By La Melodie, http://www.flickr.com/photos/melodyyys/6180032531/, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

In the Christian calendar, it's Lent, the time before Easter set aside for self-examination. Maybe it's time to create your own Great Mysterious with a group of friends or family, especially in a reunion or retreat setting. On one page, write one of life's big questions. Glue a pocket on that page and put some blank strips of paper in it. Or leave blank slips of paper and a pen near the scrapbook. Then as people wander by, they see the question and write their answer on the paper, and put it in the pocket. Later, around a campfire or coffee table, read the answers and see where the discussion takes you.

(By Brett Jordan, http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/11654753993/,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

What questions would you ask? Whose answers would mean the most to you?

Live in the Moment

“Live in the moment.” Surely you’ve heard that before and discovered living in the moment is easier said than done. Our pasts color our present and future with memories and experiences. Our futures are unknown, leaving our presents fraught with anticipation or anxiety. If we think too much about the past or future, we will miss out on the here and now. Yes, memories can give us joy, and experiences give us lessons. Planning for the future is good and responsible. But thinking too much about either leaves us without a present.

Karina Sabac http://www.karinasabac.com/, a concert pianist, says that music is one thing in the moment. If you think about anything else for a second, you miss playing or hearing the note, detracting from the piece as a whole.

Stop right now and notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you. During what activities do you concentrate solely on the activity and nothing else? What activities make you feel most alive?

This year’s Easter sermon reminded the congregation that because of the resurrection, we need not fear death. The pastor’s main message, though, was that we need not fear life.

Dare to live in the moment—one moment at a time.