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 Our true nature is stillness,
The Source from which we come. . . . . The deep listening of pure contemplation Is the path to stillness. All words disappear into It, And all creation awakens to the delight of Just Being. —Thomas Keating, “Stillness”
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 I watched no news the weekend, nor did I read any. The result: I felt closer to God. Any addiction separates us from God, and surely, at least for me, too much news watching is just that. So where do I go from here? Tonight, do I turn on the TV? I’ll see. Hard not to!
This is an example of what separates me from God, and what I should/would/could do about it. It’s not a judgment on how anyone else might act. We each have our own ‘demons’; if we listen, we know what they are and what to do about them. So far, I hearing that following too much news does not benefit my mind/body/spirit.  In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us: But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…
I’m working on this. If enemies were limited to the people I come in physical contact with in my daily life, I’d be pretty much free of this directive because I don’t have any personal enemies. Undoubtedly there are people who don’t like me, but I don’t know who they might be because I stay away from much of what is negative. That’s just part of my disposition. But what about those enemies outside my immediate orbit that Jesus asks me to pray for? Those people in power with different political views, or those who carry guns, or those who have different ideas about voting rights? I certainly don’t want to pray for their success, and so my easy way out is not to pray for them at all, to ignore them. I make the excuse that in ignoring them, I am keeping positive, not adding negative energy. But I know better. I am being selfish. We are all children of God; we all need prayers that our hearts will open to love. And, for sure, I don’t know what God is up to. I try to listen through the ears of Job. I listen as Jesus continues: …So that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Matt.5:44-45 There is much more going on these days that we can possibly imagine; what will transpire is much more than we can hope for. Praying for my enemies gives me hope.  I wrote this for this blog, A Prayer Diary, but then decided it was also right for A Cottage by the Sea. Sometimes the line between talking about my faith in general and being more explicit about it as I do here, is hard to control. I want to keep my faith out of that arena of politics.
The other day a friend from my teaching days asked me about my journey to divinity school after I stopped teaching. We hadn’t been in close contact since I had retired from teaching kindergarten and first grade twenty-five years ago. Here’s my response. In 2004 I receive a Master of Divinity Degree (MDiv) from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts. I loved every minute of it-- the professors, students, campus life, studies and writing papers. It was a vibrant place then. But the physical campus no longer exists. It is Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. After a satisfying career as a teacher, I had no interest in being ordained (being a pastor felt too much like being a school principal). Because I was pursuing the degree for my own discernment and spiritual growth, I was able to avoid courses on church administration, and, what I referred to as ’student teaching in a church.” Being 60 and having had a full career, I convinced the administration that I would never change my mind about ordination, so certain requirements were waved. In another life I might have gone into chaplaincy. I completed the chaplaincy requirement for the degree, but not for chaplaincy certification. Upon graduation I took a part time job as the ’spiritual care director' of Wayside Hospice in Wayland (now called Parmenter Community Health Care—Wayland). During my tenure I visited with families and ‘clients’ both at the hospice residence and in homes. I stopped that work in 2009. It was time. My mother was about to celebrate her 100thbirthday. She was my mom; I was her daughter. I didn’t want a spiritual care/chaplaincy relationship with her, although for sure, we talked about spiritual things. As I wrote in my memoir, Very Grateful, God was always present with us, always, but especially in our last two years together . Mom died October 3, 2011, 9 years ago. |
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