A drop of water, if it could write out its own history, would explain the universe to us." – Lucy Larcom.
Photo by Dustin Humes on Unsplash
It's in the ordinary where the profound hides. To me, that is the deeper part of Smaller & Deeper. Eyes, ears, heart open to the deeper meaning hiding in the ordinary.
I've had the joy and unique opportunity to participate in an online Spiritual Directors Conference the past four days. I knew a conference featuring Father Richard Rohr, Sister Joan Chittister, Dr. Barbara Holmes, Maribai Starr, and Father Adam Bucko (among many others) would be filled with profound learning and deep moments. However, it was a water ceremony that settled in my heart as the invitation to learn from.
Water.
The holy water of life
First medicine
Binds all together as one family
Life-blood of mother earth
All water drank by our ancestors
Woman Stands Shining - the conference ceremonialist led a water ceremony at the start of every day. She asked us, hundreds of people connected at that moment through Zoom, to pour water into an empty vessel near us and invite the water to listen and learn with us through the day. She said, "let the water hear what we need and at the end of each day, offer the water back to the earth so she (Mother Earth) can see how to help us."
This is not the kind of ceremony or ritual that I am familiar with. And yet, there was something profoundly moving about the simple act of intentionally pouring water into an empty vessel- I chose a mercury glass candle holder. As I listened to Father Rohr or Sister Chittister speak, I had the awareness that the water was "listening" with me.
Water is the first medicine; of course, this is true. When my kids feel a sore throat, stomach aches, or just overwhelmed with life, I always say, "take a drink of water." Every morning I fill their water bottles, now I wonder if there is something deeper happening when I send them off with water. They carry the water with them; is the water listening to their learning, to their conversations?
All water drank by our ancestors-This thought is almost too deep. When it comes to water, we are in a closed system. The water on the earth is the water that has always been. I've read this idea before, and it blows my mind. The water that I drink is water that a dinosaur drank that Jesus was baptised in and, my great-grandmother washed clothes with. All that we have has always been here. It begs the question are we caring for the water in a way that will provide life for hthat come after us.
I found this video of Pat Mccabe, Woman Stands Shining talking about water. Deep is hearing her story about praying in water and what she has learned from praying near bodies of water. These are new ideas to me.
Sixty percent of our body is water. More than half of our physical body is water.
Seventy-one percent of the earth is water.
So familiar and such a mystery at the same time.
At the conference this week, one of the speakers asked the participants to introduce themselves by the watershed they lived in. What watershed do you live in? It felt like a moment of honor and connection to identify myself as Amy; I live in the Boise River Watershed. What watershed do you live in?
I went for a walk this morning and said my prayers by the water. I listened carefully to the flowing water and the birds greeting the morning. Take a walk by water this week. Think about the ancientness of the water; it has been a witness to the earth's history.
I'm challenging myself to notice water. To be thankful for the water in all the ways it comes to me.
Photo by Ryan Fish on Unsplash
ideas.poems.quotes.songs that sparkled for me this week.
(I try and pay attention to words or phrases that stand out to me in my reading and listening. There is a spiritual practice called Florliledgium that collects short, interesting pieces {words that “sparkle” up} and put them together. This is kind of like that. Watching for things that sparkle. Gathering them and seeing how they work together and what message, mantra, or new idea might arise.)
A Practice:
Read slowly.
Notice if a word or phrase stands out to you.
How do the words make you feel?
Is there an invitation?
(I’m sharing in italics the lines that stand out to me in these passages. Maybe it’s the same, or maybe it’s different, there is much food for thought in each of these passages)
"Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does."
― Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
"Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit. To become naturalized is to know that your ancestors lie in this ground. Here you will give your gifts and meet your responsibilities. To become naturalized is to live as if your children's future matters, to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do."
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
(If you haven’t read Braiding Sweetgrass-I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a lovely book. I’ve heard from a number of people that the audio version is magical.)
"For Equilibrium, a Blessing:
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all its names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god."
― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
Photo by Samara Doole on Unsplash
Typos, misplaced commas (and all the rest) prove my humanity.