Essays - Summer, 2009
by Randy Roche, SJ

Below is a title and brief description of each essay. To read the essay,  click on the title.

Angels - We find something angelic both within us and about us.

God’s Will - The expression “God’s will” can be understood in different ways, some more helpful than others.

Hummers - “Good things come in small packages.”

Sleep - We do not put ourselves to sleep in the same manner as we choose to sit or stand or walk.

Rain - We do not make rain begin or cease to fall

Trees - We appreciate trees and many aspects of nature when we take time to reflect.

Knowing - We are capable of more than one way of knowing.

Commitments - The essence of commitment is the awareness that this is ours to do, not someone else’s.

Care-giving - Our care for others is a manifestation of God’s care for them.

Turning Corners - Turning corners is for those who are willing to make a change for the better.

Wraps Off - No experience leaves us as we were beforehand.

Sunsets - In creation, God provides more options for our benefit than the use of pure reasoned logic.

Angels

We frequently use the word “angels” not as a statement of religious doctrine, but by way of expressing grateful admiration for experiences we have that are benevolent and touched with transcendence. We might say “Oh, she’s an angel” of a woman who graciously provides healing for a hurt we have received, or “He’s such an angel” of a boy whose patience and cheerfulness in difficult circumstances amazes us. In the 70’s song, “I have a dream,” the words “I believe in angels” evokes a sense of hopeful optimism in people both young and old. All of us receive help that is at times both surprising and very welcome.

“Angels” evoke aspects of our lives that are at least as important to us as food, clothing, and shelter, finances, politics, and work. Giving and receiving care, having our needs met and seeing to the needs of others, the anticipating of problems and the providing of their solutions are examples of angelic traits that are at the same time our most humanizing qualities. Without these, life is dull and without meaning or purpose. No one can get up in the morning and go to work, or initiate an activity, without having some kind of purpose. We thrive on shared care and concern.

Whether or not we believe angels are involved, we have experiences that can be explained by science only to a certain level, not their ultimate sources. To ascribe some of our experiences to the actions of an angel, or spiritual beings, or God, is at least as reasonable as to elaborate a scientific hypothesis that might partially explain them, but cannot be proven. We did not create the world we live in. Nor did we make ourselves capable of understanding, or of loving. Yet we aspire to grow in both knowledge and love, and we find something angelic both within us and about us as we apply what we learn in life to our welfare and that of others.

We try our best to explain all that we observe in the world. But the more we learn, the more there is to learn, as we continually discover, for example, through the images taken by the Hubble telescope of mysterious objects in deep space. We cannot wait to achieve complete comprehension of either the physical universe or even of our own individual thought processes before making decisions and moving ahead with life. Using a word like angels when we try to describe some of the very practical and personal help we receive for negotiating challenges in life is in accord with reality, but we cannot prove to anyone that we have received assistance from a source outside ourselves.

If we rely on our sense of honesty when we explain to ourselves or others the encounters we have with “angels,” our sense of gratitude will grow. Otherwise we might be inappropriately concerned about what “they” might say. We do not need their approval to use concepts and names that we and other sane and good people find acceptable. We need the approval of our hearts as we seek words and concepts to identify the experiences we have.

We can take some words of Scripture as a starting point for imagining all kinds of personal, caring help that we receive along our way, from spirits giving us inspired thoughts to friends and family members supporting us with encouraging words: “He has given his angels orders about you to guard you wherever you go.” (Ps. 91:11)

Reflecting about angels is another way of counting blessings. Rather than examining our hours and days for all that went wrong, we choose to look for those experiences – even those that might be painful – where we have been enabled to live as beloved children of God.

Angels: Welcome, all.

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God’s Will

Most of us want what we want, and we want it sooner rather than later. However, once we have learned a little about love, even at the level of relating with a new friend or associate, we are also concerned for the wants of others. We do not always need to have everything as we would wish for us to be happy, fulfilled, and effective as persons.

If we have had positive experiences associated with God, we have probably also developed some level of trust in God’s care for us. In addition, we may well have found it rather natural to desire guidance and direction from God, and to entertain the possibility of wanting to do God’s will.

The expression “God’s will” can be understood in different ways, some more helpful than others. If we think of God as having all the power, and we none, it might appear that we could not possibly have any meaningful freedom. In such an understanding, whatever God wants, God gets, and we must go along with it, as weak and dependent creatures. If there is an opening for love in such a concept, it would be hard to find.

If we put love back into the equation, our understanding of “God’s will” takes on a new meaning. God first loves us, and wants what is best for us, including the option of loving God freely in return. Rather than exercising controlling power over us, God gives us real freedom, by which we make the choices for or against love: love of self, love of God, and love of others. What God wants for us, we can want, and in that sense, be completely in accord with God’s will – a win-win, will-will situation.

When we reflect on our experiences rather than on our thoughts and ideas about our experiences, we will discover additional significance to the words: “God’s will.” However we might describe our prayerful thoughts and desires that are directed towards God, all real communication leads to unity: we want to be connected with Love. How can we love without at the same time wanting some of what God wants? Our experiences verify and confirm that every movement towards God is good for us, no matter how many contrary thoughts arise. We find ourselves filled and fulfilled whenever we let our hearts and minds move in the direction of God, and whenever we make decisions that we believe are in line with what God desires for us and for others.

“God’s will” is not opposed to ours, though we have the capacity to choose contrary to what God wants for us. We might, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, struggle greatly with a very deep mystery: loving trust and painful suffering not being mutually exclusive. None of us would choose suffering in any form for its own sake. Yet all of us suffer at times, and often as a consequence of preferring to love rather than the opposite. Parents, teachers, and care-givers of every kind accept serious inconveniences on behalf of others. In all such cases, we make the decisions to act; we are not coerced. But when we and others suffer because of injustice, poor health, or any other cause outside our control, whose will is done? Where is God, as Love, when our only options seem to be acceptance or rejection?

God’s will is most often found in our deepest desires rather than in some force external to us. Our integrity and our purpose in life cannot be subverted by anything outside our spirits, including bodily and emotional suffering. We do not want pain, but we do want to exercise our free will in facing anything and everything that is beyond our control. The sacred place in us where we make our choices is the very holy ground where our will and God’s will become one.

“God’s will” becomes our will whenever we choose to live our present reality.

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Hummers

The first image to come to mind at the word “hummer” might be that of a very large vehicle. Tiny but beautifully colored, fast-flying, stop-action birds are also called hummers. These latter are perhaps not as frequently seen as are the giant cars that can be found on our streets, freeways, or parking lots. But hummingbirds, whenever and wherever present, are quite readily noticed and recognized. They received their nicknames from the sound of their rapidly beating wings as they fly past at amazing speeds, or as they pause in midair while taking food from a flower or a feeder.

Hummingbirds draw our attention in a manner that differs greatly from when we see a big, boxy, faux SUV. That a creature so small and delicate performs as it does touches something in us that is of a different order from the kind of admiration we might have for a conveyance having no economy of size in relation to the dimensions and weight of the passengers. To see a hummingbird in action, or even at rest, elicits an inner smile as we acknowledge beauty that is not related to large size, weight, or other physical characteristics that we often use as criteria for meriting our attention.

“Good things come in small packages,” applies not only to jewelry and to hummingbirds, but also to some of the little, every-day thoughts and inspirations, recognitions and acknowledgements that occur within us almost every day. If our powers of observation and reflection were restricted exclusively to large issues, to matters that elicit strong emotions, or to lines of thinking centered on particular problems, we could look back at the end of a full day and find some satisfaction, yet also experience a sense that something is missing. If we fail to notice the “hummers” in our day, we let pass a significant part of our lives.

Children, being short of stature, tend to notice small creatures on the ground and might be fascinated with them. As we grow older, taller, and more experienced, and also interested in personal relationships, businesses, and creative enterprises, most of us are not particularly impressed by the sight of ants crossing a sidewalk. But we can be quite moved by a few notes of a favorite and meaningful piece of music, by a glance at a photo of someone we love, or by a brief acknowledgment of the blessing of healthy drinking water. We are adults, but momentary and small experiences are as important to us as the long hours of concentrated effort we expend on teaching a class, composing a document, planning an event, or carrying on a focused conversation.

Hummingbirds are able to keep their bodies motionless while beating their wings at an extremely rapid rate, and also by rotating their wings so as to move neither forward nor backwards. To us who are so accustomed to either being in motion or stationery, the sight and sound of a tiny bird hovering over a flower is to witness a feat of nature: prodigious motion accompanied by immobility. Our eyes inform us of the facts, and our faces likely relax into a smile as our minds and hearts respond to the ordinary and extraordinary actions of a hummer.

Whether we live in a place where hummingbirds hover or where none exist, we thrive as humans when we notice some of the small blessings of life at the time when they occur, or when we briefly reflect on them at the end of the day. Little hummers are good for us.


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Sleep

When we were infants, we slept whenever we had the inclination to do so. As children, we might not have appreciated being told to take time for mid-day naps, but probably benefited from such rests. As adults, the amount of sleep we typically require for normal health varies widely among us, but we do not proceed through a busy day without some sleep at night, or by taking time for brief pauses of inactivity and near unconsciousness. Sleep is not at all a “waste of time,” but a necessary and valuable part of life. By reflecting on some of the gifts and graces of sleep, we might come to appreciate a significant part of our lives that is largely outside our active control.

We do not put ourselves to sleep in the same manner as we choose to sit or stand or walk. Rather, we try to arrange our schedule and environment so that sleep might take place. Similarly, we do not directly heal our bodies, physically or emotionally, nor do we restore our energy. While we sleep, healing of mind, body, and spirit graciously occurs. Our lives of thinking, of making decisions, and acting, depends upon regular periods that involve no conscious thoughts, choices, or actions. All that we do is made possible by doing nothing.

If life were like a construction job, we would only receive benefits from our hours of activity. Homeowners who hire workers to renovate their kitchens do not pay them to come to the house and sleep. But God gives to his beloved in sleep as well as in times of work, recreation, and conscious reflection. God does not need any one of us, or all of humanity together, to be constantly active in order for the world to continue as a fitting place for us to live. That we require sleep is one more clear indication that we are not on earth as hired hands whose responsibility is primarily to accomplish a certain amount of work within a specified amount of time. The purpose of life is to love, and we cannot love without times of inactivity and unconsciousness.

Sleep and relating with God in prayer are closely allied, as both require that we let go of conscious control. The more we try to force either sleep or prayer, the less likely we are to slumber or to have a quality interaction with God. Sleep comes upon us when we “look the other way.” And the more we follow inspirations in prayer rather than focus on ourselves and our agenda, we often find ourselves in communion with God. We learn through experience what leads to restful sleep, and also what leads to satisfactory prayer.
Experiences of rest, sleep, and prayer have much in common. Peaceful rest – when we are not focused on our thoughts - might not be sleep, but is quite restorative, and is often accompanied with an awareness of or openness to, God. Quiet prayer, like sleep, usually results in a sense of peace that heals life’s hurts, and restores depleted energy. As we cannot sleep if we are overly anxious, or do not sleep well if we have strong, unresolved feelings, we might recall that prayer is an excellent means of preparing for sleep. If we first honestly and prayerfully consider the events and thoughts that have caught our attention and impacted our feelings during the day, we can let go of them, and sleep will definitely be more restful and restorative. Often, in the very act of praying quietly, we might find that we have fallen asleep.

We have been created with a capacity and a need for prayer, rest, and, of course, sleep.
 

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Rain

Too much or too little rain has very significant effects on the lives of many people, and in the case of fires during times of drought or floods during periods of intense rainfall, immediate consequences. Our options concerning rainfall are limited: we might be able to choose where to live, have the capability of moving in times of trouble, and belong to an organized society which provides water storage for dry times and flood-control projects for the opposite times. But we do not make rain begin or cease to fall.

We adapt and modify our lives according to when or if rain falls, and in the amounts that come or do not come from the skies above us. For all the efforts human societies rightly place on weather forecasts and on rainfall predictions in particular, we adjust to rainfall amounts rather than decide upon them or organize them according to our needs and desires.

Members of societies throughout history have organized water projects, from small community drainage ditches to huge national storage and canal projects, doing all that human ingenuity and creativity can provide. But we do not expect any individual or mega-organization to bring us rain when we need it and cause rain to stop falling when it causes harm. Doing all that human ingenuity can contribute is appropriate. Asking God to do what is not within our power is equally fitting: to pray for rain when water is scarce, or to request a cessation of rain when water is overabundant.

Many of us find it easy to pray for an immediate and present need of someone we know; praying is one of the ways that we manifest our love. But praying for broad issues, such as weather, is perhaps not as common a practice for those who believe in God. Our habits might tend towards either exercising control when we have it, or else accepting everything else that is not within our capabilities as individuals or as members of organizations. Yet all of us, at times, ask persons who are skilled in areas other than ours, to assist us. We have learned that we do not have to do everything ourselves, but can rely on others for assistance, while at the same time we exercise some of our particular abilities on behalf of others.

We probably do not think of ourselves as prophets, like Moses, who would address God on behalf of the people. But each of us has our own inspirations to follow in our unique personal relationship with God. If it occurs to us as an individual to pray, for any person or for any worthy cause, why would we not? Unlike heads of state who rarely listen to requests of any but selected representatives, God not only hears each and every individual with undivided attention and love, but inspires individuals to express their love for others in a variety of ways, including praying about events that impact the lives of many persons.

Whether we communicate with God about a momentary personal concern, or the absence or excess of rain, one immediate effect takes place within us. Just as we are changed for the better in some way by every sincere communication with another person, we always benefit by making our interests the subject of comment to or conversation with, God. Praying for something – asking – has nothing to do with control of the outcomes. The issue is always and only about our communication with God, in whom we trust. If we ask anyone else for assistance in an area of his or her competency, we either trust that person to respond as he or she thinks best, or we should not ask. A request is not a command.

Everything in creation that is of significance to us, including rain, provides opportunities for talking with God.

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Trees

When we think of trees, those that are most familiar probably come to mind: pine trees, palms, flowering trees, fruit trees, small ones or giant redwoods, trees that are good for climbing and those that are best appreciated under a covering of snow. Trees are homes for birds and for bugs, and provide us with food, shade, and other material requirements, as well as the pleasure we receive from their beauty. Trees contribute to all life on earth by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

The variety of the trees we know, and the diversity of size and shape of even the most familiar types of trees might lead us to wonder at the creativity they represent. Trees, among the many aspects of nature, are ideally suited for making human life on earth possible. But if we consider only the practical uses we can make of them, we miss more than half their purpose. When we consider trees in their colors, shapes, sizes, movements in winds or breezes, changes with lighting and with seasons, we receive them in their fullness as gifts that delight our spirits as well as serving some of our material needs.

We appreciate trees and many aspects of nature when we take time to reflect. We can pass by the same location more than once a day, focused on our destination or our next activity and not notice the natural environment through which we travel. We are busy persons, intent on all that we hope to accomplish. If we never notice the trees or some other part of the created natural world within which we live, all will continue to exist around us, but we will ourselves become like plants without water or sun. In order to fulfill our dreams and deepest desires, we need spiritual sustenance as much as we need food and drink. Many of us have learned that pausing to look out a window to notice the sky, plants, or any other aspect of the natural world, nourishes both our ability to accomplish goals and the worthiness of our purposes in achieving them.

Appreciating beauty leads easily and naturally to gratitude. When someone takes the time and effort to give us a gift, we usually want to thank that person. God has carefully and purposefully created our environment with the inclusion of trees in all their textures, colors, shapes, and sizes. We rightly praise artists for compositions they create of scenes that include trees. All that we can perceive with our external and internal senses has a creator whose act precedes the inspirations of artists and of all in nature that we find beautiful.

A gift is still a gift from the giver, even when someone does not appreciate or notice it. We often do things for others without expecting to be recognized or thanked. God gives us trees and all else that surrounds and sustains us for the same reason that we give to others some of what we have as well as some of who we are.

We delight in surprising people with material goods and expressions of our care for them. God is more than capable, and greatly pleased, to surprise us with unexpected gifts that have been frequently within sight and sound, but have gone unrecognized. Most of us can easily recall a time when we suddenly became aware of the strikingly lovely the way that light filtered through trees that we had passed many, many times before; or experienced a deep sense of well-being as we looked upon a setting that we had frequently viewed at other times.

The trees have not changed, nor the scenes about us. It is we who are changed as the God of all that exists creatively reaches out to us. If we choose to look for God’s good gifts, rather than to only receive occasional surprises, we might begin by observing some trees.

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Knowing

Many of us enjoy solving cross-word puzzles that come in varying degrees of difficulty. Others delight in reading mystery stories in which clues are provided as to the perpetrators of a crime. While we do not all find the same kinds of problems to be recreational, hardly any of us do not at some time take pleasure in struggling to achieve an understanding of an event, a design, or a reality that is not readily apparent. From infancy onward, our minds thrive on the process of coming to comprehend what we had not previously known.

Trying to understand God is a unique exercise, open to frustration as well as to extraordinary experiences. If we attempt to consider God directly with our familiar categories of space and time, we come immediately into contact with our powerlessness to conceptualize. For some of us, attempting to make sense out of ideas that do not match our own experience is at the same time both upsetting and exciting, like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon and looking down. Trying to think about God as having no beginning and no end can be far more troubling to our minds than looking up at the stars while considering that many of the points of light we can see are entire galaxies of stars that are moving away from us at speeds approaching that of light itself.

If we are willing to accept analogies, theories, or descriptions of God, as do scientists when they study events or materials that are incapable of direct observation, we can gain some satisfaction. But, again like good scientists, we especially yearn to know ever more fully those things that seem beyond us. More than curiosity is at work in us, when we try to know more about our universe and more about God, just as we also seek to more completely understand the persons we love, including even ourselves. We are attracted, drawn, and invited to open our minds, and also our hearts, to realities that are far beyond our immediate needs for food, clothing, and shelter.

We are capable of more than one way of knowing, especially when we acknowledge our desires to understand God or any transcendent reality. We can stay at the level of intellectual reasoning, or we can open ourselves to the ways in which we know other persons through a variety of experiences that are far more than the sum of all our thoughts about them. Hopes, fears, aspirations, and desires, name only a fraction of the kinds of things involved in knowing even one acquaintance, not to mention an individual with whom we have been close for years. Our knowledge of persons is direct, and always incomplete; satisfying or disappointing, but always changing.

We will have particular experiences when we quietly ponder one or other attribute of God that challenges our normal ways of thinking. We do not want to set ourselves up for a headache, but thinking about God as creating the one universe that we are able to partially observe, and doing so out of no pre-existing material, with no effort and no planning or construction time, is difficult to grasp. Add to those thoughts, that the same act also creates time itself, as well as space; that thinking, free-willed persons are included. Continue to imagine that, from our perspective, God has in the one creative act the entire breadth of human history as well as geological history, and all takes place as a choice of God that it shall exist.

For another excursion from the ordinary thoughts that normally occupy our minds when we are not at some particular task, think about love as an all-encompassing reality; that God is love, and that God created us as capable of love. We might not be able to understand, but we will be positively affected by such considerations.

Attempts to know God, as well as to know other persons, is an ongoing delight and challenge that makes us who we are.
 

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Commitments

On August 15, 1957, I made a commitment to life as a Jesuit. Some would say that anyone who is only two years out of high school is not ready to make a decision with life-long effects. But when is any one of us ready to make a commitment that has unforeseeable consequences?

Were my parents fully prepared for me as their child? In a reflective moment, we might wonder how it was that we were cared for sufficiently as children, so as to have made it thus far in life. The mystery of radical choices made by others that have impacted our lives might encourage us to consider our own experiences of commitments.

No matter how much time, gathering of related facts, and weighing of possible consequences we have given to the making of major decisions, we either made a commitment that we have since pursued with ongoing consequences, or we made a decision which we subsequently questioned and continued to compare with other options until we moved on to something else. A saying manifests the distinction between the former and the latter: “a breakfast of eggs and bacon is comprised of a contribution from a hen, but by a commitment from a pig.” No experience we have is quite like that of making a commitment.

In making some decisions, we are greatly assisted by inspirations: sometimes sought after, as in prayer, sometimes as complete surprises, indicating God’s absolute freedom to lovingly touch us. Since we make decisions every day, few of them require a radical step forward in trust, though almost all decisions we make in partnership with God include some measure of reliance upon God’s goodness. But when we find ourselves somewhat anxious about choosing a direction in life that has significant unchangeable consequences, we do well to look to our experiences of inspired thoughts and feelings. God is found in the details, when we are at the point of making a commitment.

Many of us can recall one or more unlooked-for moments of clarity and joy about making a choice that has had ongoing effects in our lives. When I was asked, at age 17, if I had ever thought about being a priest, I was so deeply flooded with positive thoughts and feelings, that I could only ascribe them to a sign from God that my heart’s deepest desire had been revealed to me. I have heard stories from some who have recognized in similar such moments, their desire to share life and to raise a family with a particular person, or to make a radical change in their careers, or to begin living from heretofore hidden aspirations. No two of us have had the same occurrences, but very many of us have had powerful experiences that helped us to choose a way of life that continues to draw from us long-term growth in love and in the full exercise of qualities that mature as we exercise them.

Perhaps we can more readily call to mind those times of great struggle within us when we faced a major decision – one we recognized as having lasting effects upon us and others. We might have consulted widely, and prayed for help over a painful period of time, with no “lightning bolt” of clarity to guide us. Yet, we did finally decide. And as we look back, we might recognize that in and through all the turmoil we came finally to a point where we were willing to “put our life on the line,” and we made a commitment whose consequences we have lived out for many years, perhaps to the present moment. Inspiration can occur as a flash of insight, but inspiration can also operate within us as a deep and quiet sense of direction empowering us to choose well even though we do know the reasons lying behind our choices, much less the future results.

Since we do not know the future, and are not in charge of the huge number of variables that attend major decisions, we encounter a mystery. What we cannot foresee, we do not need to see. We are not responsible for the unknowns. We are responsible for attending to the information we are able to gather from various sources, most especially the inclination of our hearts. We can either trust the process, and trust God in us and with us – the mystery of commitment - or retain falsely assumed control of all factors.

The essence of commitment is the awareness that this is ours to do, not someone else’s. This is what we want to do, from the heart. Comparisons with others will not do. It is not possible to swim, while we stand on the side. With commitments, we will be challenged, and some unpleasant events are bound to occur. But being focused on the heartfelt awareness of “this is what I want to do” is very helpful to continuing to deal with new challenges as they surely arise. The advantages are huge: we become the person we accept, appreciate, and love, even knowing our own weaknesses and shortcomings.

Commitments make us who we are, as much as who we are becomes manifest in the commitments we make.
 

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Care-giving

Most of us care about many persons, including some who have health problems and some who have difficulties associated with ageing. We are caring persons in general, but care-giving most often describes on-going relationships with relatives, friends, or others who have significant needs that they cannot meet themselves and for whom we furnish services that contribute to their quality of life. We want to be caring caregivers, not merely those who act from a sense of guilt or a concern for “what others might think.”

There is much more to care-giving than assisting people with physical needs, such as support with basic hygiene and house-cleaning, providing transportation to medical personnel, and doing some or nearly all of the shopping. They also have needs, as do we, for emotional support, and affirmation of personal worth. In addition, we might be challenged as caregivers to encourage those who struggle with physical and emotional needs, but also with anxiety and uncertainty in their relationship with God. We do not have to be a member of the clergy to assist others by hearing and respecting their questions about religion or issues of faith, and giving them our caring acceptance.

But, who will care for the caregivers, and the physical and emotional drain that follows upon intensive care of others? We are affected by whatever we do in any relationship, especially when we intentionally strive to sustain another person in his or her difficulties. Where do we find the resources necessary for ongoing concentration of thought and action on behalf of others while maintaining balance in our lives?

We have friends and perhaps other family members to encourage us. But ultimately, God is the source of all that enables us to act lovingly in the midst of suffering, ours and theirs. We are not asked to trespass our own limits for the sake of others. Staying in the company of God, and intentionally seeking help and healing for our own hurts and challenges, is as important as the practical conduct of our care-giving.

Regular prayer is a means of receiving not just strength to keep going, but consolation that centers us in our own present situation. We are trying to help another person live as best he or she is able, and we cannot give what we do not ourselves have. We need to stay in touch with the source of our own values and our purpose in life, and consciously connect them with our care-giving. If we do not care for ourselves, and become reflectively aware that we are cared for, we will not be able to sustain care for others.

We will profit much, and so will those for whom we are care-givers, when we exercise proper “selfishness” and take the means that enable us to distinguish between what is ours to do and what is not. Daily prayerful reflection on our experiences, which is not the same as merely thinking, allows us to receive inspirations and helpful information about ourselves which in turn has a positive effect upon the quality of our service for others.

Our care for others is a manifestation of God’s care for them, and also an expression of our love that often surprises us when we look back and realize how much, and in what ways, we have grown. Care-giving changes the giver for the better even more than it benefits the receiver.
 

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Turning Corners

When we walk on city streets, and literally turn a corner, the view before us changes, and we can no longer see the area behind that we had recently traversed. As we look to the right and to the left, we can now catch sight of a set of buildings, vehicles, persons, and equipment that were not within sight only moments previously. Since we cannot normally see around a corner, our perspective is altered only after we have made the turn, not before. And, when we make the choice to proceed forward, we commit ourselves to dealing with the presently unseen realities that we will surely soon encounter.

In our lives of work, health concerns, relationships, and all challenging situations, “turning a corner” means progress, growth, improvement, and advancement. The process is always positive, and also somewhat mysterious.

We can desire, intend, and even strive to “turn a corner” in some ongoing problematic working relationship, for example, but more is required than all the good-willed efforts that we can muster. Putting one foot in front of the other and making a left or right turn is not enough. Our decision to move forward as best we can is essential, but so too are the roles of inspiration within us and the movements around us that mysteriously correspond with and complement our actions.

If we reflect on any of our experiences of “turning a corner,” we might recognize that some elements are under our control and some are completely beyond our powers. We often say of a person who has been sick, for example, that he or she “turned a corner” and began a noticeable recovery. We might have visited and prayed for the person, medical personnel might have acted within their capacities, but none of us can say with certainty, much less “prove” how the patient’s healing took place. We can be thankful for every change for the better without fully knowing how it happens.

Since the experience of “turning corners” is so significant a part of our lives, we might want to review, and perhaps savor, some of them. If the only consequence was to provide us with a few moments of gratitude, that would be a sufficient reason for looking into our past. But even more, when we consider some of the significant changes for the better that we have made, we can grow in trust that more lie ahead for us, and find encouragement for taking the essential first steps that lead to further progress.

We might recall with pleasure some of the perspectives, ways of relating, and insights that were new for us at the time and that are now habitual. We might have come to realize that love of God means love of those around us, including those most difficult to appreciate or understand. We might have “turned a corner” in our ways of thinking about ourselves, no longer permitting the kinds of negative thoughts that had long been persecuting us. We might have become more honest with one or more persons to whom we give our trust; honest with God about all that we think and feel, hiding nothing of what we find uncomfortable or embarrassing. We all have experiences worth recalling.

Turning corners is for those who are willing to make a change for the better, based not on exact knowledge of all that lies ahead, but on the belief that we are in the midst of a purposeful, meaningful environment where, even as we acknowledge all the suffering and misery that exist around us, Love rules.
 

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Wraps Off

Translucent covering for food items and manufactured goods permits us to see the contents. But merely viewing a crunchy power bar or a fine new computer cable does not satisfy hunger or provide for a network connection. What we see is what we will receive, but only after removing the wrapping.

Much of creation is wrapped in a clear covering. We can see with our eyes, but until we also observe with our interior senses, we will not have positive experiences of the contents of creation. Wrappers often serve as protective coverings, but they are intended to be temporary, until we encounter fully a fresh morning, a kindly smile, or a new challenge. Even before we take the wraps off, we might have hopeful anticipation, trusting that God always has more for us in everything that exists than merely the first perceptions we receive from our physical senses.

All the wonders, opportunities, and challenges that are provided for us in this world are not just for our observation, but for life. We usually notice at first the outer realities, and through our participation, come to grasp the inner meaning and purpose of a particular part of creation. We might begin by being attracted, and then become engaged in encounters genuinely worth our ongoing involvement.

Doing volunteer service, for example, might interest someone. In our minds, we can view the advantages to be derived from any project that we might consider. But nothing happens until we take off the wraps, and engage persons, new ideas, or perhaps even occasions that are stress-inducing. We cannot know exactly how we will be influenced or affected by assuming a new responsibility or even by taking on a fresh way of thinking about a subject already familiar to us. Nor can we accurately predict the energy we might gain by deliberately acting on a decision instead of only thinking about it.

God is hidden in every aspect of creation, as are the flavors of a candy bar which cannot be tasted until we bite into it. Looking and admiring do not satisfy. But if we fully connect with any reality, even one that is invisible, we will be changed in some way.

No experience leaves us as we were beforehand. As we encounter God in creation, we change. That is why some people choose to keep their distance, since their main concern is to keep everything under their complete control. It is possible for any of us to notice what others read, but not to investigate for ourselves, or to become aware of others’ growth in spirituality, but never to take the wraps off our familiar rituals. We can choose whether or not to experience growth and change, in which God is actively present.

There is such vastness to creation, that no one of us will ever be able to unwrap and experience even a small sample of the realities within us and about us. But we are not isolated individuals; we are all children of one God. Each of us opens some particular treasures, which, rather than enjoying them only for ourselves, we share with others. We learn and appreciate with and also from one another, some of the riches of our experiences.

The hidden contents of creation are mainly available to those who will become involved, not just observers. We are meant to take the wraps off, and to find that God, who is Love, is in all things.

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Sunsets

Many of us enjoy watching a sunset, whether on the coast, in the mountains, or in the middle of an urban area. Besides admiring the beauty of colors and the play of light and shadow on clouds, land forms and buildings, we often identify with thoughts of completion and of change from one manner of living to another; we might also experience unnamed affective stirrings inside us. Sunsets often bear meanings for us which go far deeper than the sum of all the thoughts that occur while we watch the sun move below our field of vision.

Beauty does not need our permission to exist; we can enjoy it or not, as we can choose to watch a sunset or ignore it. Neither do we create the beauty we find in the natural world. We can observe it, let ourselves be affected by what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. We can allow our internal senses to be moved with appreciation, awe, curiosity, and other movements. Our choices in the presence of a sunset or any phenomenon outside us are to either engage or to disregard, but we do not make it happen. We do not put the sun to bed as we might send a child off for the night. Lovely gifts, not of our making, have been prepared for us and placed where we can readily find them.

There is something attractive about a sunset but perhaps also something sad for us, such as a reminder of a scarcely hidden painful memory of a person or an event. As we are not in control of the sun or of most other events we observe, neither do we have command over the feelings that take place within us in response to the beauty found in nature and in human creativity.

A sunset or a familiar piece of music might evoke a feeling of well-being at one time, yet on another occasion, we could find to our surprise that our eyes have gentle tears in them. We are capable of being moved in different ways depending upon the significant matters going on in our lives at the time when we encounter something beautiful. If we have lost a loved one recently, or have consciously or unconsciously been considering our own mortality, a sunset or even a short bit of birdsong might strike us as somehow both beautiful and sad. We spontaneously but unconsciously interpret from within, whatever we receive from our physical senses.

Our spirits and our flesh are bound together closely in a complementary relationship. We do not always have to delve deeply into our thoughts in order to find meaning and purpose in our lives. As members of a gracious and personally oriented creation, we can allow our spirits to respond freely to some of what we observe, and thereby change for the better. We do not have to understand in detail all that takes place. But we can choose to allow the perceptions of our hearts that accompany those of our physical senses help to clarify and give focus to some of our abiding concerns.

In creation, God provides more options for our benefit than the use of pure reasoned logic. We can watch a sunset, for example, and attend to the gentle and subtle combinations of thoughts and feelings as well as those that are overt and clear. Our decision to observe with openness is an affirmation of our willingness to be part of something greater than ourselves, an honest touch of humility.

We do not make every good thing happen by our own powers. Rather, we are beneficiaries of the ongoing creative power of Love.


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 Updated: 10/15/09