NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

“Life has its ebb & flow. Meditation is to be an active participant in the unfolding of life” ~ Andy Puddicombe Most of our lives we live with the misconception that w are in control. That by working harder or by not working so much, by being richer or living a plainer lifestyle, having more friends or being a loner, by achieving what we see as the ideal life, we will be happier, more contented and satisfied. We know what is best for us and once we get it, all will be well in our world.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the way the world, and by extension, our lives work.  We are reminded of this by the distinct seasons that we have here in Canada. The winter is cold and desolate, the spring brings milder temperatures and along with them the new growth, summers are hot , while in the autumn we see the trees change colour and lose their leaves, as we bring in the harvest to feed us through the winter. Whenever this cycle is disrupted  or goes ‘off program’, we are reminded t

"All things of creation are children of the Father and thus brothers of man. ... God wants us to help animals, if they need help. Every creature in distress has the same right to be protected." ~ Francis of Assisi   The feast day for St. Francis of Assisi falls on each year on October the 4th, very near to the date of the Canadian Thanksgiving. Somewhere in the the midst of Harvest celebrations and the Thanksgiving feast the Anglican Church [and some others] have a service called "The Blessing of the Animals". Parishioners are urged to bring their pets to church to have them blessed by the clergy.  Quite frankly this has always seemed to me to be a ‘nice’ but meaningless service, one that I never had the slightest desire to bring any of our pets to. Why would I expose them to the potential trauma that would come with being in close proximity to larger, more aggressive creatures, some of whom were their natural enemies? I could never understand

“I believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”  We stood in the vestibule, my friends and I. They were trying to give me directions as to where we were meeting for coffee. I just wasn’t getting it. Finally in desperation, they got out their phone and accessed Google Maps. Suddenly I understood. We were finally speaking the same language! As I have replayed this scenario over in my head, I began to realize that what I had experienced then was not unlike the reverse of what is written in the Bible about the Tower of Babel. It is a story I have always understood was designed to explain why there are different languages across the world.  But as I had just experienced, sometimes when we are speaking the same language, we are in fact not understanding what the other is saying. In this case it was easily rectified because [a] both my friends and I knew that  I just ‘wasn’t getting it’ and [b] they quickly rev

We just recently attended a production of the hit broadway show ‘Come From Away. It is based on the book by Jim DeFede ‘The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander Newfoundland’, [which both my husband and I read before seeing the play].  The plane passengers kept wanting to pay for what they were receiving. People found themselves being accepted for who they really were. They were offered help and friendship that had nothing to do with wealth or position, race, sexual identity, religion or skin colour. And we, the audience got caught up in their experience, erupting after the performance… and erupting is the only word the will adequately describe what happened. We weren’t cheering the set which was minimal using only a backdrop and a dozen or so wooden chairs. We weren’t cheering for the costuming, which could be found in anyone’s closet. There was nothing spectacular about the makeup.  There was no well-known actor in the cast and no special effects. What prompted such an out

For that which was.. For the which is.. For that which will be.. Thanks be to God. I came across this prayer a number of years ago. And when I did, it made me stop and think. To think how easy it is to be thankful for all those things we have in abundance. What isn’t so easy is to be thankful for all that we have experienced, the highs and lows, the mountain-top experiences and the valleys of death, the deserts and the abundant harvests. But those are the things that have made us who we are today and God has been present in that transformation and molding of our being: in the words of the doxology, “That power working within us that can do so much more than we can ask and imagine.” But then we can also be thankful for the actions of others: for everyone, everywhere, who either speaks out or acts against aggression, who stands up for those in need, who are willing to risk their own lives for someone else. When you remember that for which you are thankful this coming