One Bird Watching

 Many years ago, at an artists' retreat in New Harmony, Indiana, I came across the following poem engraved on a monument beside the lake.  As my sister and I stood there reading the poem, a magnificent blue heron with about a 12 foot wingspan slowly flew across the lake and softly landed about 10 feet from where we stood.  He (she?) quietly folded his/her wings and stood, as if alongside us, contemplating the scene.  For me, it was a breath-taking moment.  It was as if I had found my vocation -- or, rather, as if the scene embodied and described my life's purpose:  to quietly watch God at work in my own life and in the life of others.

Strangely enough, or maybe typically enough in the way God works, when I left Indiana (and Kentucky, where my sister lives), I decided to take an unplanned side trip on my way home to Mississippi.  A friend of mine had found a home in the hills of Tennesse after the total destruction of her house in Hurricane Katrina.  I was within driving distance of her new place and decided to stay overnight with her.  The next morning, I awoke to the sound and light of her working on a computer right outside my bedroom.  It seemed that she had just started writing a blog, something I had never heard about before then.  

Intrigued, I asked her to show me how to start a blog.  By the time I drove home later that day, the inspiration had settled in for this blog:  ONE BIRD WATCHING.  I think it took the combination of back-to-back experiences to launch me into blogging.  Without the first experience, I would have felt that I had nothing to say on a blog.  Without the second, my initial awe might have died for lack of expression.  Do you see what I mean about watching God work?

Here is my initial inspiration:

When no one listens
To the quiet trees,
When no one notices
the sun in the pool;

When no one feels

The first drop of rain,

Or sees the last star;

Or hails the first morning

Of a giant world

Where the peace begins

And rages end:

One bird sits still

Watching the work of God:

One turning leaf,

Two falling blossoms,

Ten circles upon the pond.

Grace, Grace, and More GraceI

 I have been re- reading a wonderful book by Harvey Eagan called Karl Rahner: Mystic of Everyday Life.  Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century (in my opinion), maintained that every person is the subject of "the always-offered grace of God's self-communication."  We call that self-communication of God The Holy Spirit.

Rahner also believed that "the devout Christian of the future will either be a mystic, one who has experienced 'something,' or he will cease to be anything at all."  

Jesus said, "I have come to case fire upon the earth, and what would I but that it be kindled" (Luke 12:49).  Those who maintain that Jesus is only a great teacher have not yet caught the fire He came to give.  The reason He came was to give us the Holy Spirit, who will "teach [us] all things and lead [us] into Truth."

There is much to be said and studied about the Role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  For those who want to understand and receive more, I will list some Scriptures at the end.  Reading/praying these Scriptures will bring us into communion with the Spirit Himself.  By opening the door to the "always-offered grace of God's self-communication," we can ready ourselves for the fire that Jesus came to give us.  Even better would be to study these Scriptures with a small group who can pray together for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and who can share together the result of grace, grace, and more grace!

According to Karl Rahner, here are the results of experiencing the 'something' he referred to (or the Role of the Holy Spirit in our lives):

--- a taste for prayer

--- a heart open to the mysteries of Scripture ("To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted" Matt. 13:11)

--- the experience of Christian community

--- a deep sense of ecumenism

--- a mysticism of everyday life: the finding of God in all things

--- consciousness of being under the special and personal guidance of the Holy Spirit  ["The mystic is absolutely sure that God and God alone is acting"]

--- an infused (or awakened) contemplation of Scripture and of life itself.

How do we get there?  God has already opened the door for us; we just have to walk through it (see John 10).  Here are some great starting places:

John 14-16

Matthew 7 and Luke 11

Zechariah 4:6

Acts 1

Luke 12:49 and Matt 3:11

Galatians 5:22;   Isaiah 11:1ff;  I Cor. 13

Isaiah 12:3 and John 4:10  (Read together)

Where Has God Been in YOur Life?

 When the ancient Israelites were journeying through the Promised Land, they would often construct a monument of stones and call it "Ebenezer," meaning "thus far has God helped us."  In my own life, God's help was so present to me during and after Katrina that I wrote the story of His Providence and called it "Ebenezer Road" (not published).

Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century, once said that every person has encountered God in his/her life.  To those who aver that they have never encountered God, he says, "O yes, you have encountered Him!"  But I'd be willing to bet that not one in thirty people can tell you how, when, or where that encounter took place.

It has been said that unless we find God in our own lives, we will not find Him at all. But reflection has not been part of our culture, as it was, for example, in Greek culture.  So turning outwards to the world around us for stimulation, we hardly know how to turn within our own lives and histories to find God.

As I go back through my own history, I can find so many landmarks along the road, places where I met God, though at the time, I may not have recognized the encounter.  One of those times was after my third child was born.  I had had three children in four years, with all of the attendant ear infections, tonsillitis, and frequent hospitalizations, etc.  Since I nursed all my children, I think I had not slept more than an hour and half in those four plus years.  I thought I was doing fine until one day I found I could not stop crying; I think sheer exhaustion had set in.  

My husband took three days off from work, and I went to the Cenacle, a retreat house in Metairie, for rest and recuperation.  There I met Sr. Gautreaux, a nun trained in counseling.  The first night I met her, I simply mentioned that I couldn't stop crying, but that I had no real problems -- the kind that other people had.  She did not try to counsel me, telling me that God loved me, for example, or offer words of practical advice.  She did not pray with me or for me.  She simply asked me one question:  Who is God to you?

She asked me to ponder the question overnight.  And the answer to that question changed my life.  

I came back the next day and told her that God was the God of my past and occasionally of my present, but He was not the God of my future.  That is, I could look back in my life and see where He was, and sometimes I could sense His presence in the moment, but that I could not trust Him for the future.  In other words, I thought I was responsible for handling all the problems of each day.  The burden rested on my shoulders, and I thought I should be able to handle it by myself.  I didn't really think God would be there for me in the future.  

The following day, as I was packing to leave the Cenacle, I heard a bird singing and singing and singing, really loud!  I turned, and there on my windowsill sat a cardinal, singing its little heart out!  Truly a moment of grace for me, as the thought went through my mind:  You don't have to solve all the problems alone; all you have to do is to get up each morning and sing!

It was the beginning of a new journey toward God for me, even though it took years for me to travel that new road.

I now find it a prayerful experience for me to look back on my life in 10-year segments, asking myself where God was in each of those segments of my life.  And discovering His presence for me in the past leads me to trust that He will continue to be there for me in the future!