Archives for December 2016

To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.

John Ruskin, English art critic  1819-1900

This November was a strange month.  Not only was the weather erratic and unprecedented but so was the election and the political climate.  (Sigh)  All of it is confusing and confounding with smokescreens of battling tweets, false news sites and hacking, entertainment-fantasy-lies versus reality, and those who say to the seers, “See not.”*

The bright-headed Pileated Woodpecker caught my attention in the gray, exposed landscape of early November.  His large body of steely gray feathers could easily have been camouflaged, but the red crest of feathers and stripes of white, red and gray on his head and neck created a bull’s-eye through the circular branches of an old Oak.  I’m so intrigued by this huge, shy bird.  Most often I hear the distinctive, raucous call before seeing the undulating flight and clumsy landing.  His strong, pickaxe bill can send chunks of wood flying as he searches for insects.

The mild weather of early November gave us glimpses of colored shrubs and perennials that usually would have lost their leaves via a killing frost by that time.  Joe Pye Weed still looked beautiful in its autumn glory, surrounded by red fruit stems of Gray Dogwood and graceful branches of Oak trees.

The last of the golden-leaved trees was the Honey Locust, losing leaves from stems, then losing the yellow sprays of leaf stems from branches.  A cascade of loss.

November’s super moon caught the attention of the world, something that gave me great pleasure and hope—that a celestial body could be the focus of attention for a week of time.  The moon, stars, sun, and earth—all common denominators for each and every one of us on this planet.  But the focus can easily be placed on other things, even when looking at our common subjects.

What is the real subject?  What is the real issue?  What is the truth of the situation?

Many things can obscure what we’re looking at, what we need to know.  Clouds of illusion, reflections of reflections, and influences of darkness can obstruct our vision and muddy our convictions.

On the 18th, our first snow was a blizzard, closing schools and littering the highways with wrecks.  Not seeing and slippery slopes have consequences.

But there was this flower blooming outside our window the day before the storm.  One stem of this Hollyhock represented all the stages of our lives: a closed green bud full of potential; an unfolding bud showing rich, young, lively color; a lovely, open blossom in its prime; an older, more experienced, slightly faded bloom; a wilted, wiser, wrinkled version of its former self; and finally, a withered, spent flower that was being ‘cared for’ by the rest of the plant.  All of them valuable and worthy to be seen.

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.  I can see all obstacles in my way.  Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.  It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.” (Gamble & Huff)  So, where do we begin?  We begin right where we are.  We begin by seeing and being aware.  There is great value in seeing the environment around us, in being aware of the people around us, but most importantly, I believe, in seeing ourselves.  What path are we on?

On our paths, we attempt to see our lives clearly.  We want the sweet poetry of joy and love.  We look forward to a good and meaningful life.  We long to be in the presence of the Holy One.  In that spirit, with that Spirit, we have the amazing ability to look at our lives, our thoughts, our feelings and have insight—what a gift!  Novelist Jonathan Franzen wrote about insight: “And when the event, the big change in your life, is simply an insight—isn’t that a strange thing?  That absolutely nothing changes except that you see things differently and you’re less fearful and less anxious and generally stronger as a result: isn’t it amazing that a completely invisible thing in your head can feel realer than anything you’ve experienced before?  You see things more clearly and you know that you’re seeing more clearly.  And it comes to you that this is what it means to love life, this is all anybody who talks seriously about God is ever talking about.  Moments like this.”  I say to the seers, “See.”

*Isaiah 30:10