Dear Friends,
Another cold winter day in Connecticut….much of the state is closed down due to our February 5th snowstorm “Derby” and I am grateful to be home. Shoveling awaits, but for now it is great just to look outside.
I spent last weekend on retreat with my sister Mercy Associates, the theme was compassion and the interdependence of all of creation. We explored many images and ideas within the warmth of the retreat house and our love for one another. One image stood out for me…that of the “holon.” Think of a Russian doll, the kind that has a doll within a doll within another doll. Scientists are using the holon to describe our limitless universe or the complexity of the human body. Believers use the image to describe our life within the Divine.
And poets? Thornton Wilder, in his 1938 play, “Our Town,” understood this concept as he wove science and faith together in the following lines. They are spoken with amazement by Rebecca Gibbs, a younger sister of main character George:
“I never told you about that letter Jane Crofut got from her minister when she was sick. He wrote Jane a letter and on the envelope the address was like this: It said: Jane Crofut; The Crofut Farm; Grover’s Corners; Sutton County; New Hampshire; United States of America…Continent of North America; Western Hemisphere; the Earth; the Solar System; the Universe; the mind of God – that’s what it said on the envelope.”
I’ve always loved this quote and have sometimes rewritten it in my mind with myself as the name on the envelope. Me, especially in my moments of self-importance, finding myself within the larger and larger circles of reality, until ultimately resting within the mind of God. Try that exercise for yourself…and discover the peace of letting go and being connected to each layer of life. Relax into the notion that your life is embraced, as a baby in her mother’s arms, by God’s abiding love. There is no expectation beyond trust. That is the invitation and the promise.
Thinking of you with love, Lisa
No Comments