Some mornings I need more than one wake up call.I fell asleep easily after a wonderful evening with friends, but then was awake for a couple hours as Sunday became Monday. Of course, that meant when my gentle alarm sounded at 6:30, I was reluctant to get out of bed. I resisted for 45 minutes.
Had I forgotten how much I need to do today? How will I meet the deadlines I have set for myself? Oooh, that "to do" list--both a blessing and a rebuke in my life.
Even though I am up later than intended, however, I make the bed and go up the stairs to the garret for my morning meditation time, and, of course, what awaits me is exactly what I need.
First, from Joyce Rupp, "I awaken to what sleeps in me."
What sleeps in me?
My true self, my essence, the person I was created to be.
A willingness to rest in the embrace of God.
Expansive love.
More growth and openness.
My job is to wake up.
Second, I start reading a new book, The Grace in Living, Recognize It, Trust It, Abide In It by Kathleen Dowling Singh and in the introduction I read this phrase, "exploration of our own path of awakening." She suggests creating a timeline of our life on which we mark "grace points," to indicate a "significant moment of healing, realization, or transformative shift."
Moments of awakening to what sleeps in me.
After writing in my journal about the synchronicity in these passages in different books, I decide to read a couple pages in a book about writing, Writing Toward Home, Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way by Georgia Heard. She quotes Matthew Fox, "Thou shalt fall in love at least three times a day."
In other words, WAKE UP!
An Invitation
What sleeps in you and what do you need, in order to wake up? I would love to know.
Resources:
Kathleen Dowling Singh
Joyce Rupp
Georgia Heard
Why I Wake Early
ReplyDeleteby Mary Oliver
Mindful
Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
~ Mary Oliver ~
Thank you, thank you. Mary Oliver is always good for the soul.
ReplyDeleteWhen synchronicity shows up in our lives, it's a very powerful message. Yu did the right thing in waking up and paying attention!
ReplyDeleteAn ongoing process!
ReplyDelete