Themes: Tuesday's Reflection

Perhaps my love of themes dates to my days of being an English teacher. "What is the theme of this story?" 

I love creating a theme. Sometimes it is for a dinner or a party. We had a number of people here for dinner the day after St Patrick's Day and in spite of the fact that we are not Irish, I decided it would be fun to decorate the table with that theme and serve corned beef and cabbage. 

Perhaps it is because I am writing my spiritual memoir and perhaps it is because I will soon be 70, but I have been thinking about the themes of my life. Over the years the subthemes have changed, depending on the stage of life--raising our family, moving, discerning a call to spiritual direction, but what has been the overall theme of my life? 

And what is the theme of these sacred aging years?

Elizabeth Jarret Andrew in her new book, Living Revision, A Writer's Craft as Spiritual Practice uses the word,  "heartbeat." The pivotal unanswered question that drives what you are writing.


                What is this piece really about? What might
                it want to become? What truth is asking to 
                be told? What pumps energy into this creation
                and how can I, its author, amplify that pumping?
                                                       p.92

Andrew suggests placing your hand on your heart and listening to your own literal heartbeat. 

                Attend to the mysterious, unified workings of
                your body. Then imagine placing the essence of
                your book near your heart. Allow your heartbeat
                to infuse the book's essence. The heartbeat of your
                book is born of your heartbeat. 
                                                       p. 115

The heartbeat of your LIFE is born of your heartbeat--the way you live and breathe and move and interact and love and serve and create and grow and change. 

Joan Chittister challenges us to discover the rest of ourselves in these sacred aging years. These are years to become intimate with our own heartbeats. Body, mind, and spirit. 



Before dinner was served the other night we each read Irish blessings I had printed for us.
Here's an example:

                   


                   

                   May the blessing of light be upon you,
                         Light on the outside
                         Light on the inside.
                   With God's sunlight shining on you,
                   May your heart glow with warmth
                         Like a turf fire
                   that welcomes friends and strangers alike.
                   May the light of the Lord shine from your eyes
                          Like a candle in the window
                          Watching the weary traveler.

May your heartbeat be filled with light. 

An Invitation
What makes your heart beat with joy? With meaning? With purpose? 

NOTE: I am going on a writing retreat the rest of this week. My next post will be Tuesday, March 27.