Back in Kalamazoo again. Back in my nice little city, and my nice little neighborhood. Back where The Enclosure of the modern urban life seems farther away. Here is where there is at least some chance of opening up my soul to the Life of things natural and real. And so here, blessedly, is where [if one is lucky] a connection is waiting....
The Sun is out in all its glory today, as our odd "winter" continues its strange ways. The snow is melting and the roof is weeping its water from the overhang just in front of me. The snow crystals are compacted; just showing a blazing beacon here and there. No colored jewels... well, maybe a gentle sapphire over there, or a quick flash of the spectrum, then gone. God's wind is singing in the pine trees to the southwest. Part of the Original Words of Physical Law placed in this old Universe long ago. It's good to just sit and listen. Even the birds are relatively silent and respectful this day. The sky is pure blue. Only the lines drawn upon it by our technology disturb its simplicity. I actually don't mind the jet-trails. They too are simple enough. And they symbolize that we poor humans are striving mightily to accomplish things --- even as wrong-headed as we often are.
The humans on the ground are striving too. The young man runs by, trying to recover the condition of his college days. The old man jogs by; grimly trying to maintain what he still has. The middle-aged man with the deformity forces himself down the road. Determined to overcome. Full of hope. Spiritual or not: may there be Blessings to them all. For me, just sitting here watching their striving, I am just trying to reconnect. I love that they are giving such effort. For me it's more about NOT making effort at the moment. The connection comes with the quiet, not the noise.
The roof-drops fall in front of me. They crash into the dripline formed from many such years ... and spatter away like a faerie fountain. Every splash seems different. Every splash seems part of this uncountable diversity spoken into this Universe. .... Magnificent .... Watching the never-ending ramifications of the Word of God.
.... Connection.
We all need to get out of The Enclosure. We all need to occasionally "turn away". We need to listen to the Universe sing ... we need our own soul to sing with it.
The Song is always there.
I enjoy these moments too. They are like small epiphanies filtered through déjà vu as we return to appreciating senses and thoughts that are forgotten until the next time.
ReplyDeleteLast week, I was driving early to work. The fields were bright and frost-hardened and the sky had that blue clarity that comes only during winter. In the rear-view mirror, the sun was rising and caused me to remember that it's a huge star in our small neighbourhood. For those few moments, I was driving down a road on a beautiful planet in winter whilst a modest star covered the horizon in warm orange hues.
I wound down the windows and simply enjoyed the moment.