Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Still in awe
Many of my hours yesterday were spent reflecting on the article about the birth of a star or planet in a galaxy far, far away. I look out my window at the trees that have lost their leaves as they are meant to do, and I can’t help but wonder if this is happening anyplace else in our massive Universe(s). I can’t yet put into words how this little article opened my heart up to the power and majesty of God. I haven’t had a moment like this since I stood at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and learned that it took a mere 6 million years for the Colorado river to carve this magnificent place.
Today’s meditation from Richard Rohr starts out this way: The roots of ultimate insights are found…. on the level of wonder and radical amazement, in the depth of awe, in our sensitivity to the mystery.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man.
Yesterday I was immersed in wonder, amazement and awe. Today the mystery still lives in my mind as an unusual combination of belief and apprehension. It’s not that I am fearful of the enigma that numbers in the billions create for me. My brain is trying to fit all the pieces together, knowing full well that I can not make a complete picture out of them. I used to believe that we only use 10% of our brain power, and that if I could access the other 90% I would understand everything much better. I have since learned that among the 100 billion neurons in my brain exist 2.5 million gigabytes of information storage. Surely there are enough bits of information accessible to help me understand the mysteries of creation. Or not.
This morning I am the prayer chaplain at church. I will read today’s excerpt from the Daily Word. Appropriately, the words for today are Faith and Hope, two things crucial for my beliefs. I have faith that God is present in all aspects of creation. I do not need to capture and define God’s abilities. I do need to have reverence for them. Hope is God’s promise that I have been given all that I need to do what is mine to do. Hope is the optimism that generally rules my life. As a prayer chaplain I never know what a person is carrying when they come for a prayer, but I do have faith that the right words will come and their heart will be lifted as a result.
Today starts this year’s Advent Season. I always associate this time with the young woman, Mary, whose faith in God led her to accept that she was a part of what had been foretold. I think about the spiritual power of the child she was carrying. After yesterday’s reading, I believe that in the universal expanse of time and place, other such life forms exist. How can they not?
Recently I visited a friend for the last time. She and I both knew that her time in this life was limited and that we would not speak again. She told me that something I taught her had stayed with her and was of great comfort to her. She reminded me that one time we talked about death and I referred to it as a “transition”. She said she wasn’t afraid, that she was more than ready to transition to another phase of existence. I believe her light is shining within the great mystery and that she has become a part of it.