Opening Reflection

September

Nature fulfills herself, brings ripeness from the seed, and completes what she began. What she whispered under the mantle of winter snow, she ultimately shouts in the fields and woods of autumn. Harvest! So, it is in our lives. The poet, T.S. Eliot said: “In my end is my beginning.” Life comes ’round. There is promise even in the midst of decline. When a child goes off to school, it is both ending and beginning. Looking back over the years, we see that some events we considered “closings” were actually “openings.” When we felt buried under depression or frustration, we discovered roots growing in the dry ground. When the last leaf of autumn falls and cold settles over the empty fields, hope will mix with dark, because, as the poet G.M. Hopkins wrote. “the Holy Ghost over the bent world broods with warm breast and ah! bright wings.”

From All the Days of My Life, Iona Center – Chosen and read by Nancy L.

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Christmas is coming!

Photos by Mieke K.

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This (Saturday) morning we enjoyed the Fall beauty of Brookgreen Gardens with other “Walking in Wonder” fans. It was a dark but mild day and the crews preparing for “Nights of a Thousand Candles” reminded us that Christmas is already near. The silence was interrupted by two little birds calling out to each other high up in the trees and I asked Mieke (we’ve been together for 55 years and often our thoughts seem to be running similar tracks): “Do you hear what they say”. She listened for a moment and her face was a question mark. It was so clear to me so I asked again: “Don’t you hear it, they sing  secret, secret, secret” to each other; always three times. Mieke listened again and came back with: “No, it’s sacred, sacred, sacred”!

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Photos by Jill W.

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Endings and beginnings… struggles and joys…

Nature is the perfect teacher. As I opened my eyes and heart to the wonder and beauty of the natural world  today, it was easy to see God’s creation in all its glory. Why is it easy to accept and appreciate the cycles and dichotomies of nature — the rhythm of the seasons, birth and death, light and dark, storms and sunshine; while at the same time, so difficult to accept and embrace the cycles and struggles of our human condition? Beginnings and endings… beginnings of something different, not necessarily better or worse, just different. How can I find the grace in all endings and beginnings, no matter what they bring? 

Photos and reflection by Nancy L.