Journal of Sacred Work

Days 271-275 Stop Beating Yourself Up! -The Art of Self-Kindness

"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting...if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" Yogi Berra

   One of the greatest Yankees ever, Yogi died this past Tuesday at 90. He is known beyond baseball for his immortal one liners like, "It ain't over till it's over" and, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it," and, "The future ain't what it used to be."  

   Everyone loved Yogi. Few of us have one of his most appealing traits: He never beat up on himself. Always affable & humble Yogi awed with his baseball skills & charmed with his light-hearted world view. 

   We laugh at the man (above) banging his head against a wall. Then we beat ourselves up everyday.

   How can we be compassionate towards others if we are not kind to ourselves? Why are you so harsh on yourself? Are you not a child of God?

   Yogi Berra was known for his compassion as well as his competitiveness. His humility was not grounded in self-hatred but in the innocent self-love Jesus taught.

   If you seek a bigger contemporary model beyond Yogi take careful notice of the finest Pope of modern times. On Sunday morning Francis washed the feet of an imprisoned Muslim woman. His compassionate presence in this world is transcendent. His sublime example is stirring the hearts of millions (including Protestants like me.) 

   Back to Yogi. "How can I get mad at myself," he said. And then went out & hit the ball as consistently as any Yankee ever has...& had fun doing it.

   Yogi wore baseball like his skin. Francis invites us to wear the robe of Radical Loving Care the same way. 

-Rev. Erie Chapman

 Photo: Man testing football helmet - Buzzlamp

Days 269- 270 All Life Is Sacred

  "Look deeply into nature and then you will understand everything better." -Albert Einstein

When I thought about a message that could inspire, this image came to mind.

It is a reflection that does not require words.  

  Nature is a great teacher. 

If we are attentive we experience a deeper awareness.  

What thoughts stir within, as you spend time with this photo?

Can you forge any connections  with your own life?

For me, this photo is majestic and seems to connect earth and heaven and me to my maker. There is peacefulness, a knowing. This beautiful horse is in his or her element grazing without a care. Without questioning; he is a part of all that is. He receives sustenance that flows in congruence with life’s natural unfolding. The miraculous beauty of the whole affirms my connection with a greater good, an intelligence that is at the heart of our universe.

I am reminded that our precious earth cannot be taken for granted or as Pope Frances cautions, do not objectify and disrespect our environment. For all life is sacred and we are intricately interconnected with all that lives.What happens to one affects the whole.

 Liz Sorensen Wessel

Photo: Wyoming, by Christina Maio (my niece)

Days 264-268 - Not in Picture...

   Even if you have seen it before stay with this astonishing picture. It takes more than a glance to absorb two subtle & fascinating facts. If you were born on or before July 21, 1969 you are included in this image.

   Sun trims the surface of the newly visited moon. The satellite in the foreground holds Buzz Aldrin & Neil Armstrong.  In the distance our orb with it seven billion inhabitants spins at a thousand miles an hour. Sitting in a separate space capsule is the photographer, Astronaut Michael Collins.

   Have you thought yet of what that means? Here is the second fact: Collins is the only person, living or dead, who is not in this photograph.

   After reflecting on this news for awhile I thought of all those group yearbook photos that list absentees as "not in picture." I knew one shy kid who hid in the boy's room on photo day & loved being listed as absent.

   But, no one on that July day in 1969 could escape the frame of this image.

   Challenges arrive each day. You have met many of them with joy, purpose & passion. Often, out of fear or laziness or simply because we have other challenges in mind we duck the choice to embrace Opportunity. 

   For how much of life have you & I been "not in picture?" 

-Erie Chapman

   

Days 262-263 My Wish for You

Beannacht-Blessing by -John O’ Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

Offered by Liz Sorensen Wessel
Watercolor by ~liz 

Days 257-261 The Miracle of Mercy

   In the eighth grade Mrs. Emerson made us memorize these lines from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice: 

   "The quality of mercy is not strained;/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/ upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;/ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes..." 

   Wise person, Mrs. Emerson. She hoped we would remember these golden lines about mercy (as clearly I do nearly sixty years later) & that we would absorb the message.

   She also hoped we would carefully read the rest of the immortal lines including the ones that describe how mercy becomes the "throned monarch better than his crown" & that the scepter is merely a mortal symbol whereas mercy "is an attribute to God himself."

   A millennia & a half before Shakespeare, Jesus captured the transcendent power of mercy in a single story. His parable echoes through every loving heart & is endlessly portrayed - including in Morot's 19th century painting. Shouldering the wounded & naked "stranger" on his beast of burden is The Good Samaritan himself, the protagonist of the greatest parable of love in the history of the world.

   Who do you want as your neighbor? Jesus asks the lawyer after telling him the parable.

   We know the answer. We want the one who is merciful. We want the one who is kind. We want the one who lives love, not fear.

-Reverend Erie Chapman 

Days 255-256 We Were Struck

There are so many sad things going on in the world that sometimes a good belly laugh is just what we need to release some of life stresses. Have you ever laughed until you cry? The experience is a catharsis that leaves us feeling good.

I graduated high school at 17 and worked as a tech at a psychiatric facility in Vermont. We had to rotate shifts monthly. I did not adjust well to working nights. Part of my night duty chores was to clean the bathroom. My friend Sharon and I were cleaning this large multi-stall bathroom in the middle of the night. Suddenly, we were struck by a fit of laughter. Before long one of us splashed the other and then the other splashed back and it escalated to throwing and dodging buckets-full of water. We were hilarious or rather delirious with laughter. All the while we knew our mischief could get us into big trouble should our supervisor happen upon the scene. When we wore ourselves out we cleaned up all the water and the room sparkled. This memory lingers fondly.

When I was a full-time nursing student I needed a job. A friend suggested I apply where she worked as they had an opening. I was hired. I worked in the credit department of a nearby furniture store. My job was to call people who were delinquent on their payment plan and ask them to mail a payment. One evening I went to work feeling overtired and I caught a case of the giddies, which as you know is contagious. Mindful that I was on the clock I called my next customer. "Hello, Mrs. S this is Elizabeth from the credit department…(laugh out loud.) Excuse me, I am sorry, (outburst of laughter and co-workers hysterical)…but I am calling because….(laughing fit)…your payment is past due…..hahahaha…oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry, I think I am overtired." Fortunately, Mrs. S did not seem to take offense.

It seems that at the most inopportune times, when you know you are not supposed to laugh, is when laughter erupts. Some of the funniest moments, you may not even know why you are laughing, other than it is in response to another person’s uncontrolled laughter. Laughter creates connection (as long as it is not at the expense of someone else by making fun of them.) The universe has a great sense of humor.

I share the video below to stimulate a good laugh in you. 

Liz Sorensen Wessel

Internet photo

 

Days 250-254 - In the Blink of a Camera's Eye

 "What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are." George Eastman, Founder of Kodak

   Yes. This is the day & week we focus on celebrating labor (a word that suggests something different in obstetric units.)

   Odd that the man whose labors enabled all of us to capture moments with the blinking eye of his camera for everyone (His famous quote was "You push the button, we do the rest)  would belittle our "working hours" as only determining "what we have" & leisure as signaling"what we are."

   But, everything points to who we are in this world. Ever the businessman (as well as inventor) Eastman was trying to aim our energy at leisure, the period during which we would use his portable cameras. 

   Labor Day offers such leisure. My passion for photo-art drives worry about the ease of cellphone pictures. As we scan hundreds of vacation images do we see or remember a single one? 

   Early on my passion for photography drove the use of old camera's like the one shown here even though smaller ones were available. You had to think hard about each camera blink because the loader only held two slips of five by seven film. But the silver prints from such large negatives made it worthwhile.

   I spent many darkroom hours turning dark into light. It was surprising to see how even then people barely glanced at the hard won images.

   "Light makes photography," Eastman wrote. "Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

  Your cell phone photos are one of the things that determine who you are. How you look at pictures is another.

-Erie Chapman

Days 294-295 A Little Help Along the Way

“You are the holy Son of God Himself. Remember this, and all the world is free. Remember this, and earth and Heaven are one.” -ACIM

  As we journey through life there are people we meet whose presence nourishes our soul. These friends are wise sages who help us along our spiritual path.

Many of us were taught at an early age that we were born with original sin. Yet, one only need gaze upon the face of a newborn babe to experience the glow of his/her original innocence.

Over time, we  forget our natural state and don the clothes of this world. As Erie so aptly described in his most recent essay, we experience a world of scarcity (Rev. E. Chapman, Days 288-292 - A Picture of God? AUGUST 31, 2015.) We can become overly attached to old wounds and wear our story as if a badge of courage. We may allow our stories to define our lives. Life’s dramas are like movies playing in our head; distortions of reality or as some say, illusions.

 We blame or find guilt in others to deflect uncomfortable feelings from arising in ourselves. Yet, the irritations we experience provide a perfect opportunity to awaken. We come to recognize that it is never about the other person but  rather a lesson for our growth. When we drop the story line we discover that beneath it all is the guilt or innocence we see in others. My mind becomes clear from this vantage point. We suffer when we find guilt.  We muster real courage when we resist falling into a victim role.

 Seek only the innocence in others and in their Light you will find joy. Look with kindness, for we are here to help each other along the way. 

The only truth I know is Love.

~Liz Sorensen Wessel

My reflection is based on teachings in A Course in Miracles & from M. Williamson & dear friends
Photos taken at Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary; Martha’s Vineyard, August 2015