Good morning…
To the gathering of over fifty Lovett School moms, I read aloud the Parker Palmer quote saturating yesterday’s post, The First Day Of Fall. Before I shared his gorgeous words, I handed out a blank piece of paper, I instructed the women to divide their paper in half, and I asked them to place at the top of their page “Fall 2019,” reminding them that this autumn would never come again and that we, our children, and all our loved ones would never, ever be this age again. Honoring this unique season in life, I asked the women to collect on the left side of their personal page words that capture their attention, words they love, enjoy, welcome from my reading of pages 98 and 99 in Let Your Life Speak. On the right side of their blank page they were told to collect words they hate, words they resist, words they would rather avoid. Then to the gathering of prayerful moms, I quietly read aloud the deep wisdom of Parker Palmer.
After I was done reading, we took a minute to reflect on the words that had fallen on our page. We noticed. We pondered. We felt what we sensed.
Then I invited the women to voluntarily popcorn aloud any words that had landed on the left side of their page, words they love, enjoy, welcome. “Great beauty.” “Abundance.” “New growth.” “Seeds.” “Colors.” “Power.” “Myriad possibilities.” “Bear fruit.” “Lavishly.” “Vivid palette.” “Truth.” “Hopeful.”
Next women read aloud words appearing on the right side of their page, words they hate, resist, avoid. “Decline.” “Decay.” “Death.” “Inevitable.” “Browning.” “Melancholy.” “Impending loss.” “Surface appearance.” “Irredeemable.”
Finally, I instructed the women to draw a large circle over their entire page, embracing both side, encompassing it all, holding together everything. Phrases reemerge. “Living is hidden in dying.” “Death and elegance go hand in hand.” “There is in all visible things . . . a hidden wholeness.”
Might God be intricately involved in both sides of our page? Each unique day, could our LORD be asking us to celebrate the interconnectedness of every single thing? Might we enjoy more fully the things we truly love today as we quietly acknowledge our impending loss?
To end our time together, I read aloud the Scripture verse closing out yesterday’s post. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:15-17, NIV). As Parker Palmer concludes, “…a great truth is concealed in plain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in the paradox of ‘hidden wholeness.'”
This second day of Fall 2019, may God’s grace reach more and more people, causing thanksgiving to overflow abundantly in our everyday lives.
…Sue…
P.S. With the paradox of “hidden wholeness” in mind, you may want to get out a blank piece of paper, read again Parker Palmer’s quote from yesterday’s post, and do this exercise yourself. On this unique autumn day, how well do you trust God to hold you together amid the experiences you love and the experiences you hate?
