approaching storm

Have no fear,
for me at least, all is as prepared as possible including building trust and faith in Spirit.

As I walked around putting things in order before Hurricane Sandy, one large worry was all the big old trees we have, quite a few near the end of their lives. Not only was I concerned for damage to buildings but the loss of old friends. During prayers it occurred to me that if one should go it would let in more light.  Because they are in shadow or shade, those places where very little colorful grows, will be able to bloom.

Perhaps too with our lives. The major losses, whether death of a parent, traumas like getting fired from a job can bring an opportunity for the Light to shine into our  lives in new ways.  After the messes and most pain are cleared away,  cracks appear in the shadow material and allow us,  if we choose, to examine and renovate.  New growth is possible in ways we couldn't have imagined.  If we are open,  we can blossom with unexpected vibrancy.

I also realized that there is an essence of my trees that will always be with me, not only in memory but in terms of place. Where they now stand affects all around it.  As other things come up they are influenced by what went before.  Also with important people and experiences in our lives.  The sparks that exists in everything, trees and people, are eternal not only in and of themselves but in what they influence. These sparks are reveled through our awareness. They connect us with the infinite supernal and perfect Love, that peace that surpasses all understanding.

Place is one of the essential aspects of eternity.  And eternity is one of the defining aspects of God. So we can, through this, see and know it is real right here, now. We are an intergal part of a whole. In Hebrew there is a word "makom" which not simply is translated as place, often as a holy space, but is actually one of the names for God. It is where Abraham stopped with Isaac for a time of spiritual encounter, it is where Moses meets God a the burning bush, and is told to remove his shoes ancestral homeland, sacred, hallowed ground.

Through identificaion of our place we ground our essential nature of the Divine.  It is here the expectant possibility of Life,  that transcendent beauty,  unfolds forever and ever.
What a great adventure!