extra-Ordinary
|
What a Wonderful World |
 I
believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars...
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven...
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.
-Walt Whitman |
(Note: Rev. Tom will deliver the June 11th Sunday
Message in person at the Greenbrier Community Center in Woodinville. His next
website message will be posted on Sunday, June 18th.)
In times when worldly difficulties appear large, when
troubles like terrorism, war, global threat, disagreement and fear are the daily
news fare, it can look and feel as if the only resolutions to such massive
problems must be brought about by major actions carried out on a grand scale by
great and powerful people.
How tempting it is to seek and glorify the big things.
It serves us well to remember
the power of small actions carried out with loving intention by everyday people.
Enduring spiritual growth and positive changes usually take
shape within the modest – and very ordinary – moments of our day-to-day lives.
Through years of spiritual practice, again and again, I am led to this simple
understanding.
This sort of spiritual understanding and practice may not
make you famous, widely admired, a millionaire, or land you on the stage of
American Idol, but it does nurture a quiet fulfillment and purposeful
contentment that can satisfy your soul.
In his book, A Path With Heart, Jack Kornfield
writes:
"The ordinariness of spiritual
life comes from a heart that has learned trust, from a gratitude for the gift of
human life. When we are just ourselves, without pretense or artifice, we
are at rest in the universe. In this ordinariness there is no higher or
lower, nothing to fix, nothing to desire, simply an opening in love and
understanding to the joys and suffering of the world. This ordinary love
and understanding brings an ease and peace of heart to every situation. It
is the discovery that our salvation lies in the ordinary. Like the
water of the Tao, which finds its way between the stones or wears them away a
little at a time and gradually lowers itself to return to the ocean, this
ordinariness brings us to rest. There is great power in ordinariness, a
great strength in spiritual maturity. There comes the power to heal
ourselves naturally, and just as naturally our sanity and compassion extends to
the world around us."
As you move through the moments of your life this week, as
you wash the dishes or sweep the floor or chuckle or drive your car or make a
shopping list or speak a simple prayer or converse with another being, remember
to savor the sanctity of the ordinary experiences of your life. Give
yourself permission to think small. Consider the ordinary old
cliché, "good things come in small packages."
Mother
Teresa said, “We ourselves feel that what we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the
world would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big
way of doing things.”
The little, ordinary things may not feel flashy or
newsworthy, but they are holy and meaningful beyond measure.
Amen.
*********
Next Sunday (June 11), I'll be in the Seattle area and
will lead an ordinary Vision Service at the Greenbrier Community Center in
Woodinville. I hope to see you then.
-Rev. Tom |