I spent a couple of hours last week at a pretty important place for my soul. It was at my family cottage in Nova Scotia. The cottage has been part of my life for 47 years … so it is an old friend.
I was sitting on the deck last week taking a moment to be still and to absorb the beauty, wonder and fullness of the moment – and then this crow appeared on the power line and started cawing.
I grew up with the sense that crow cawing was an disturbance to trying to be still. But, last week I had a different response.
The reason why I was in Nova Scotia was that I was attending the Atlantic Seminar of Theological Education in Truro. The theme was Free Range Spirituality and I was reminded of some of the cosmic sense of our global story. I really do find it hard to get my mind around the fact that world is billions of years old. If the history of the world was transferred to a 24 hour clock – human beings have only appeared in the 5 seconds before midnight. I find that mind boggling and yet soul stirring. The great energy of the universe is so … what words do we have to capture … so majestic, mysterious, complex, evolving, … that it leaves me in a stance of profound awe ,humility and gratitude. I am even grateful for the presence of that crow that didn’t disturb my stillness, but added a depth that I have so often missed.
One Response
Great post. At the the end of this summer I have been really trying to focus on things in the world around me that God has put there that I usually pass by. There is so so much going on around us that when we take the time to look we can really consider something we never thought before – a Gift!