When it comes to spirituality in nature

Heather's nature metaphor got me thinking (because I think about these things a lot) about something cool I recently read on a science website.

For a photon (a particle of light) neither time or space exist. It moves at the speed of light, and Einstein's relativity theory says that when you move at the speed of light time is essentially frozen. So, if there were to be a little person riding in the photon, from their point of view it would take literally no time at all to travel from place to place. He would move from one end of the universe to the other without experiencing even a single second, or any sense of distance. You would be everywhere and nowhere, forever and never. Existence is 0 dimensional for a photon.

It is interesting to me as a metaphor for God because we have such a difficult time understanding things like being omnipresent or eternal, and good analogies for those things are hard to find. But it does seem to me that somehow this little fact about light perfectly explains how time and distance are totally different things from a divine perspective.

the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned

We <3 TS Eliot!

Of all that was done in the past, you eat the fruit,either rotten or ripe

And the Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored.

TS Eliot


Sometimes when I ponder the earth, creation, and people in general, I wonder if restoration was hard wired into us when God first created us in the Garden. Or was it something he intended/started after the Fall. Things like grass, which Planet Earth recently told me is the fastest regenerating living thing on earth. It is destroyed, and is rebuilt, more frequently than any other living thing. We see this pretty clearly out in the fields, which were only burned last weekend, yet little green shoots are all over the place.

And with people...we want to be restored. We want others to be in right relationships with us, and it is always so satisfying to forgive, or to be reconciled to one another.

Is this original design? Or something God built in after the fall?

Death and New Life

My cousin Scott died on Friday. Two days before, his Older sister gave birth to her first child. Somehow this speaks to me of the sadness and beauty in the world. There is always death, but there is also new life bringing restoration.

Remember St Patrick on his day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the OnenessOf the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Stuck in the Middle with you

Here's a story of small restoration that might make a difference someday but who knows.

I have two friends who are splitting up with each other irreconcilably. They were engaged at the beginning of the year, lived together, and one of them cheated to sever the relationship, so you can imagine all of the trauma, drama, and craziness of the past few months.

I'm not a professional counselor. I don't even have any experience in the area of so-called "serious" relationships. (I top out at a wopping 5 months for relationship record...) So when my friends lean on me for support during split ups of all sorts I kind of feel out of my element. (As Anne Lamott says, there are basically only two prayers we pray: Help me, and Thank you.)

Whilst at dinner with the female of the two (who was the cheater), we were talking, and she made this comment, "Wow, we really know how to fuck things up don't we?" I'd been listening to her intently without saying much for about an hour. And it occurred to me to mention, "We know how to fuck things up, but it amazes me how much human beings take that broken thing and can end up creating something beautiful." She paused and then asked me if that's why I love Charlie Brown so much. Yep, everything he touches falls apart, but somehow his friends find a way to put it back together to make something lovely.

She said that was the first time she had smiled in a long time. It amazes me sometimes what happens when I just listen.

I asked my 13 year old sister about times that made her feel joyful, trying to explain in different terms stories of restoration. this was hers...

"it's like when someone you haven't seen in a while comes off an airplane and you see them and you're so excited like "ahhhh!" and you hug them."

Oh Captain

Since we don't have the Project this week, I would like to know what Captain Coons thinks about our stories.

Yes, this is a challenge.