Dear All of Us,
After the holidays,
moving back into our
now normal abnormal,
returning to work or school,
at church, the synagogue,
the mosque, the coffee shop,
the supermarket, it's often
"So, how were the holidays?"
Well, you didn't ask,
but I sure as heck hope
you'll let me tell you about
our family's holidays.
In a word,
COVID
In two words, a
MOVABLE FEAST
My son-in-love came down,
really down, with COVID.
A few days later my daughter
more mildly so, but
handicapped in care
of spouse and out of school,
vigorously active and yet
clingy toddler son, Ollie.
It gets thicker!!
Ollie then tests positive
and that was a big time
negative
for him and all the rest
of his family.
It meant the worse part
of a whole week with
stung out symptom starts
and consequent strung out
quarantine times.
This when all were
fully vaxed/boosted!
So
Forget Channukah
get togethers,
forget Christmas
at church,
forget a week plus off
for leisure and outings,
forget getting together
for New Years
because
the whole extended family
had been together the days
before all this started.
Every last one exposed.
So, testing every morning,
wonder/worry that others
would negatively be positive,
the whole family
cloistered in place,
separated.
Down but not out.
SO
We rescheduled the holidays.
We defaulted to our own
Movable Feasts
Christmas
and
New Years
TBA in the new year.
It won't be as early
in the new year
as we hoped after Ollie got sick.
Yet another daughter
came down with COVID
midway between
"Calander Christmas"
and New Year's Day.
For us both Christmas
and New Years so far
are four times over
Moveable Feasts.
What we are dealing with
is what we all deal with
across the span of our days.
We make plans,
we set dates
and then life happens.
So much of
our spiritual living
is such so.
It is more
Movable Feasts
than
set, solid and stable
any and everythings.
The Buddhists are out front
with the awareness
that there is no such thing as
permanence.
Physicists and astronomers
are catching on that
all is relational flow.
Mystics in their own ways
see and say that
The Being we call God
is constant Communion,
giving and receiving,
more an active verb
than a stone set noun.
That's the Christian sense
of Trinity.
Our spiritual living
plunges us into the
Spirit Flow
It's dynamic,
moving,
energized,
energizing,
cascading forth
in creative
God Love.
It seems The Spirit
doesn't know the word
or fiction
"static."
We do.
We do well to undo.
In our tentativeness,
in our desire to stabilize,
set in safe cement,
to control and direct,
we often worship
a faux god
of our own making
and end up upended.
It's a no go when
we try to damn up
the dynamic of
The Spirit
in a
pool of predictable
safety and security.
The Spirit
will have none of it.
Too darn delighted
forthing
marvel upon marvel,
creating boundless
good and beauty
and flow filling the gaps
evils have as stirred,
way too dynamic
to take an early retirement
and spend forever
playing penuckle and
collecting coupons for
Early Bird Specials.
Hum, wonder if perhaps
Dante would care to use
that imagery in his
next edition of
The Inferno
??
The name of the game
is
Change
Our bodies change,
our consciousness,
our evaluations,
our relationships,
our circumstances,
our experiences,
our opportunities,
our challenges,
our gifts and graces,
our spiritual maturing,
our religious practices,
OUR PLANS,
OUR PREFERENCES -
change
all and every
in flux,
in Spirit Flow.
To be current
is to be in free flow.
We are invited
to forth flow from
the birth channel
to being
death channeled
into the
Ocean of Surprise,
the one with
no bottom
no boundary
joyously immersed
forever
in
Limitless Love
Between birth and death
it's
sometimes as
expected and planned,
more often as
shift and adjust.
Both/And it's
the mystery of
Flow Go Grow
When we or others
try to block
The Spirit Flow
it sets up whirlpools
of pain and chaos.
Damming is damming.
It hurts.
The Spirit
isn't stopped, though,
and we don't have
to be either.
It can make for
a rough ride,
a smooth ride.
Either/Both Ways
In
The Spirit
it's a
go get on.
A Best Practice
in our spiritual living is
lighten up,
loosening up,
flow freely in
smooth or rough
waters and times.,
flex for fullness,
even if it means
Moveable Feasts
or
movable much else.
So come on over
for our
date delayed
Christmas
and
New Years
assuming
"the creek don't rise."
If it does we'll just flow
to another
Moveable Feast.
Your Flow Go Brother,
John Frank
PS:
Just remembered this:
"No man steps in
the same river twice,
for it is not
the same river
and he is not
the same man."
Heraclitus
******
A Warm Winter Welcome
to all of us gathered at
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares@blogspot.com
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Thanks!
This Holy Day/ Holiday Season
we had a large contingent
of visitors from
The Netherlands,
Vietnam,
USA,
Germany,
India,
Singapore,
among others.
You are welcome and
a welcome blessing.
See you next week
if
The Spirit
so flows.
Love to all.
++++++
