Two Days in the Mountains

 

I went down to a friend’s cabin during the first part of the week, and they did not have the internet there. It was very interesting to do lectio divina with just my Daily Office book and a notebook. (My Daily Office uses the RSV translation.)

I’m just going to transcribe them here, as written, from the mountains near Cedar Breaks.

Tuesday— Mark 4:21-34

“For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Also—

“Nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nothing secret except to come to light.”

 

Maybe it’s really about “has not.”

If you are given to “having” then having is what matters to you. That’s what you’ll notice— what you have, and what “more” you have.

If you are given to “not having” then not-having is what matters to you. That’s what you’ll notice— what you don’t have and what “less” you have.

It’s true for me anyway— I’m a “not-haver” and I experience the lessening of what I have as a relief and an expansion of freedom.

Then there is the repeated motif in the New Testament about how opposites depend on their own opposites: No light without dark; nothing hidden without exposure.

I’m reminded of the reading from Paul about having no reason to ascend to heaven except to bring Christ down; no reason to descend to hell except to bring Christ up.

 

I’m grateful for my unique filters that I can use to open these liminal gates; these thresholds in which I can stand with one foot in the light, and one in the dark; with one foot buried in all that I have and want to have, and the other foot poised over the limitless void of “not” and the heady freedom of wanting nothing.

 

Wednesday— 1 Samuel 25:23-44

“Blessed be your discretion”

Today was one of those weird times when the emergent phrase didn’t really have any connotations to lead me into further reflection.

So there it sat, quietly resisting any attempt to find another phrase in the other readings.

I kept coming back to it— “Discretion.” (The CJB has it as “Tactfulness”)

My mind jumped immediately to remembering all the times that I restrain myself from saying or doing something based on my first impulse.

It just now occurred to me that blessing might be found in the exercise of discretion, or that tact might be intrinsically rewarding.

This led me to compare ‘discretion’ with autistic ‘masking,’ and to wonder if there might be a blessing hidden deep within that as well.

And then I came full circle around to the other potential emergent phrase that I considered:

Acts 14: 19-28

“Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God.” (The CJB has “hardships.”)

 

Then I thought of a challenge coin that I saw online, made by The Daily Stoic—

 

 

 

“The Obstacle is the Way”

 

Hmmm…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (The Daily Stoic is a ‘dot com’ and I don’t want to advertise any products on my blog…. I’m sure you can find it if you want to…..)