Trilogy: Closer Contact of the Needful Kind (part 3)
By John Bonney of Springfield, Or, USA
Nevertheless, I have heard your prayers when you have cried out to me, and I have been with you in the places where you occupy. I am aware of your desires to serve me and my assurance is that as you go forth, your offerings of faith and service are acceptable to me. —Doctrine and Covenants 157:16b
Dancers in the Celestial Waltz
I have a few decades tucked under my belt. I can look back over the years and see the gradual unfolding of my thoughts, understandings, approach to life, living, and people. I do not suppose I am any nearer a more concise explanation of the experience of God than I was fifty or sixty years ago. How do we explain the tightening in the chest, the catch in our breath, the holy gasp, the filling with presence and the emptying to that presence? How do we describe the joy and the love?
Again, surely the love! Then I rise above the failures and years of mistaken choices. I become an enlightened being. My soul reaches out and touches the dancers in the celestial waltz. Then “the mountains and the hills…shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12).
Then will the quiet moments of the heart unfold and the grandeur of the moon in the sky clarify the meaning of creation. We will experience the silent thunder of the mighty and be aware of the unheard symphony of the tiniest parts of the creative arena. We will hear the choirs of sacred voices and see colors that human eyes could not see before. The beasts of the field will walk in peace with the beasts of the forests and the children will play unhampered.
Then will each person lie in his or her favorite spot and embody shalom. Namaste will become reality. Then will we know we are invited to the party—indeed, we are already present. And the Host will sit with us, look each one in the eye, and call us by name. Someone will tell a heavenly joke, each word valuing who and what we are. The solemn moment becomes a moment of great joy.
Then I will say words to lighten the time in the line at the pharmacy. I will not look or sound like the foolish old man. Then we will all know we are beloved.
Prayer for Peace
Laughing God, may our humor be acceptable to you, only invoking uplifting fun and laughter’s healing art. May we never be hurtful, critical, or patronizing, but speak that which promotes joy and peace.
Spiritual Practice: All That Lives
Take a walk and find a tree where you can sit (or imagine walking and sitting beneath a tree). Lean against the tree and feel the texture of the bark. Listen to the wind move through the leaves. Sit quietly and sense God’s presence flowing through the trees and all creation. Offer a prayer of gratitude for your connection to all that lives. Ask for the grace to discern and carry out one small act of justice or healing that creates greater wholeness for the plants, animals, trees, waters, air, and land that are part of the community of creation.
Peace Covenant
Today, God, I have a riddle for you: Why did the spider cross the road? (to get to her website!)
