Pauses on the path too often seem like trouble. At best a brass ring, a booby prize, or something disgusting that I just stepped in that stops me cold. Or yes, even a traffic or log jam. But when I stop to consider for a moment, I must finally admit that in my life many a miracle has unfolded from just such beginnings. What I think of as being "stuck," may well turn out to be more like being "supplied."
Creativity often begins this way. If I apply the seat of my pants to the seat of a chair, center myself, focus — and especially — meditate, the way opens. The answer appears. The understanding unfolds. Not always at my preferred pace, I grant you, but I have come to accept that it will unfold in its own perfect time. Or not. Either way, pauses on the path can be a good thing indeed.
So I could wish you nothing better throughout this fresh new year, than a plentiful supply of such pauses and their often unexpected and wondrous rewards.
Thanks for stopping by on your own unique journey.
The Wisdom of Wings
(with thanks to Ram Dass)
When reeling to maintain our balance
before the powerful whirlwind of change
forever altering our lives
the wisdom of wings whispers
Let me carry you
to the port of all receiving,
to the painful place where you can
feel it all and still sing your silent song,
to the paradoxical place
of heavy grace, where one day
lilies will bloom from thorns.
The tree of gratitude springs
from the soil of suffering, rising
at the gateway of deep thanksgiving.
Pause in its shelter.
Bask in its spirit.
Celebrate its blossoming.
By giving thanks
for the radical pruning
of change
find your renewal
in the blessed
wisdom of wings.
Log Jam
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Pauses on the Path
Do not be saddened
by pauses on the path.
The life-full seed
must rest in darkness a while
before breaking forth into the light
and blossoms of rainbow radiance
unfold after the darkest nights.
Waters of full-flowing streams
are detoured now and then,
eddying around obstructions
before flowing free again.
Pauses on the path
are not endless plateaus
anymore than thorns
are the whole truth of a rose.
Unwelcome pauses on the path
of those impelled to seek
hold obscured rewards, for
then it is Silent Strength steals in
to propel us upward to the peak.
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"The Wisdom of Wings" first appeared in Science of Mind magazine in the May 2000 issue. It also appears in Morning and Other Glories, 2005, and Pauses on the Path, by Gene and Jane Elsdon, 2012.
Jane and Gene