Connections

The world is meant to be savored. It is filled with exquisite delights. This earth is the body of God, as we are. By savoring the delights of this earth, we connect to the divinity that flows through it and through us. Sight leads to insight. Hearing leads to being here. Touching puts us in touch. Scent brings us to our senses.

Please list fifty particular things that you savor.

--Julia Cameron, God is No Laughing Matter

1) The semi-conscious awareness of Kevin's body next to mine in the middle of the night
2) My bowl of café-au-lait, topped with cinnamon, first thing in the morning
3) The hot water falling on my neck and shoulders in the shower
4) Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto
5) The rich grape scent of a bearded iris

6) Spending face time with Gypsy
7) The exquisite silence of the forest when cross-country skiing
8) The sound of water racing over rocks
9) The tendrils of leaves hanging from the willow outside my window
10) Kevin's smile

11) Orion in the winter sky
12) Opening a new book
13) Feeling the breeze on my bare skin
14) The smell of a fresh cinnamon roll
15) The Golden Gate Bridge

16) The quiet hum my Saab makes driving with the top down
17) The perfection of a dandelion gone to seed

Taken 5/14/2009
Missoula, Montana

18) The miraculous way individual strands of yarn become cloth on my loom
19) Playing the Rogers 321 at Norm's house
20) Sitting quietly in the lawn swing

21) The cheerful aspect of a lawn filled with bright yellow dandelions
22) The call of the Western Meadowlark

23) Freshly baked sourdough bread
24) Bad puns
25) Sunflowers

26) Crawling into bed between freshly laundered sheets
27) Tulips in the spring
28) Good conversation with friends
29) Filling the dining table with good friends and good food
30) Watching the flames in a campfire

31) Chipmunks
32) Pineapple, fresh from the field
33) Homemade split pea soup, especially Potage St Germain
34) Watching the sun set over the Pacific

Taken 3/23/07
Smith River, California

35) Feeling the pull of the wind on my kite strings

36) Hugs
37) Tears of joy
38) Biting into a crisp, juicy apple
39) The feel of a hand-woven silk scarf
40) The silky smoothness of Minnie's fur

41) The beauty of the human body

42) Sweet, ripe Flathead Bing cherries
43) The sight of fishing boats at Port Orford, Oregon
44) The graceful way a surfer rides the ocean waves
45) Hang-gliders drifting on the air currents overhead

46) Being on stage with the Missoula Gay Men's Chorus
47) Wearing my white tie and tails
48) The sun, shining through the rain
49) Colorful sunsets
50) The way the evening sun lights up a building

Evening in Missoula
Taken 4/19/2007
Missoula, Montana

This exercise was both harder and easier than I would have thought. Trying to list 50 "particular" items at first seemed a daunting task. Wouldn't I end up with a lot of repetition? But the more I thought, the more I came up with. Each of the fifty items on my list make me stop, take a deep breath, and sigh with gratitude. I recommend that each of you make up your own list, a very personal "My Favorite Things."

God waved to me

I saw God wave to me yesterday. OK, so maybe it wasn't God. But maybe it was. It was definitely a man up in the sky, yet still very close. The purpose of this blog is to help me work through Julia Cameron's book God is No Laughing Matter. The subtitle of Cameron's book is "Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path." The book is divided into sixty-seven chapters plus an introduction and a section at the end called "Roots and Wings." The end of each chapter has an "Experiment" or "Exercises" to do in the privacy of your own home. I'm choosing to share my responses with you, my faithful readers. So, with no further ado, let's look at the Exercises at the end of the first Chapter, Blind Date.

This section has the heading "Experiment," and has ten questions for the reader to answer. The Experiment section begins:

The world of Spirit is open to all who seek it. "My Father's house has many mansions," taught Christ. Yet, many of us remain locked in the room of our childhood. As adults, we may be stifled by our unconscious acceptance of a God concept we have long since outgrown. The following questions are aimed at clarifying God as you understand God.

1) What was your childhood religion, if any?

I grew up in parsonages of the various Methodist (and after 1968) United Methodist churches my father served as Minister. The Jesuits have a saying, "Give me a child to the age of 12, and he's mine for life." I will be a Methodist to my dying day, even if I never again go through the doors of a United Methodist church.

2) What was the spiritual atmosphere in your home?

This may seem a bit odd, or maybe it's just because it's the only home atmosphere I know personally, but I'm not sure that our home was much different than any other 1950s and 1960s home. We said "Grace" before Sunday dinner, but other than that... and of course all the time spent at the church for Sunday School, Church Services, MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship)...

3) What did your mother teach you about God?

Most of my religious beliefs came from my mother. She taught me that God is a loving father, and that his hand is visible in everything: the jigsaw puzzle bark of the Ponderosa pine; the lake or river water and the rocks that water flows over and through, the animals surrounding us, and even our manufactured goods such as the cars we drive or the homes we live in. All are created by or inspired by God.

4) What did your father teach you about God?

Most of my father's teachings seemed to be concerned with matters of doctrine (such as the meaning of the phrase "Holy Catholic Church" in the Apostle's Creed) and church history. The one truly God-related teaching of my father came from J.B. Phillips' book, Your God is Too Small where Phillips shows that most people look at God as some kind of celestial policeman or angry parent, and miss the absolute greatness of God who is so much more than can be imagined by the petty mind of man.

5) Describe your childhood God using at least ten adjectives:

1) loving; 2) omnipresent (or as I would have said in childhood--always present); 3) omnipotent (all powerful); 4) omniscient (all knowing); 5) kind; 6) helpful; 7) peaceful; 8) embracing; 9) concerned; 10) gee, I already said "loving"

6) Is this still the God you believe in?

Pretty much. Today I believe that all creation throughout the universe is connected, and that what connects us I call "Love." My mother would have called it "God," but we're talking about the same thing.

7) What is your current concept of God?

That force that connects each to the other and to the rest of creation.

8) Describe your ideal God concept using at least twenty adjectives.

I'm gonna have to think about this one (and maybe get out my thesaurus), but first and foremost, loving.

9) Write a prayer.

Father, Mother God, in whom we find peace and love, help me to always see your face in the face of everyone I meet. Help me always to see your heart in the heart of those I find along my way. Help me always to see your path in the steps of those I encounter. Help me to show your face, your heart, your path to all.

10) Set aside a half hour. Take yourself out of the house. Do something small and festive. Walk, window-shop, enjoy a cappuccino. Sit on a park bench. Be alert to encounter God in any form. This is your blind date.

On Saturday, August 22nd, 2009, my friend (and former student) Sandy, a retired dermatologist from San Diego spent 3 1/2 hours floating the Bitterroot River from Lolo to Maclay's Flat just outside Missoula, Montana. This got us out of the house, was relatively small and festive, and helped me to be alert to any encounter with God. Believe me, we had many such encounters in the form of fish jumping on the river, birds flying or swimming nearby, and many, many other people out enjoying the day. I had been very upset the night before when I discovered that smoking a small bit of marijuana left me more relaxed than I had been in months. What upset me was the idea that I required drugs to unwind. Spending time on the river reminded me that I always feel closer to God when I'm out enjoying his creation. I'm always able to unwind in these "natural" situations. And who's to say that that man in the ultralight flying just over our heads is not God--or at least one manifestation of God?

Various encounters with God. All photos were taken on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009, by Sandra Stedinger, MD. All three photos, when clicked on, will open full screen in another window.

A flock of Mergansers crossing the river in front of our canoe

OK, it's not a park bench, but it was festive

And who's to say that it is not the hand of God waving to us from above?