I am a wanderer. I would say that I am a seeker, but sometimes I have no idea what I might be seeking, so I will stick with wanderer. This blog is more a public journal than anything. I don't claim to have life figured out. I simply stumble from mystery to mystery, and share my reflections along the way. Sometimes I feel burdened, and trudge. Sometimes? Well sometimes grace breaks through, and its time to dance.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Hearing the song of grace!
As Jack Kornfield recounts in the book “How, Then, Shall We
Live?” it is the custom in one African tribe that when a woman decides to have
a child, she goes and sits alone under a tree, and she listens. She listens
until she hears the song of the child who wants to come. Once she hears the song, she returns to the
man who will be the child's father and teaches the song to him. When they make
love to conceive the child, they sing the song to call the child to them.
When the woman is pregnant, she teaches the child's song to
the midwives and old women of the village so that when the birth time arrives,
the people surrounding the mother sing the song to welcome the child among
them.
Then as the child grows up, the other villagers learn the
song. If the child falls or hurts his knee someone picks him up and sings the
song. When the child does something wonderful, the people of the village sing
this song. When the child goes through the rites of puberty and becomes an
adult, the villagers sing the song.
It goes this way through life. At a wedding, the songs of
husband and wife are sung together. Finally, when this child grows old, and
lies in bed ready to die, all the villagers know the song, and they sing it for
the last time.
Sometimes I think I forget my song
I know it should be a song of love
A song of grace
I know it should be a song that has woven into its melody and harmonies
peace, and joy
And yet I allow the noise of the world to drown out this song
I hear the traffic
The pain
I hear the fear and the anger
and I no longer hear "the song"
unlike that horrible song from the 80's
it does not play through my head remorsefully
it is lost
no wonder, at times, I no longer feel like dancing!
Lord, this day
restore my song
may it play through my head
haunting me
until I cannot help but hum along
and do a little dance!
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And in that time when you can't hear your song, some others who know your song sing it to you and then with you as it is refreshed in your spirit...and then y'all dance...all y'all!
ReplyDeleteso true, this is why we need to be part of community
ReplyDeleteand see faith in terms of community, rather than simple in terms of the individual