Where do we even start on the daily walk of restoration
and awakening? We start where we are.
Anne Lamott
We spend so much of our
spiritual lives trying to ascend.
Descent is the path of having everything that offered comfort stripped away. In the mystical tradition, the descent is
also the slow revelation of the true face and incredible mystery that is God
Christine
Valters Paintner, the soul’s slow ripening, pp. 120, 121
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the days are short, the nights
are long
the ground is frozen
the snow is littered
with the debris of trees lashed
by winter winds
and we have descended slowly
into a deep darkness
it is a season of struggle
a season of descent
in the darkness, we turn in on
ourselves
and in the deep stillness come
face to face with ourselves
our own barrenness
when we stare out the window at
the blackness
all we see is ourselves,
looking back
Sometimes in the dark, we are
haunted
By things we would rather avoid
By the hungry ghosts of fear
and failure
that leave us dis-eased
yet as much as we struggle with
this journey into darkness
it is a fertile time
For as we sit and keep our
souls company
in the cold soil of our souls
the seeds of newness linger
ready to be awakened
they are necessary, these times
of descent
these dark nights of the souls
for out of such winters of
discontent comes new life
comes restoration
It seems we must descend before
we can ascend
We must empty before we can be
filled
rest before we can toil
die to be reborn
if the Advent of Jesus teaches
us anything
it teaches us the power of love
and life
the ability of Sacred to
restore
from humble birth
to scandalous death, the Jesus story
is permeated
with struggle and pain
with oppression and poverty
there are wounded people
everywhere
there is an ignominious death
and yet everywhere there is
newness
a baby born
shepherds rejoicing
demons expelled
errors forgiven
bodies healed
hope restored
generosity found
life out of death
God is always doing something
new
always working to turn our
descent into ascent
so as we sit, frozen and stolid
barely awake
barely alive
we are called to remember,
remember, remember
the spring
to remember what Love can do
that no matter how deep hope
and joy our buried
no matter how far we have
descended
God will feed and restore our
souls for the good work of ascent
for the good work of living in
the light
of being the light
in a glooming world
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