Rain and sun.
Written by: Liz Ivkovich
Today it poured rain in Omaha. I ran through it to get from my car to the school where I teach a early morning dance class on Fridays, then from the school to my car where I sat, hoping it would let up so I could make it into the office without arriving totally drenched. At this moment, mid afternoon, outside it is a sunny, bright Nebraska clear sky sun day that makes you squint your eyes just from looking out the window. Appropriately my eyes are drawn to a Mary Oliver poem that is hanging by my desk:
…meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies… announcing your place in the family of things.
Finding God in all things is easy when you are about to get married, which I know because I am exactly three weeks away from my wedding. The love of friends, family, priest, fiancé, God’s provision; a wedding seems ordained the time to know that you are in the place of the family of things that you should be. I see so many tangible reminders of God’s guidance through Calvin’s and my discernment to get married and am thankful for them. There is a consolation of “yes, this is the person, this is the place, this is the covenant we are supposed to be making.”
Finding God is harder in the silence of my contemplative prayer sits that are still filled with anxious thoughts and worries. I liked Paul’s most recent post about a conversation between himself and St. Ignatius. He talks about the forces that work against us when we are in consolation, forces that want us to end up back in a state of desolation. Are those forces why so many things that are good; like our days, our jobs, even our weddings, leave the taste of frustration and failure in our mouths? I often find myself while sitting in contemplative prayer thinking ”Wasn’t I anxious about something earlier today? What was that? Oh yeah, that’s right.” and I let my thoughts take me away from peace and consolation.
What a comfort to be reminded today that there is rain and sun and just like the rain and sun we too have a place in the family of things! It’s ok to let the thoughts that plague us during contemplative prayer go their way, we have a sense of consolation to look forward to and a God who will be the voice we hear behind us, whether we turn to the right or to the left, saying “this is the way, walk in it.”
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