True North

 

We have been in Northern Michigan for the past few weeks and my blog has been still.  And though I wish I could say that stillness has also extended to me and that there has been great introspection and deep contemplation on my part, I would be remiss.   Because though I love this place, find it one of the most beautiful on Earth, and live to get here, loathe to leave . . . it’s a small world all its own – and it can suck you in and swallow you whole, if you’re not careful.

Unless you are VERY intentional about it, finding yourself here – hearing yourself here – can be a bit of a challenge. With one hundred year old memories, opinions and traditions to uphold, being in touch with one’s true North is tricky. Because you have to be vigilant. And honestly, who wants to be vigilant while on “vacation”??

Who wants to have to watch every little step and move and make sure you’re carefully eating and dutifully exercising and proudfully parenting and religiously writing?  “Not I!” said the happy little pig.  And off she went about her vacation, just doing the best she knew how.

But there were moments amidst her days – as she played tennis with her kids or rode her bike the 23 miles around the lake or walked along the Front Path –that her true North beckoned. She was reminded of what mattered in her life and what was really important and it was these deep breaths that infused her vacation with what she needed most.

The reminders came in small packages – a walk with a cousin, a tiny daisy, a perfectly intact puff ball, a tiny seed of a pine tree beginning to sprout, a text from her husband – and she was glad for them. They reminded her of this: Amidst the busyness of life, of vacation, of our full days . . . God is everywhere.  If we are open, if we can hear, if we can see.

If you cannot see God in a blade of grass,

If you cannot see God in a flower,

If you cannot see God in a rainbow,

If you cannot see God in the eyes of another being . . .

You cannot find God in a book of religion.

                             Deepak Chopra

NAMASTE.