Wonderings--June 9

I was listening to Krista Tippett interview Rachel Naomi Remen as I took Bianca to the groomers and as I listened I was captivated. My mind ventured back to my doctoral studies on story-telling and story-sharing and as I drove I wondered about what I was hearing. . .  

The story Rachel was telling was from her Jewish grandfather. He "gave" her the following story as a birthday gift when she turned four (that is how she remembers it). She cherishes it and shares it often in the work that she does. She says: 

"In the beginning, there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. And then, in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. . . the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. 

And the wholeness of the world, the light of the world, was scattered into a thousand thousand fragments of light. And they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.

Now, according to my grandfather, the whole human race is a response to this [moment]. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift it up and make it visible once again, and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world [to God]. This is a very important story for our times, that we heal the world one heart at a time."

As I drove on I silently wonder about what I was hearing and thought about my day up to that point. Driving Bianca to the groomers I recounted that I had engaged in eleven conversations to this point of my day. They varied in their length and their seriousness. 

I spoke with my mother about a picture that I shared on Facebook and I also spoke with Laura, Ernice's daughter from Brazil who shared with me a lot about their work for the Lord. Now as I write these words I have participated in two more conversations, but the question that I first discovered on the way to the dog groomer remains. 

Of my conversations today, how many have attempted to lift the light of Christ that lives in each person? 

Or have I been too busy trying to make sure things work the way I want, that I have not stopped to notice how God is with each person in their own unique way?

I wonder if today you might take a moment out of your hectic day. . . count the conversations and remember Rachel's story. Then ask yourself, have I lifted the light of Christ that lives in another person up? 

Blessings

Derek