New Years morning was different this year. It didn't feel new; it still felt like 2021 as once again New Year's Eve revelry across the globe gave way to video celebrations. I had to accept that this New Year had a sluggish aura, a slow start as the Pandemic unexpectedly surges. When I walked outside though, the relief of a clear blue sky and warming sunshine (after gray days of unrelenting rain) brought another perspective: in the world of nature each day is another beginning, while human culture has a separate need for tracking time, setting apart it's own reference points of beginnings and ends, time and date. Then I suddenly realized I had forgotten my mask and had to backtrack to get it, a concrete reminder the Pandemic didn't end with 2021 nor the sunrise.
I walked to the prayer garden that rests on the edge of a heavily trafficked boulevard and is an sustained by a mega church campus. In spite of the urban setting, it is indeed a place of peace, prayer and Presence. The garden with it's rocks of inscribed scripture, miniature creek and pathways, and towering crosses is designed to invoke the power of tradition, anchored in the spiritual significance of the life and teachings of Jesus. For me, it is a reminder that this day and everyday contains the past, as well as the passing of time and events, along with the unfolding of
ever-renewing life as what was our future, is revealed as today. Where I sat on a bench watching the water flow, there were bees on my left less than 2 ft away, gathering pollen from a bottlebrush shrub and beautiful small finches landing on my right, equally close and unperturbed by my presence, resting on branches at eye height. Harmony here, now.
One thought seemed especially important to write today. As is Nature's way, the virus continues to evolve, but so do we. Daily, we gather more and more information in the outer world, especially in the microbial world, to push our tools beyond the mutating virus. But we also have an inner world and an inner human capacity to direct the ways in which we ourselves shift in relationship to our experiences. Our ideas, our choices, our responses are as much a part of our evolution as our biological entanglement with the viral world. While science sorts out genetics, as individuals we can sort out our inner life and frame our intent toward health, harmony, resilience and Good in this New Year. (Susan Nettleton)
For a beautiful affirmation on the new year from Unity's Daily Word, click the link below
http://www.xn--www-hla9801brya.dailyword.com/.../new-year...