Still Igniting, After All

 

Facebook reminded me of a post from two years ago. It was a good one that caused some reflection, I'll repeat it here:

    Yesterday, I had my annual exam, which included lab tests, so I had to fast and abstain from my usual coffee ritual. My morning social media session was still allowed. Unfortunately, I came across a post that declared something to the effect of Democrats Support Abortion through Birth! Absurd, of course. I thought this would be like saying that Republicans are only against abortion because they want school kids for target practice!  Obviously, not charitable thinking or true.

     In the dark, with the quarter moon just over my left shoulder, I set off for my appointment, on foot and in a frazzled mood. Runners were coming and going as I crossed the street. But then there was a change of pace. A young (it seemed) man with a curly mop of hair shining beneath the street light was walking in my direction on the other side. He was singing(!) I tuned in to listen. He was chanting! I couldn't make out the words until the very end when he sang of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. I sang the 'amen' along with him. The tune was familiar. What was it...?

     Even without knowing the answer to that, everything changed. It was still dark, but the light was slowly embracing the landscape. By the time I came to the summit (the Young Library on the University of Kentucky campus) a rosy light was reflecting off of the tall downtown buildings. I walked up the road by a gaggle of dormitories and noticed a sign: Find What Ignites You--okay, I thought, too late for that, I'm more glowing embers now.

     I arrived at the clinic and had my blood drawn in the lab and then went upstairs for my exam. I had a little wait, so I took out a slim volume by J. Philip Newell, One Foot in Eden: A Celtic View of the Stages of Life. I had just started and was reading the chapter on Birth and Holiness. This jumped out at me: "The Celtic poet, Yeats, writes of 'the holy tree' at the heart of life, from which beauty and goodness spring. This way of seeing is threatened, he says, 'by the bitter glass' held up before our eyes by demons. If we gaze through that glass our eyes 'grow all unkind' and we see only 'a fatal image' within ourselves. To see the holy tree within, on the other hand, is to be freed to see life at its heart as good."* I was called back. My weight was measured and then my blood pressure: 112/73. Ahhhh.

     Later that evening. I recognized what the walking angel had been chanting: Veni Creator Spiritus. Indeed.

    I am struck by how this post was filled with foretelling guidance. Perhaps sometimes you can find your lost keys under the streetlight! I even found a lost key alluded to in the sign, that I didn't know was missing; I still have a reason to ignite and I am regularly fueling up my passion. And while the pandemic has been a true tragedy for the whole world, it did create the way from me to connect with the Bright Way Harp Circle. This amazing community has challenged me to create and to share my creating in ways that help and heal. A rush of fresh air brings a flame to my glowing embers.  The sign called to me: Find What Ignites You. And I have. 

* William Butler Yeats, The Two Trees