Love Letters From God... From July-into- August's Moon

Blessed New Moon!

This moon-th Ordinary Time continues in the Liturgical year with many feastdays, and in the seasonal year the "dog days" of july and august continue. The traditional summer harvest festival of Lammas was also this moon-th, a time of reflection on the harvest happening in our lives, taking stock of things, gratefulness, and also mourning or regret and seeing changes we needing to make. There was also the traditional mourning of Tisha B’Av this moon in the Jewish calendar. And on an a lighter note, from here, "The Secret Society of Happy People has declared August as Admit You’re Happy Month, a charming notion which I think is worth promoting. “We’re hoping people will take this month to think about how much time they actually spend telling their family, their friends and co-workers about the things that make them happy,”"

Personally much of this moon-th passed by in kind of a haze, mostly becuase i was detoxing from a big (big for someone with EI anyway) chemical exposure, which takes awhile. My body and mind has been foggy during most of this moon, i even forgot to pay a couple bills on time (which is something that hasnt happened in a loooong time, so that shows what a real daze its been) and it cost dearly. There was also the stress of thinking i was going to move, and then delaying the move in the end, for a bit anyway. And my partner has been stressed too from overwork, so much so that it was perhaps a co-in-see-dance that he broke his arm recently and is being forced to take some time off. And yet something has also been happening, slowly throughout the moon, coming to a head lately. Something about joy. For my partner he doesnt need coaxing, he tends to jump into joy pretty easily, is even now taking a pleasant journey to a nearby island by where he is to boost his spirits since he has some time off, which is really good thing. Myself I have some issue with a focus on joy sometimes becuase i see it can happen at the expense of compassion, safety or security (see Table Tales post). But joy is more than escapism i'm slowly realizing, there is joy that is so healing. And its been like this little but insistent bird outside my window coming back and back this moon until i would listen.

It started with my feet. Sounds silly, i know. But i finally found some decent walking shoes this moonth (no small feat when you have kind of strange feet, they grew weird becuase of a toddler injury). And its been such a gift that was given becuase i find myself slowly remebering what its like to walk just to walk, to unwind, to explore. I'd lost that over time, and have so badly needed it back. Then there was the gift of light. Ive had my windows all sunblocked since we had some horrible heat earlier in the summer and shading the windows is my only hope at all w/o having AC. But recently, its cooled off for awhile so the sunblocks came down and i nearly cried the impact was so huge having light through all the windows again, both when the curtains were open and when the curtains were closed and glowing from the light. I need that so much, both the sunlight and moonlight, that healing glow. And i've also gone back to looking out the window by my bed before rising, it makes a real difference in the start of the day.

Funny how all that stuff had slipped away when things got stressful. Funny how joy can slip away before you even notice, the liitle but vital things that help our spirits. And i've been realizing just how core joy is, how it smooths the edge of life.

Many folks have no problem focusing on the wings of joy and what it brings. Myself i have focused more on the roots of security, since they are what has been more elusive in my life and feels the deeper need. But bit by bit i have been realizing just how core also is joy. It doesnt negate the need for safety, for security, for peace, for relief from pain, for so many basic basic things.... but it still shifts things somehow. Shifts them in a way that is subtle and deep and precious. I've been a slow learner at this. Joy i'm realizing is different than a mere detached sense of fun, of ignoring what needs to heal somewhere and escaping into something instead. Real joy is different, its a feeling of life's hidden kindness and freshness that gently reaches out and holds you. I was posting on this before and trying to find words and all i can think of as an image is that joy is like water, subtle yet deep, like water it seeks out the little openings in your life and seeps in to soften the edges there so you can suddenly deal with them better. And subtle as that is, it really does change things somehow. I think this is something most of the the great saints and Christain mystics and such understood so well and so deeply early in life, but for some of us we learn pretty little and late.

What cinched it was the co-in-see-dance that happened most recently. A few days ago i was out cleaning my for now unsunblocked windows, and i found this mystery orange and black feather, it was gorgeous. Today i found out it was from a Northern Flicker...was thinking of the song His Eye is one the Sparrow this afternoon (had recently posted on it) when i heared a commotion at the bedroom window. There was a whole flock of sweet little birds on the ground outside, and one big bird. The big bird was the Norther Flicker, which is a bird new to me and has the feathers like what i'd found. After seeing those birds i went to the other bedroom window accross and saw a blue jay mega upclose. I was surrounded by birds. It was right around the new moon time i think too, though until tonight i'd forgotten it was today. Something about all those birds, and also having that song His Eye is On the Sparrow in my head, is kind of driving home this stuff about joy. No words, just a feeling. That joy is precious, a healing balm, and its gifting often the dearest of co-in-see-dances...

And from Melissa of Tea With Milk (also from the US), comes this thoughtful post this moon-th, from here:

This Summer has whipped past me like the wind (public school kids start back today—thankfully we homeschool) and I’m not ready to be done with it...Last night I was thinking on what to write, and my mind was in a whirl. I can’t seem to settle and it’s evident in how my brain’s been working/or not working lately. But I got to thinking about the different things I’ve had to deal with on an emotional level this Summer. My whole family was sick (shingles/chicken pox), and I’ve watched the decline of my friend with ALS, while also being concerned with a childhood friend with lung cancer. Two of our elderly neighbors died and we’ve seen suffering up close and personal.

The Summer has been full of pain.

So, here are my thought processes….awhile back, someone somewhere wrote that they believed that everything that happened in a believer’s life was first sifted through God’s fingers. I loved that. It made sense and put certain things into perspective that had puzzled me before. I believe that God is sovereign, which means that to me, He’s the ultimate authority. There is no other. And while I know He put certain things into play when He created, I also believe that He allows things to happen in the here and now. Yes, He’s all good, but also, He is the One who disciplines and rules. His Word stands above all others.

So, when I look at pain around me, I believe the Lord has allowed it. We’re not always blessed only by the good stuff. But if we’re paying attention, we’re sharpened by the bad. We’re strengthened and made tough. Without trials, we’d be big wimps, and would be of sorry use by the Father. If my life was filled to the brim with sunshine and roses, and if I never faced disappointment, I’d be of no use to a friend who’s grieving. But if I’ve withstood a hardship, I’m better able to comfort and soothe.

So to me, it’s all from God, both the good and the bad. And like I said, since I believe He is sovereign, then He’s let every bit of it happen. And I can deal with that. On the flip side, if I believed that the evil one could get at me and whup up on me without God’s permission, I’d feel totally different. The way I see it, God let the devil get to Job. I’m no Job, but seems like God has to give permission. And if He does that, there has to be some darned good reason.

From Melissa of Those Northern skies (also from the US) comes this very moving post, from here:

Gardening and planting seeds reminds me that there is a time that runs outside of my own time; a time where God arranges the seasons for everything. I am not patient person. Gardening has changed me. I am not more patient than I was before. However, the longer I garden the more I demand of myself that I endure the process. What I mean by enduring the process is that I do not cheat and buy full-grown plants and allow myself instant gratification. I want to plant the seed and watch the unfolding of life as God designed it to unfold.

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Favorite seed quotes:

“Everyone who enjoys thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed. -- Herein lies the difference between them that create and them that enjoy.” Friedrich Nietzsche

The ultimate wisdom which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls faith rather than reason.
Hal Borland

"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders."...Henry David Thoreau

Krina of Queenheroical, another wise and regular contributer here, sends word she will return next month.

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(Image from here)