Cracking Through Adversity
Thank goodness for Springtime and its heralding signs -- especially during these times of adversity!
My brother recently shared his thoughts on how to handle adversity:
“I was just thinking today as I was driving by some pink and white cherry blossoms in bloom, … no matter what we are experiencing in life, God’s works are ever present. And that allows me to believe that He grants us Mind and Intelligence to take precautions to preserve, protect ourselves and others, to combat and to overcome any adversity. What is adversity? Nothing more than a temporal shell or crust to be cracked open to the always here and underlying Harmony, The Ever Constant.”
Oh, I love this so much! My brother’s thoughts led me to realize that while working to overcome fear in myself and others, I have been given some wonderful springtime metaphors and lessons for cracking open or through to ever-present, underlying Harmony!
Here they are:
My friend the Bird Expert taught me to look for little bursts of yellow in the winter coat of our tiny Goldfinch friends.
Sure enough, lately we are seeing that bright renewal of yellow -- literally cracking through the dullness of winter and ultimately transforming these little ones into the sunshine yellow beings that we so enjoy in the summer.
To illustrate this point, I was at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago, and as I was talking with the cashier at checkout, he said that people were already starting to hoard items and it scared him. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “No matter what, God is in control.” He looked at me and slowly repeated what I said. Then he agreed with a sense of relief. We smiled in acknowledgment.
Lesson of the goldfinches:
Inherent in each of us is the opportunity to crack through the fear that confronts us daily now.
Next: Last week, I went to Trader Joe’s 3 days in a row in an effort to buy our regular supply of a favorite bread. No dice.
Each visit to Trader Joe’s was, however, full of lessons:
On the first day, instead of bread, I walked out with 3 little bunches of daffodils which appeared to be in endless supply at the store! They beamed out at me with radiant joy.
Lesson of the daffodils:
They graced our table, reminding us of the eternality of Life in its endless cycles of Light, Color, Wellness and Form.
On the second day -- I was too late and missed the bread again -- I walked out with a package of Sicilian blood oranges which instantly transported me back to a special 3 months spent living and performing in Palermo, Italy.
Lesson of the oranges:
They asked me to remember, love, and pray for our valiant Italian friends and their neighbors across the sea, and to expand my prayers to include the world.
On the third day, I walked out with literally the last of the bread I wanted to get. No one was clamoring for it. It was just there -- the normal portion that I usually buy. I left the store with the bread and a cornucopia of conversations in the aisles and in line with folks who expressed kindness, neighborly love, and care for one another. Everyone worked in their own practical way to allay the fear that we sensed in others.
Lesson of the bread: It was just NOT about the bread!
Finally, one day, this past week, I looked out the window and suddenly, there were bursts of yellow cracking through the gray bare hedges in our yard: The first blooms of Forsythia, the Herald of Spring!
It simply reminded me of the “always here and underlying Harmony, the Ever Constant” -- and I am comforted!
Thanks to my brother’s metaphor, my action today is to continue to crack open and through the adversity of fearful suggestions and predictions to feel the ever presence of God’s care for all.
I am finding these quotes to be incredibly helpful:
“When fear disappears, the foundation of disease is gone.”
~Mary Baker Eddy
AND
“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”
~Isa. 60:18