3 Insights Before I Leave



I have not yet left Australia yet but 3 insights from this past week are upper most in my mind.

1. Taking and Leaving
While it has not been easy to restrict what I take with me to a medium sized case weghing about 16 kg and a smallish carry on backpack, I wonder if it is going to be more challenging to respond to the other baggage I take.  For while I have been saying that this is a sabbatical for rest, renewal and reorientation, I suspect it is also about meeting and befriending my shadow.  May this excess baggage not become a weight under which I labour but a gift to be embraced and the accompanying graces recieved.

2. Disruption
The first hoped for part of my Sabbatical Program was a pilgrimage with to Daly River, but that was cancelled as the community was recovering from floods earlier in the year.  Then, very fittingly there was the Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction Confernce “Spiritual Direction in the Borderlands”. This seemed such a fitting start, but would I make it, was a looming question as a sinus infection developed into a chest infection putting in doubt my travel to Canberra for the conference.  I did, but was highly selective as to what I attended so as to conserve energy and allow my body to heal (with the aid of an expanding medicine chest.)  Hopefully the recovery trajectory will continue and I will be fit to fly tomorrow.  This past week, I was notified that the contemplative photography retreat I had been looking forward to in Chicago, and around which I had scheduled my USA itenaray had been cancelled.  Despite some disappointment with each of these changes to my plans, it all seems good preparation for letting go and opening up to what unfolds, in the way it will unfold, knowing that all is gift. This leads into the 3rd insight of the week, an invitation to ....

3. Expect the unexpected, embrace unmet expectations, delight in expectations exceeded- All is gift!

Finally, the picture at the top of this post is the frontpiece of my personal refletion Joural, a blessing slightly modified from the writings of Vicki Clark Mutthi Mutthi, a Wemba Wamba woman who has dedicated decades of her life to increasing understanding of Aborginal spirituality and defending the rights of Aboriginal People to express this spirituality in its many forms.  The art work behind the blessing is the artwork on the cover of my journal "Fire Dreaming" by Otto Jungarrayi Sims. 

Tomorrow I depart these shores for 100 nights.  And I carry you in my heart.
Liz

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 3, 2018 at 9:05 AM

    Go with all the blessings due when you undertake such a journey - your openness to the unknown is enviable! And your preparation and prayerful anticipation will be your girdle and staff. Love, Fran

    ReplyDelete

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