Scavenger Hunt for Joy

My birthday was in March. When it came around, my children came up with a wonderful adventure present. They wished to go with me to a museum. It was such a lovely idea and one I was so pleased to realize they had thought of themselves. We had never been to an art museum together, and I do love a good walk through an art museum. Sadly, time got away from us, and we had to put off our plans for another day.

Determined, the children nor I gave up on the idea, and this summer I took some time off to bring our plan to fruition. We planned a special week of activities in Memphis, and one included a trip to the Brooks.

When we arrived on our designated Wednesday morning, we were delighted to find that the entire day was dedicated to children’s exploration of the museum. A special art deco popsicle project had been planned, and a scavenger hunt throughout the museum designed. It was a wonderful, wonderful morning. The scavenger hunt kept the children engaged throughout our entire visit, and we managed to visit every single gallery.

This certainly will be a memory that stays with me, but there is a stand out moment that continues to come back to me quite regularly. After studying an inlaid desk featured in the red gallery and making faces at one another in the concave mirror featured above it, we rounded the corner to the next gallery. Suddenly, I was winded by the sight of the enormous oil painting in our path. Time stopped, my heart raced, my eyes zoomed in to the piece of work, and I had to grab my children by their shoulders to steady myself. Truly in front of us stood a portrait of heaven. There were angels turned towards one another smiling in delight as they all acknowledged a bright light coming from the darkness below. While their heavenly colors were in happy shades of blue, pink, peach, and purple of the sunrise or sunset, they looked through the clouds down towards a pure darkness. What they saw brought them unbounded joy. A great light was breaking through the darkness and reaching towards heaven. “Aha,” they seemed to say, “See there she is…there he is…breaking through the darkness and shedding light in the world. We knew she could. We knew he could. How wonderful. How wonderful indeed.”

My children were ready to go on to the next scavenger hunt item and didn’t recognize my pause. Once words could come to me though I managed to hold my babies close and say, “Oh, look children, isn’t it beautiful. Someone has captured the joy of heaven when we share love and light in the world.” I gazed lovingly at the painting, and my children humored me. Then we were off again.

Love bursts of light in our hearts are powerful but can seem fleeting as well as daunting to act upon. It is hard to stay in that moment for long, but the love lingers. The light reminds us, it is more powerful than darkness and needs only be turned on or shown the way. 

This painting, this moment still shines a path for me through the darkness. May it be the love and light you need today, too.

With love and light,

LT

Boundless Love

Well, my heart just about burst today. The pressure had been building over several days and today it reached a whole new level. I had to take a time out to gather my thoughts and to spend time with God in reflection. I knew I was experiencing something extraordinary and wanted to embrace it and accept it fully.

It all began with a special birthday.

I know I’ve had special birthdays in the past…the time my parents threw me a party at the old amusement park in Little Rock including a ride around its ancient merry-go-round and the time I got to host a dance, albeit in a tiny little rented out room at a local tennis club but a dance none-the-less for my thirteenth birthday. The eve of my twenty-seventh birthday upon which Andrew proposed to me is among the best, but this year’s was especially unique. It wasn’t just one moment that was special. It was hours and hours and hours of love being poured out from every connection I could imagine. I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and care shared with me on this anniversary of my birth.

After an exhausting yet rewarding day at work, the celebration began with a simple surprise dinner planned by my children and husband that included flowers picked out especially by son and daughter, a decorated TV tray with pasta and a ukulele serenade. The joy continued with cupcakes, hugs, cards and an abundance of calls, texts and messages via facebook. There was nothing grand about this birthday, it just happened to remind me second after second of how loved I am. My heart and mind were open to the acceptance of that love giving me access to that thin space that lies between us and God. It was a pure taste of heaven.

The joy continued throughout the weekend, and this morning, I came to the mountaintop as I reflected on the words presented by The Rev. Dr. Dan Matthews, who was visiting my church, Calvary Episcopal Church, as a guest preacher and speaker. As Dr. Matthew’s reflected on John’s gospel reading of the woman at the well (John 4:5-42), he said, “It always changes your life when you find acceptance.”

I had yet been able to express how I felt about this birthday. That simple statement of Dr. Matthews’ summed it up for me. Regardless of past or recent mistakes or self-professed failings, over the past 48 hours more than a hundred people had reached out to wish me well and to celebrate me. Not only did this morning’s reflection enable me to recognize God’s boundless love reaching out to me through each loving and kind word shared with me, it also gave me a moment to realize that perhaps what had made this birthday so special was also my own acceptance of myself.

This message to us during the service began to help shed light on my birthday reflections, but it was his following presentation on incarnational theology that brought it into powerful perspective. As I listened to him describe his own faith experience and vocation through the Episcopal Church, I found myself beaming with agreement and felt tears welling up in my eyes. He gave example after example of the Episcopal Church choosing to act in love and recognizing ours and others humanness. I won’t try to fully explain his views on incarnational theology here but promise to post his class as soon as it is available online. In simple terms, it’s about approaching each person who crosses your path with boundless love. That’s how I’ve tried to live my live, and I am grateful to all those who have shared God’s love with me.

Dr. Matthews’ words connected deeply with my soul. The love he was describing, I had recently experienced in all its glory. As the class ended, I stood and tried to walk out of the class space as discreetly and as quickly as possible. I knew I was experiencing a holy moment (and I was about to lose it…I mean fall apart from it’s intensity).

I walked into the empty church and fell into the second pew. Sunlight beamed down upon me as tears streamed down my face. I wept…not in sadness but from great happiness and in sincere gratitude. They were tears of immense joy brought upon by my ability in that moment to acknowledge and embrace the full grace of God.

I took healing and strengthening breaths. I imaged with each breath the Holy Spirit filling my lungs with strength for the journey I would face again when I walked down off of this mountain and back out that door. I stared into the beautiful stained glass window before me. The longer I sat there the brighter the colors became and the clearer the image in front of me. I realized it was the baptismal font, the image reminding me of the promises I have made:

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good
News of God in Christ?

I will, with God’s help.

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
your neighbor as yourself?

I will, with God’s help.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

I will, with God’s help.

(The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 305)

I smiled. I took deeper breaths. I gave myself some time. I reckoned that it took Moses 40 days to come off of the mountaintop. I smiled again. I took another deep breath.

After promising to continue striving to live into my baptismal promises as best I could, my eyes raised further. There in the upmost point of the window, at it’s brightest, was the dove, the Holy Spirit Itself. I stared at the image, the light powerful and yet comfortingly not forcing my eyes to close. They stayed fixed upon the light until the brightness of the dove was emblazoned upon my sight and led me forward, the center of my vision.

Boundless love for my birthday. Thanks to God and to all of you for sharing this most amazing birthday gift. God give me the strength to share the same with others.

With love and light,

LT