Wholehearted and fully alive

In June 1859, Jean-François Gravelet (known as The Great Blondin) crossed Niagara Falls walking a tight rope. During his life, he repeated the feat several times, always with a different theatrical variation: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying his manager, Harry Colcord on his back.
Not surprisingly, Blondin’s crossings drew crowds. About to cross pushing a wheelbarrow with a sack of cement, he asked a reporter standing with crowd. “Do you believe I can do this?”
“Yes sir, after watching you, I believe you can do anything.”
“Do you believe that instead of a sack of cement, I could put a man in this wheelbarrow, and wheel him safely to the other side?”
“Oh, yes, Mr. Blondin, I certainly believe it.”
“Good,” said Blondin, “Get in.”

There will be days when every one of us will have to fight for our better angels. If we are open, I believe that our better angels will find us, and will always work to pull us toward the light. Hope is sustaining. Fear can be overcome. Even when life feels upside down, we can make choices that inspire hope. And reclamation. And redemption.
Yes, these are just words. I know. Even so. They are an invitation nonetheless.
Good. So, I choose to “get in”—to live wholehearted and fully alive. What do I do now?
“Getting in” is not an easy sell when you have folks telling you otherwise.
Fear is real. And risk is real. And our attraction to security (life in a box) feels easier.
Okay. What does it mean to let go of my need for certainty? Can I embrace this moment? (Perhaps there is a way to circumvent the discomfort by doing some kind of risk management assessment—you know, eliminate the messiness and uncertainty before we proceed?)
I love the simplicity of the metaphor: Get in.
If life is to be lived, and not merely managed, get in.
If life is to pour out from the heart, and not be solely analyzed from the head, get in.
If life is not just about answers, but about asking the right questions, get in.

Let’s unpack this together. Three lessons. Well, more like gifts.
One. The invitation to “get in” is not a performance. Or test to pass. Or something you receive only when you’ve “earned it”.
The invitation to live wholehearted and fully alive (to “get in”) is a gift grounded in the power of sanctuary. Yes, I know, I seem to beat that drum a good bit.
But you see, Sabbath (sanctuary, the permission to stop) allows us to hear the voice of Grace. And Grace says simply, “You are accepted. Period. Deal with it.”
Paul Tillich elaborates, “You are accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not seek for anything. Do not perform anything, do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.”
If that happens to us, we experience grace. This means that I can live and choose and commit “from acceptance” and not “for acceptance.” I’m not in the business of needing to impress anyone or earn points. Grace is the fuel that allows us to “get in” this life.
To live from hope and for hope.
To live with, and from, an open heart, even when life gets wobbly.

Two. The sacred present begins now. This encounter. This moment. This conversation. Yes, the invitation to love and savor this life.
When I embrace—love and savor—this life, I find grace sprinkled with wonder and awe.
Attending a conference on religion in Japan, Joseph Campbell overheard another American delegate, a social philosopher from New York, say to a Shinto priest, “We’ve been now to a great many ceremonies and have seen quite a few of your shrines. But I don’t get your ideology. I don’t get your theology.”
The Japanese priest paused as though in deep thought, and then slowly shook his head. “I think we don’t have ideology,” he said. “We don’t have theology. We dance.”
Wonder and awe always invite us to put on dancing shoes.
So, today, shall we dance?
“The way Marge Gull feels about it, anybody who thinks 95 is too old to dance can take a flying leap over a defibulator cart. I dance up a storm, Marge says.” (From the Anchorage Daily News)

d this we know: dancing and savoring go hand in hand.
We were lovers who … decided to make the world a better place by slowing down long enough to pay for its improvement—by paying attention, the reverent, even holy attention of love. Brian McLaren, The Galápagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey
The great novelist Marilynne Robinson was once asked by an interviewer, “What single thing would make the world in general a better place?”  She replied, “Loving it more.”

And three. This light—living fully alive—always spills light to the world around us.
Here’s the deal: when I am inundated with internal and external hubbub, I forget about the heart I can bring to this day. The touch I can give to people around me who are tussling with bleakness. The gift of welcome I can offer people who are left out and diminished. The calling I have (to be Tikkun Olam, repairer of the world) to bring pardon and hope and love. Get in indeed.
This is not just a look-on-the-bright-side sales pitch. This is a fundamental paradigm shift. “We are promoters of the culture of encounter,” Pope Francis reminds us. And he practices what he preaches (he gets in), each encounter filled with compassion and power, a message of presence to those who are, or feel, marginalized, or on the outside.

There is a similarity with writing. When I teach writing classes, there is a desire for the formula. And I don’t have a formula. Just the same advice Blondin gave, Get in.
And speaking of wonder and awe. Our leaves are changing color… My Oh My.

Quote for our week… “Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of flesh and the living colors of the earth and sky and sea? Why am I afraid to love, I who love love?” Eugene O’Neill

BULLETIN BOARD

Today’s Photo Credit: “Hi Terry, Just a wow fishing moment in the Puyallup River. And Mount Rainier. Thank you for always feeding our souls so beautifully,” Marguerite Gerontis… Thank you Marguerite… Thank you to all, I love your photos… please keep sending them… send to terryhershey.com 

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Letters that do my heart good…
–Such a solid message today. I experience those same vacillations.  Much encouragement and help was received because of the letter written in 1513 to ALL of us. Keep spilling the light, my brother. Peace, Charlie
–I think you wrote the perfect “amount” and the perfect words. Such important to be. We are human beings, not human doings, after all.  Pascal said a long time ago, “All of mankind’s troubles stem from not being about to sit quietly in a room alone.” I spell alone AllOne. Thanks for your work. Enjoy being with the clouds. Theresa
–Pause for clouds… and rainbows, wildlife, giggling babies, ice cream, waves lapping the shore, crickets filling the air with their “chirping”, leaves blowing in the wind… thanks for the reminder! Terry
–Thank you Terry, for this today. I woke up tired and saying I just need to rest. And first thought is how do I DO that today, instead of how do I BE at rest. Doing is such an ingrained part of this recovering workaholic’s life. But I am learning. Your words help me with my learning. With Gratitude, Ruth
–Beautiful message as I was blessed to observe last nights sky of beauty, we watched a woman fishing along the dock and asked “catch anything”? And now I’ll remember next time to say “it’s not about catching it’s the pleasure of fishing”. Along with that, I’m blessed to be with my “catch” (pic)  and to experience new golden sunsets in our golden years of new love. Not letting go of this fishing  pole as there are many joys to be caught. Thanks as always for your timely blessings Terry. Donna

POEMS AND PRAYERS

“i thank You God for most this amazing”
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
E. E. Cummings

It was like a church to me.
I entered it on soft foot,
Breath held like a cap in hand.
It was quiet.
What God was there made himself felt,
Not listened to, in clean colours
That brought a moistening of the eye,
In movement of the wind over grass.
There were no prayers said. But stillness
Of the hearts passions – that was praise
Enough; and the mind’s cession
Of its kingdom. I walked on,
Simple and poor, while the air crumbled
And broke on me generously as bread.
R.S. Thomas