Unveiling.
O Holy Spirit, the very root of creation that shakes each realm awake and brings life itself alive,
cleansing filth, wiping guilt clean, and soothing wounds.
This is the radiant way, the laudable way, awakening and reawakening all that lives!
~ Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia
I am sitting on the front porch of my hermitage where I frequently take a weekend retreat for a spiritual / emotional reset. The picture above is exactly what I see. A bee buzzes underneath the eave above me. The sunshine warms my feet. A zephyr plays among the tree tops, and my heart is completely at rest. In this moment, I have reached behind the veil and touched Reality.
Yesterday I talked with my dear aunt who lives out west. After catching up on her latest adventures, she asked the unavoidable question: So how’s the job search coming along? In past months I have dreaded this question because the answer of “Nothing of substance” feels like a constant reminder of failure. Lately, though, it hasn’t felt that way. Instead, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for this Indian Summer of soul (Can we use that phrase now? Native American Summer doesn’t have quite the same ring.)
Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox—the precise midpoint between summer and winter. And it feels exactly so. Balmy, still verdant, with reds and yellows accenting the mountainscape. I just watched the most perfect helicopter seed contraption whirr gently to the ground in front of my eyes. Whoa. These between moments are especially sacred, both in the life of creation and the life of the soul. Between earth-seasons and between life-seasons. Can you feel that?
I tend to be very future-focused: What’s the next thing? And what needs my attention right now in order to be ready for the next thing? This has its own charism, its own fuel to co-create… but it can also suck me out of the present moment and blind me to the holy now. Blind me to the Dark-eyed Junko couple foraging for foot at my feet. In-between moments offer their invitational whisper to pay attention and savor the fleeting glory occurring right in front of us with sacramental hush.
When we respond to that divine whisper, it’s as if the veil parts and we perceive the eternal gladness that lies just behind sight. Know what I mean?
It’s not checking out of reality; it’s actually tapping into Reality! Creation calling. Trees clapping. God singing. It’s the cosmic wellness, the enduring Shalom that no earthbound brokenness can mar. This is the Air we must breathe if we are to bring hope and healing to the brokenness here. That world provides the fuel of worship that can drive redemption in this world. Nothing else can. And, behold, it is with us, touchable, tasteable. All it takes is a peaceable pause and a penetrating eye.
My aunt seemed taken aback when I told her I am savoring this spacious season of refreshment. That this time-between feels like a generous gift—presence to my world, presence to my soul, presence to my family. Some autumns I find myself clenching, resisting, unwilling to let go of the joy of summer. But that doesn’t work, does it? Clinging only serves to rob the beauty of now. Welcoming what is is the simple wisdom of delight.
growing your soul
Take a peek of your own behind the veil… What do you see? What can you welcome?
serving our world
How does the free air of that Reality equip you to salve the wounds on this side?
takeaway
Pierce the Veil.