Holding on to the One who holds

This is not the best season to look for butterflies due to dew on the flowers in the evening and night. There are still some stray ones fluttering in the garden. I noticed one, when Daphne was running to and fro on the grass. The butter fly was similar to the one in this photo, which, I photographed in the garden in front of the Scudder auditorium several years back, during our stay in the college campus at Vellore.

What fascinated me was the stillness of this butter fly even after all the noise and turbulence Daphney created. It stayed glued to the flower as long as it decided.

For me,  inner stillness has been a growing longing.

I have been disturbed by many events, happenings, experiences,  and demands. Although I am used to attribute my unsettlement  to our recent cross cultural relocation, I  am realising during this season of advent and new year, that there is yet another dimension that I need to consider.

We internalize what takes place around us. There is an inner movement of disturbance corresponding to the intensity of the outer events. When that is a natural process, this butterfly conveyed something different. It was aware of the outer disturbance, because I noticed it moving its wings differently when Daphney was dashing around. But it was absorbed in gathering honey.

It is absorption in what is nourishing and sustaining, that can diffuse the impact of the external pressures. 

The boy Samuel 'grew before the Lord' about which we read I Samuel 2:21. This growing experience comes by 'holding' on to the 'One who holds'. 

I find this best illustrated in the performance of Trapez artists in Circus. (Anna reminded me yesterday that a circus is now camped in the town close by to us). The artists swinging from their swings perform two different functions. One 'catches' the flying trapeze artist who lets go his hold on the awing. It is the certainty of being held, which helps the flying artist to leave his swing. 

The catcher holds the flying artist with his hands to which the flying artist holds on.

This dual reality is at the heart of the Trapeze performance. I feel drawn by this reality, thanks to Daphne, who through her flighty run, made me notice the butterfly, and awakened my consciousness to hold on to the source of my being and well being. We hold on to God who holds us, through times of Bible mediation, interior silence and prayer of the heart. I felt visited by God's love at the end of a walk with Daphne.

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)