The view in front, we have from our cottage is an approach towards the gate (above) which opens into two directions, one to the right and the other to the left.
The picture below, opening to the right side of the gate, gives us an access to the stream below and the fields beyond. The stream is a reason for birds to flock in the morning in the field because the field covered with water provides them feed.
On to the let (below), is the passage leading to the neighbourhood and beyond.
Our going out each day would involve accessing both the directions. The turn to the right takes us to the open field where we spend time watching birds and other sights of farming. When we turn to the left, we are entering into the wider settings where others live and takes us to places beyond into our work place.
The picture below is the view of our cottage from the gate which takes us back to where we live and belong. In returning to where we are we feel at home again.
This rhythm of going out and coming in is a rhythm we we would follow as before in the year 2023.
One thing that struck me yesterday while I was taking the above photos, is the different shades of Potter's Blue on the wall. The colour of the paint is the same but the the amount of light falling on the walls creates different hues to the colour.
To me that became metaphor for 2023!
It is when we are in the open, engaged in different situations of opportunities, needs and challenges, we would absorb the ambience and internalise them. Anna and I went for a funeral service of a friend, who following a neurological illness was called home! We met common friends and returned home with mixed feelings. The sorrow of loss was in the air. We returned home thinking of the contacts and communications we had with people during the early years. One person whom me met was a former colleague with whom we did not have any contact for a while. Seeing that person brought some memories of ups and downs which led to that person deciding to to leave the job. We returned from this day outing, with troubled thoughts and disturbed feelings.
On returning home in the late afternoon, what greeted us was this flower in a pot near the footsteps to our cottage!
The serene and gentle presence of that flower became a sign of peace and hope! That sight brought in another inner ambience which lessened the burdensome thoughts and feelings that had occupied us in the earlier part of the day.
It is in retuning to the centre of our being, one shall find peace that transcends our seasonal life experiences.
We need our rituals, images, and metaphors to stay centred in the depth of our being, where love and peace create the ambience.
A Biblical verse that was the theme of a retreat which Anna and I attended in 1983 came back to me following the sighting of the flower. '...In repentance and rest, you shall be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength' (Isaiah.30:15).
Our journey in life is going out and coming in!
We go out to live, serve, feel, receive and give, all of which bring different experiences to our lives. It is in retuning to the depth of our being we shall arrive to be our true self, where we rediscover the love with which we have been formed and receive healing to go out again to live self-givingly!
The rhythm of life is going out and coming in!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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