The Crossing over!

I watched this crested pigeon in search of its feed. It was on the road side picking up whatever was edible. At one stage I noticed it moving towards the edge and crossing over to the land above the road level. It continued its search and had a wider space with grass to find its feed. It moved slowly in all directions till it came to the green stretch in the last photo. It stayed there for long searching and finding its feed. 

As I revisited this collection of photographs today, I felt revived within about the naturalness of crossing over from where we are to an unknown terrain! 

It was on 30th June in 2023, I crossed over to my seventy fifth year! 

I welcomed the lingering thoughts to form a fabric of meaning, when I sat meditating on this experience of turning seventy-five and retiring form work. 

The first consciousness was about,  leaving the work place engagements of about 12 hours, to a practice of occupying this time with other meaningful experiences. 

The second consciousness was about gathering the memories of forty years at work, spent in pursuit of promoting activities to foster child development. 

The third consciousness was about remembering many, who made the above dream a reality and  reconnecting with them to express gratefulness. 

The fourth consciousness was about some unfinished efforts which need completion, particularly on narrating the learning experiences for the benefit of others. 

The fifth consciousness was about to creating a physical setting for the next phase of exploration into life! 

The above photo taken yesterday in the evening is the place,  Anna and I found the space to locate the the physical setting of ASHIRVAD. It happened to be a fifty year old garage, in our courtyard, which we were able to convert to the present use, with the help of our domestic helper, Mr Roy.  At the end of he day, Dulcie was the first visitor to the space, who came in through the wet courtyard to leave marks of her wet paws in the room!  

This place reminded Ann and me  of the beginning of ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre at 18, Varadarajulu Road in Egmore, Chennai in 1983, in the down floor of a two storied building, where later Mr AC.Rajan lived. The room that was given to us to start the Child Development pursuit, was similar in size and appearance, having a rustic look! 

We gathered together all the symbols of the last forty years in this room yesterday,  the oldest being a toy shelf in the corner, which was paid from the gifts that came on the day we began the Child Development Centre on 14 November, 1983. Each of the items acquired at different times in the last forty years, carries a symbolic meaning as thy are associated with people and events. In that sense, this room is now a museum of articles, representing the way marks of our journey in child development.  

Yes Anna and I are in this crossing over phase. 

From experiences at Chennai, Valathi, Nagpur, Vellore, Pondichery and Kolenchery we are now called to cross over to the other side! What this other side is still a mystery!

What is comforting is the message from the crested pigeon! 

It moved on, by jumping over the parapet on the edge of the road, to a new terrain. It left its earlier terrain and found another terrain naturally. 

We are clear about one thing. The coming years are not for offering clinical consultations for children and families. They have come to a close. What is still hazy, is the content and direction, for the next phase of the journey 

The first stanza  of a hymn by Eugene L Clark goers like this:

'Good things we have all around us,

Sent from the Father above;

Blessings poured out without measure;

Come from His great heart of love.

Gratefully enter His presence,

Prayerfully go to our knees;

Quietly there hear Him saying,

"Lovest thou Me more than these"?'

Anna and I hear a call stated in this hymn!

How do we prepare ourselves to love, what God brings in to our lives, in the coming years!

That is where we prepare for this crossing over !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)