Th intensity of darkness and light!

This sunset view from our garden on a rainy day held my attention for a while. The intensity of darkness and light!

The darkness was obvious. What made the darkness to stand out is the light! The contrast is what held my attention. 

The intense light in the centre marginalised the darkness. 

That awareness helped me to travel inside! What is at the centre of my being! Is it darkness of grief, disappointment, suspicion or intolerance! Or is it light of caring, giving, forgiving or charity!

As I spent reflecting on this theme, I realised that I have a  long journey ahead of me!

A friend who was silent for four years, reached out to me recently to share the reason why he was cautious to reach out to me! In that conversation few things surfaced that revealed my blind spots in perception. 

The darkness within needs enlightenment. Openness to hear, listen and discern would be the means to marginalise the darkness and bring them under he purview of the  of the light with which we are called to live! It is by enlarging the intensity and spread of light in our inner space, we can be a light that can marginalises the darkness with which others live!

The first step towards this journey of marginalising the darkness within is to acknowledge that darkness resides within us because of which we live hostile to ourselves and others. 

Th light within can enlarge to diffuse the darkness!

This the path towards revising the way we live and relate!

M.C.Mathew(text and phot)

 

An evening view!

At the end of a rainy and windy day, this view of the sky brought cheer of respite from rain!

The shades of colours of the clouds drew my attention. The blue sky got submerged in the rainbow colours of the clouds. 

The clouds obliterated or reduced the view for the sky. 

I have been through such an experience at work place during the last two years. The department got frozen in one stage without moving forward to a more articulate position to convey the mission of the department. I was consumed by discouragement. The COVID season of reduced work created time to reflect and reposition ourselves. 

The cloud of discouragement and anxiety gradually got lifted up as we discovered about what was still possible amidst the constraints that we faced at work. We were able to create a professional forum for  weekly meeting with people from other institutions to advance child development and rehabilitation perspectives. Two publications, Bud to Blossom and Accompany your child, the first being a parent information manual on developmental monitoring of children at home and the second one on developmental monitoring of children when they have developmental challenges, could be brought out during this season. Two other manuals are getting ready. The attempt to eliminate waiting time and offer 'walk in' consultation for children is bearing fruits. The Saturday On-Line consultation to support families from other distant places was a timely step.  

All these happened in the tenth anniversary year of the department of Developmental Paediatrics at MOSC Medical College. 

The clouds of disappointments or grief or marginalisation can hinder the view of the sky beyond,  which to me has become a symbol of an opportunity and opening!

I feel grateful that when we were down and out, we were given a glimpse of the sky that gave a promise of a better future!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

An evening sky view !

I stood looking at this sight in the horizon, not knowing what it might suggest as a weather forecast!

More than that, I was drawn inward, towards the inner canvas of my thoughts and feelings at the day!

A young man came to meet me to talk about his distress over his failed marriage after his son was born with a developmental dysfunction. In order to conceal and pacify his inward brokenness he drifted towards spending hours together watching whatever he could find in the Internet. He turned the night into a solo viewing time and slept during the day. He regretted about it and is now making efforts to restore relationship at home. I felt encouraged by his confessional and regretful attitude. It is helping him to rebuild the marriage. 

Amidst the intense dark clouds the setting sun is shining and spreading its rays wide in to the horizon and the sky upwards.

The darkness and light are physical realities. 

But light is also a spiritual reality!

It was when Jesus broke bread at supper time in the home of  two travellers, with whom Jesus of Nazareth was walking and talking on their way, their eyes were opened to see that their  guest was the risen Jesus. The inner anguish over the crucifixion and death of Jesus had drowned them into darkness and hopelessness. They were disciples who were with Jesus for three and half years. Yet their belief and experience did not sustain them to live in faith in their dark hour. Jesus had to appear to lead them to light and hope!

The inner darkness arise from fear, stress, grief, and anxiety. It is a freezing experience as darkness invades our mind space and soul landscape!

I feel moved by the way the third verse in the first chapter of the book of Genesis in the Bible made a proclamation: 'Let there be light and there was Light'! That is how light came in to being. This light existed even before the Sun and Moon were created. 

This eternal Light is the 'Lamp unto our feet and light unto our path'. 

A darkened sky, a cloudy inner mind space and a sad soul space are all realities. A greater reality than these is the Light within us and the 'Word who became flesh' in our inmost being, about which we shall meditate a lot during the season of Christmas!

Living in hope and gracing our lives with the inner light are the way forward for all of us, who are fumbling travellers and fretful pathfinders!

A child wrote 'Sugar' on a paper and asked me if it was sweet! I laughed. But he had something more to say to me. He said that, he is a goal keeper for the junior football team in the school because he practiced for it for five years. That is when it dawned on me that it is not speaking or reading or teaching about God, one experiences God. But by exercising spiritual disciplines of reading the scripture, meditating, praying, and seeking after God. It is by seeking after God steadfastly and earnestly we shall find Him. The eternal Light becomes the Light within us during this process!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

 

Mulberry plant, fruit and Jam

Anna planted a Mulberry sapling two years ago and we have had the first season of fruits this year. 

Anna turned most of the fruits to make juice and jam. 

How refreshing it is to rink fresh juice and spread the jam on a slice of bread which carries no additional sweetening or preservatives!

For Anna it was an exercise of her gardening skills and wait for the fruits!

I watched this  process with great delight!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The hidden full moon!

The crescent moon as seen in the first photo, is also a full moon, waiting for its time to express its fullness!

Each person and his or her full worth and value remains hidden till they bring that fullness in the appointed time. 

It points to the cycle of life- remain hidden and become visible. It is a changing rhythm which has a natural cycle. 

There is a completion to be visible all the time and be in the visible stage, which is what the coaches seem to educate market professionals to do. When one gets stretched by the arduous efforts to stay afloat and visible, there is an exhaustion that soon shall become a burden. 

Instead, it shall be a blessing to see life, work, relationships, roles and presence as dynamic and transitional. It shall make all of us live our lives in the rhythm inherent to a way of living ordained for us. It is like a relay race when the baton gets transferred and the visibility shifts from one person to the other. 

We live and work with others. Blessed are those who occupy less space for themselves and create more space for others. In so doing we receive in return acknowledgement for our mindfulness. It is this mutual giving and taking which shall make a group ambience fragrant and effervescent!

To be a crescent is needed to appear full later! To be just present quietly and mindfully is necessary to be welcomed to a larger presence. The moon and the earth are interdependent for the rhythm of moving forward and backward to be a crescent or a full moon. Others among us affect us and guide us in the greater formation of our lives. 

We shall be lost or stunted without others accompanying us. Live making room for others because they lead us to fulness and overflowing!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Flowers on a table!

We can let flowers droop and fall off in the garden or have them on a vase to prolong their life!

Flowers remain fragile but fragrant and fresh for a while. 

Their transitoriness is a symbol to us. 

They give us a mission to live for. Flowers bring completeness to an occasion, whether it is a wedding, funeral, birthday, anniversary, meeting, etc.

We are reminded of the transitoriness of life, but the abundance of aroma as long as they are fresh and fragrant. 

Life is to be lived like that. How terrible it is if 'salt has lost its saltiness'!

I often think about the aroma of life! Life is to be lived as an offering to others and not as an indulgence in acquisition or possession of everything that shall soon fade away.  

The other day, when I spilled hot milk on my leg and blistered a large area on my one leg, I it became another source of pain, apart from the multiple joints which remained painful for a while now. For older person pain becomes a companion. One was resist it or welcome it and develop a conversation with one's body.

Fragile flower and fragile body! But both can bring fragrance to others. The decay or pain shall not threaten or diminish this function. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)