Flying and resting!

During the half an hour I followed this  butterfly in our garden (Today is a holiday, so it was possible) I found its rhythm of flying and resting.  

It flies for a while and rests for an equal or more time! In between it has its feed of honey!

Life is an ensemble of multiple activities. 

What is often forgotten is a enlarged view of rest!

We sometimes equate rest to sleep. Sleeps provides rest physically and mentally! However rest transcends beyond sleep. Rest is an inward attitude of orienting our lives to live soberly, mindfully and consciously. 

It leads us to live above the turbulence of the circumstances. There is an inner composure of adjusting to life events without being overwhelmed by the turmoil they might bring!

I feel intensely when there is a loss or an unexpected event. I got up to notice today that the washing machine was leaking with water on the floor! It took a while for me to find the block to undo the obstruction. In that an hour or so, what was on my mind was the effort it would take to find the mechanic and not being able to use the machine till it was mended. I was already in a state of anxiety! I wish I was able to go through this exercise restfully, doing what I can and trusting to find the help! I have not arrived at such a disposition of inner attitude as yet!  

Rest is all about this inner attitude! Rest is a reflection of inner freedom to live and process the circumstances quietly and confidently!

It is this, 'Rest', I feel that  Jesus of Nazareth referred to when He said, 'Come to me all those who are weary...I will give your rest" !

M. C.Mathew ( text and photo)

Music is a confluence!

At the end of the performance of this instrumentalists, I asked a musician sitting next to me as to how they could perform with different instruments in such harmony! He replied, 'hours of practice'!

This set in motion a train of thoughts in my mind! The instrumentalists can bring such an uplifting confluence of different musical instruments because they agreed to play together following the musical notes and harmonies with each other! It is a commitment for harmony!

I have been through some intensely difficult situation where the leadership of an organisation had a differing approach to some major issues facing them. What resulted was disorder and disregard for each other, which still continue!

Any work we are engaged in is a confluence of intent and content, through the volitional efforts of every one involved! Any discordance intentional or incidental diffuses the outcome!

Yesterday my colleagues got ready the reading room after two days of preparation! When we walk in to the reading room, what is striking is the fresh ambience of the room with the neatly arranged books in the shelf. They even got ready the cataloguing of the books in the computer! It was a demonstration of confluence of efforts from everyone!

I wonder whether this way of looking at our work place relationships would be the norm rather than an exception! We are made 'fully alive' when we incorporate others into the orbit our thinking, and planning collaboratively!

We live reduced lives when we keep our doors shut to others or go our way looking for our own identity and personal success! W have a shared identity, in which others are part of our lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Waiting for the lead!

I found this scene interesting and revealing.

During the pause before the soloist could begin, the guitarist who accompanied him was tuning his guitar to give the correct note for the singer to begin! 

During that time of couple of minutes, all in the stage and audience remained quiet in anticipation!

Once the soloist started to sing and the guitarist accompanied him, there was rapt attention and delightful tapping of the feet and swaying to the musical rhythm! Almost everyone got engrossed in the musical harmony!

While talking to someone yesterday, I realized how pauses or seasons of waiting have been rather difficult! The guitarist nods his head when he is ready and the soloist then takes it forward! That gives us a real life lesson ! 

Our lives can live the rhythm when we are tuned in to the lead we need to get moving! I have often wondered about this  synchronisation!

It is God who can give us that lead to integrate with the direction of the future! What makes that possible is to pause in silence and wait in hope for us to receive the inner nod to move on! 

Yesterday I had to unpack three boxes in which I had gathered together all my files in preparation for my retirement from the work I do on turning seventy years! As there was no other consultant in the department I was requested to continue for some more time! In the process of unpacking to put the files back in the filing cabinet, I travelled back in memory lane of thirty five years since I moved to the specialty of Developmental Neurology during which time there were several major changes in the direction of our calling! 

One change was when the invitation came from CMC Vellore to incorporate the ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre at Chennai with CMC to start the Developmental Paediatrics Unit. The invitation came in 1995 and it took two long years of pause before we decided to move to Vellore in 1997!

By then Anna and I were at Chennai for fifteen years with considerable acceptance and prospects for what we were engaged in. Now looking back, it was a call to relocate to CMC Vellore, for which we needed two years of emotional preparation! The unit of Developmental Paediatrics at CMC Vellore continues its leadership role in the speciality admirably under able leadership ! I retired in 2008.

Life is full of this form of in between times! It is peace and hope that would be the interior ambience of such in between times, when we are open to be led by a God who tunes our lives to harmonise us with His direction for our lives. 

The pause before the starting is significant and essential to live responsibly! Make that season of waiting to welcome surprises ahead!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

   

Voice of Hope!

Every time we listen to a choir, their voice would resonate in our hearts.

A choir would prepare well before the choral singing! The fine tuning of their singing brings the best of their voices to sound  the harmony in the listener's ears. 

They give a tune to their voices and that is what makes all the difference to bring a melody!

Human voices have the potential to bring comfort and hope!

It can be equally true of how we speak to each other!

The tone and tenor of our voice would make what we speak comforting or otherwise!

While we sing, we modulate our voice. I do not know whether we give equal attention to modulate our voice while speaking to others! 

What we speak is not the only important thing that matters, but how we speak !  What makes a conversation affirming is when our words and voice convey mindfulness and consideration!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Hedge plants!

The hedge plants in our garden bloomed everyday even in the rain and did not show any sign of damage!

This has not surprised me but made me observe these flowers. The flowers repel water because they have multiple filamentous exterior! Even the fragile flowers are given some protection from adversity!

The conversation between people of late have been all about the flood and the damage people have suffered! It is  story of loss and grief!

But what counters this in a delightful way is the story of men and women who show the overcoming spirit in difficult circumstances.

A family mentioned to me yesterday that a friend brought food to them wading through waist deep water two times in a day for five days!

It is when adversities befall us, we discover our inner resilience! Yesterday, a senior journalist mentioned that his habit has been to collect stories of ordinary peel who reveal extra-ordinary coping skills in adversity! He received a telephone call from a family who were living in  relief camp with three children to enquire whether he was safe and well!

I feel it is  time to celebrate human resilience in abundant display, during this most trying time of flooding of this century! We need each other as companions to live with hope!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A memory of flood!

This is a paddy field that Anna and I pass by each day during our travel to the hospital and back. 

Following the recent flood water submerging the field for five days, what is left is a barren field! The acres of cultivation have been lost! 

With the waterbirds returning to the field, there is a hope that the water is less toxic now! Usually after a flood, the land takes time to recover from all the ill effects of the harm the polluted water brought to the field!

Everyday the the TV news is all about the devastation the flood water brought to many houses. About 20,000 houses were destroyed and 100,000 houses are partially damaged or without their household goods!

Now there is a strong opinion among some that the flood occurred not due to incessant rain, but because of poor management of the way water was released from the dams!

So there is a sense of double loss! Some people publicly express how much distressed they feel about the way the decision makers acted casually rather than with diligence and foresight!

This is a time to consider how others suffer when those in responsibility act without weighing the impact of their decisions on others! People are in grief...one person committed suicide seeing the devastation he saw when he returned to his house!

I have been thinking about children who feel the loss of all that was part of their lives- books, toys, bicycles, clothes,.... !  

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Back to work!

Since yesterday, workers are returning to their work place. The rain and flood water have receded!

While talking to the farm workers who are migrant workers form North india told me that for a week they were even displaced form their temporary shelters because fo flooding and it is delight to return to work! The spoke about the relief in being able to return to work!

That made me think! The farm workers seemed to look forward to work! Sometimes I look forward to have an extended holiday!

There are  different attitudes!

Work gives identity to some, an opportunity to express themselves to others, a job or employment to some others... I felt that these farm workers looked at their work more than just as a source of income. They spoke about their work as a mission! All five in this group were involved in taking care of a vegetable farm! They said that they normally help to get the vegetables ready to get them to the shops! They saw their role through the optic of others who need their service!

Work therefore is upbuilding each other for our common good! I felt refreshed by this conversation with the five migrant workers!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)