So much need is there for change of scene, new points of view. How many notice so glorious a phenomenon as the rising of the sun over a familiar landscape? All that is necessary to make any landscape visible and therefore impressive is to regard it from a new point of view, or from the old one with our heads upside down. Then we behold a new heaven and earth and are born again, as if we had gone on a pilgrimage to some far-off holy land and had become a new creation with bodies inverted; the scales fall from our eyes, and in like manner are we made to see when we go on excursions into fields and pastures anew…
~ Meditations of John Muir, Nature's Temple,
Compiled by Chris Highland
Thoughts of pilgrimage have been my consistent companion for the past year since my husband's and my life-changing relocation from the place that was home for over 20 years to a more rural and natural setting in which we have settled as a hand slips into a perfectly fit glove. It is as though our bodies have been inverted. Pieces of this beginning again have been easy and some have been hard. Whether you make a conscious choice for a life change or have it thrust upon you in some manner, it seems important to learn how to walk in this new land and to invite a new perspective to companion you on the unknown path. To cling to an old perspective while trying to adapt to new circumstances makes it nearly impossible to thrive.
How familiar are you with your current "landscape?" Pilgrimage need not be limited to physical journeys that take us to foreign lands. We can embark on an interior journey of pilgrimage that invites the scales to fall from our eyes so that a new heaven and earth comes into view to create the landscape that best suits this season of life and all that it has to offer - even if unwelcome.
AWBA continues to develop the Camino Project as an upcoming opportunity for pilgrimage. We will open this program to anyone in a time of transition regardless of the circumstances that have brought each of you to this threshold place of certain change. All are welcome. If you are living through
- the diagnosis of a chronic medical condition,
- caring for someone with a chronic diagnosis,
- the loss of a loved one,
- a change in marital status,
- the birth of a child or the beginning of an empty nest,
- anxiety due to multiple life events coming at once,
- retirement,
- questions about a new direction, and/or
- (your life change here)
you will find yourself among others who seek to begin again in a new season of life and to do it well. Stay connected to AWBA via this blog and/or register to receive our monthly newsletter for updates on this event. Currently, we expect this program to be offered January-September 2016 with Internet support for those not in our area as well as in-person gatherings in central and southeastern Ohio. You will choose how much you would like to be involved and may register for the entire pilgrimage or part of it.
The little lamb in the above image has chosen to lay on her back for a while and look at the world in a different way (or perhaps she was pushed over against her will!!). I wonder what she sees as she looks up? I like that she has someone standing nearby to help her if she needs it, and to remind her that she is safe as she considers a different view of her daily existence. It is AWBA's intention to offer a safe and sacred community in which you may do the same.
How familiar are you with your current "landscape?" Pilgrimage need not be limited to physical journeys that take us to foreign lands. We can embark on an interior journey of pilgrimage that invites the scales to fall from our eyes so that a new heaven and earth comes into view to create the landscape that best suits this season of life and all that it has to offer - even if unwelcome.
AWBA continues to develop the Camino Project as an upcoming opportunity for pilgrimage. We will open this program to anyone in a time of transition regardless of the circumstances that have brought each of you to this threshold place of certain change. All are welcome. If you are living through
- the diagnosis of a chronic medical condition,
- caring for someone with a chronic diagnosis,
- the loss of a loved one,
- a change in marital status,
- the birth of a child or the beginning of an empty nest,
- anxiety due to multiple life events coming at once,
- retirement,
- questions about a new direction, and/or
- (your life change here)
you will find yourself among others who seek to begin again in a new season of life and to do it well. Stay connected to AWBA via this blog and/or register to receive our monthly newsletter for updates on this event. Currently, we expect this program to be offered January-September 2016 with Internet support for those not in our area as well as in-person gatherings in central and southeastern Ohio. You will choose how much you would like to be involved and may register for the entire pilgrimage or part of it.
The little lamb in the above image has chosen to lay on her back for a while and look at the world in a different way (or perhaps she was pushed over against her will!!). I wonder what she sees as she looks up? I like that she has someone standing nearby to help her if she needs it, and to remind her that she is safe as she considers a different view of her daily existence. It is AWBA's intention to offer a safe and sacred community in which you may do the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment