Writing Prompt #3 Pick a Psalm or poem that is spiritually meaningful to you and reflect on it

 I Go Down to the Shore by Mary Oliver

I go down to the shore in the morning

and depending on the hour the waves

are rolling in or moving out,

and I say, oh, I am miserable,

what shall-

what should I do? And the sea says

in its lovely voice:

Excuse me, I have work to do.

This poem surprises me every time I read it, and I always seem to pick it up

just when I need it.

Being a poet and sensitive person, I am prone to melancholy and self

absorption. The clouds are gray, swirling and cruel today, I’m cold and tired

and want more accolades, money, friends, and love. And then I pick up

Mary Oliver’s Devotions. This book waits quietly for me on my nightstand. I

read “I Go Down to the Shore” and I quickly right my spinning self. I put on

my “big girl pants,” square my shoulders and set my jaw. I take a deep

breath and clear the icy fog that settled while I was losing my creative flame

to self pity. I’ve spent some time as a Waldorf teacher, and, when all else

fails, we sweep. If a child is feeling out of control, we hand them a broom,

and they help us sweep. Quietly, with no talking needed, we sort out our

feelings with our muscles and our breath. Manual work calms the mind and

draws us back to our breathing, and our own power.

Mary Oliver reminds me, with my favorite metaphor of the sea and her

waves, that we are going it alone and we are responsible for our own

happiness. However, while we are alone when it comes to our own minds

and our own decisions, we are not alone in this life we are living. For me,

the sea speaks as a spiritual being. She embodies god, nature, and spirit.

She gives me peace.

~TC

Wisdom’s Feast Proverbs 9:1-6

Wisdom has built her house

She has hewn her seven pillars

She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine

She has also set her table

She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls

From the highest places in the town,

“You that are simple, turn in here!”

To those without sense she says

“Come, eat of my bread

And drink of the wine I have mixed.

Lay aside immaturity, and live

And walk in the way of insight”

I love when the Bible references Sophia/Wisdom – a feminine way of the Bible referring to God.  This is one of two proverbs that seem connected.  The second one is very similar, but it is about Folly’s invitation and promise.  The difference between the two is that Sophia provides a feast that she has made and set up herself and invites the simple in to gain wisdom.  “Folly” uses almost all the same words, but invites the simple in to a stolen feast.  A feast that will lead to everyone’s demise that are involved with her.

It makes me think of Eve and all the confusion and drama over the forbidden fruit.  The fruit was stolen too because God gave them everything in the garden except the one tree of knowledge, and Eve stole from it – and shared her mistake with Adam – perhaps to try to legitimize her decision.  Eve wanted knowledge, but she wasn’t seeking wisdom. 

I think that sometimes we eat of Wisdom’s feast and sometimes Folly’s.  But we need to know which one we are eating, and who is calling us. 

I am constantly, completely saturated – oversaturated – with knowledge every day, thanks to the internet and my lack of scrolling impulse control.  Littered among the actual wisdom that I do I have, are a million factoids in my head that do not matter.  Sometimes these factoids overtake and choke off my wisdom. 

I know facts about stupid things that famous people are doing, that small dogs can balance on large mushrooms for a photo shoot (and it’s super cute), and that several people in my neighborhood heard a loud “boom” sound that turned out to be nothing.  But what is my wisdom?  Sometimes I can’t hear it because my mind is taken up with the tsunami of knowledge of allthethings.  I crave knowledge and don’t always discern what I am taking in.  But wisdom – my Sophia – tells me the following:

·        I am a good person, but I have to work at it and try to make my choices with love

·        I am also capable of being a bad person in the choices I make.  I have and will continue to do make bad choices as well

·        I need to strive for the good decisions to outweigh the bad.  Or choose more good than bad to keep the balance towards good.

·        In order to be a good person, I need to look at the ‘bad’ within me and accept it.  I need to know that I am culpable and responsible, even for things that I am ignorant of.  (“I didn’t know that I hurt that person’s feelings” doesn’t mean you are innocent of hurting their feelings)

·        All I can do is strive for the good and try to mend the bad if and when I can.  And start again.

I also can’t ignore the parallel of this old testament proverb with the new testament invitation from Jesus to “drink of living water” and to be in communion with him and with each other.  Jesus finally offers us what Eve desired so long ago – true wisdom (symbolized again through food!) that we can bring about a better world by being in a community with others.  And we know it to be true wisdom - after all, it was offered up by Sophia’s son.

~RH