OPEN AND SHUT

This morning while sitting quietly and meditating, I remembered the partial lyrics from an old song:  

"Open my eyes, Lord,  

I want to see Jesus. 

Open my ears, Lord  

And help me to listen." 

 

So I asked the Creator to open my eyes and my ears. Then I thought about my heart and determined I needed to ask God to open that symbolic organ…as well as my very real mind. Since I had just finished exercising, I decided to ask that my lungs be opened more fully. For good measure, I added my veins and arteries, the pores of my skin, my joints, and finally my mouth to always be open to bless with truth and beauty only.

I began to see how many things in our internal and external lives can be clogged, choked or closed…sometimes with just a tiny opening, sometimes merely shut and sometimes locked tight. So again I asked the Spirit to open my relationships. To open up my marriage in new ways. To expand my friendships, both in quality and quantity. I asked that my business relationships be opened, as well as my relationship to my retreat business. I asked to experience continual wonder of the created world.

Because I was praying, I asked God to open up my practices of prayer and meditation. I thought about the prayer of Jabez: "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!   In essence, open up my life and the spaces around me to receive your goodness. A bold request. And hard to say whether Jabez was so tired of having a small, closed life that this was a prayer of desperation or whether because his life was so full and open, this prayer merely sprang from his heart.

I asked all these things so that my life is, indeed, open. And free. Vessels used by God must be open. I cannot be closed and be a cheerful giver. I cannot be closed and see that the cranky waitress might need some encouragement. I cannot be closed and extend to another grace when they fail to meet my expectations.

More and more today, I see minds closed, unwilling to communicate or even be rational. I see fists closed, unable to lend a hand or closed tightly around a handgun. I see hearts closed and suspicious, full of fear. Over and over, God and angels speak the same 3 words to humanity: Do not fear! A speaker said once, "The opposite of love is not hate, but fear."  So be open. Be courageous. Be curious. Be joyful. Be intentional. Be flexible. Be kind. Be helpful. Be quiet. Be gracious. Be accepting. Be Jesus to the closed off and fearful. Because Love, so large and powerful, cannot flow from vessels that are sealed, clogged or have only very small openings. 

FIREFLIES!

Over the years when leading hikes, I would often get many of the same questions about nature.  Two of the most common came after explaining some aspect of ecology; how this plant needs that bug for pollination or how wetlands are needed to sustain a multitude of species. Suddenly a light bulb would come on about this web-of-life concept and someone would blurt out, "Well then, what good are mosquitoes?" This, usually after too long swiping them from their face. Or someone else would ask, "So, what is the point of poison ivy?"  I actually loved it when these questions would come up, even if some folks thought they were being clever. It gave me the opportunity to continue to expand of the interconnectedness of things...things they could relate to.

So, I would explain the importance of mosquitoes at the low end of the food chain for aquatic life, bats, birds, etc. The poison ivy question was a good stepping off point into the area of how anthropocentric we can be...something can't be good if it is not good for humans. But poison ivy berries are delicacies for some birds (not to be too anthropomorphic about it :), and one of the first foods birds consume in late summer. I would always recommend that if people had poison ivy on their property, and it wasn't in a place where others could get in to it, they should leave it for the birds. Not many takers on that one, though.  

I've also led a few night hikes, mostly full moon hikes or took kids out to hear owls, spark Lifesavers in our mouths in complete darkness and watch fireflies. I don't think I've ever had anyone ask, "What good is a firefly?"  But it is a really good question.

The larvae of fireflies, sometimes called "glow worms," do feed on worms and snails...but adults merely feed on each other...or maybe nothing at all.  Scientists are not quite sure.  And adults, like the Monarch butterfly, have an unpleasant taste they produce if attacked, which comes from drops of blood.  Consequently, they have few predators, and are not really part of the food chain, per se.  

As a someone who dwells in both the worlds of science and faith, I love it when every now and then something is unexplainable, except that it is a gift of sheer beauty and wonder.  If someone were to ask me what fireflies are good for, I would have to say I don't know. I just know that when I see the first ones in summer I am thrilled - transported back to some of the fondest memories of my childhood.  And in the middle of summer, standing on the deck at Prairie Pond Woods, looking out over the prairie, I am dazzled. Someday, an entomologist may discover their ecological purpose, but until then I am content to leave the question unanswered...and just watch. 

I hope you will take a minute or two this long weekend to look for "lightening bugs" in your backyard or at a park. They are fascinating and complex creatures...and becoming harder and harder to find. To learn more click here.