This weekend the Still Point partners gathered for two days of work together, part of the commitment each makes to share in the care of the cabin and grounds. This weekend had a twist: on Saturday evening, Still Point hosted "Celebrate Spring and the Breathing Earth", with the intention of raising some money for scholarships for the retreat with David Abram in October, 2015. On what can only be described as a perfect late spring evening, friends enjoyed a lovingly prepared meal, a dancing game around the may tree, a delightful concert, storytelling, and a fire drum circle, all lit first by the glowing sunset and then by the full moon. Earlier, just after breakfast, we had met for business and to get ourselves organized for the day. This short reflection began the meeting:
I'm thinking of that famous Celtic prayer known as the Breastplate of St. Patrick that begins,"I arise today through the strength of heaven, light of sun, radiance of moon, splendor of fire, speed of lightening, swiftness of wind, depth of the sea, firmness of rock..."
Last Saturday, a small group of us, three young families and a couple oldsters, wandered down the trail we Still Pointers know well, the one that goes to the river and then winds up to the waterfall on Rocky Branch. The day was one of fitful clouds, cool, flirting with rain. When we reached the bend where the trail turns parallel to the river, there appeared bluebells, a riot of them, almost as far as we could see, spilling under and over logs, around boulders, an avalanche of brilliant blue splendor. The children squealed. As if that wasn't wonderful enough, even more thrilling to some of our number was the discovered presence of trillium and trout lilies blooming in delicate profusion amid the rocks and watery edges.
Yesterday evening, the sunset--always the star of the Still Point deck--was, to put it inadequately, magnificent: Deep purple clouds outlined in magenta and a deeper streak of gold. It made me think of a line from David Whyte's poem, The Journey, "Sometimes everything has to be enscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you."
Sometimes the amazing gift that we call Still Point comes home to us with astounding clarity. Not only painted in the shimmering hues of the natural world that wraps us round, but in the subtler shades of human connection, friends helping friends to fix a roof, clear a path, stage a concert, prepare a feast. Isn't this, in the end, what sustains us, protects us from despair? Isn't this our breastplate, covering, sheltering our open and trembling hearts?
We arise today through the abundance of bluebells, preciousness of friendship, splendor of sunset, delight of children, exquisite rarity of trillium; through all that brings us, shields us, and nurtures us here. We arise today.