Peripheral Ponderings

“No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Recently I spent some time to again read Coelho’s story of an Andalusian shepherd boy’s quest for treasure:  it’s a simple but profound story.  Santiago’s journey centers around his Personal Legend, but he also comes to know that he is part of a larger story God has written.  As we all are.

When I was in grade school our teachers took pains to teach us legible handwriting, a skill that isn’t necessarily being taught today.  But handwriting is not the only way our life is told.  Our unique way of being is evident in the objects we use to decorate our homes, the photos we keep.  It is revealed in the places we go, the friends we spend time with, the books we read, even the searches we enter in Google.  Our origins and patterns are in our genetic code.    Our life paths leave unique traces of which we are only beginning to be aware.

Over the ages, human nature has been surprisingly consistent.  It’s important to know the legends of those who lived before us.  Ancient plotlines reveal precedents that echo in modern-day settings.    Mark Twain once said “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

The word legend comes from the French, meaning “what is to be read.”   Legend also describes a symbolic code which is the key to understanding a map; it allows us to read and navigate a terrain that includes both natural and cultural landmarks. Human nature exists bound up in Nature, and so we must learn to understand our world as our indigenous peoples read the landscape around them.

God is in Holy Scripture, but He is certainly not limited to it.  He continues to speak that Word into our lives today, so that we can courageously meet with both opportunity and challenge.  When God’s ways and God’s stories are written on our hearts we will also create legends in and of our time.

In a land where there are no musicians;
In a land where there are no storytellers, teachers, and poets;
In a land where there are no men and women of vision and leadership;
In a land where there are no legends, saints, and champions;
In a land where there are no dreamers,
The people will most certainly perish.
But you and I, we are the music makers;
We are the storytellers, teachers, and poets;
We are the men and women of vision and leadership;
We are the legends, the saints, and the champions;
And we are the dreamers of the dreams.”

Matthew Kelly

 

When our family was young, neighbouring children were always welcome to come over and hang out.  Our house wasn’t big, but  the activity and laughter was a joy to have around.

Michael, who can’t have been much more than 5 or 6 years old at the time, lived next door;  we’d often answer a knock and see his sunshiny, cherubic face.  He would ask whether our kids could play with him.  They were his official babysitters at times, so he felt at home with them.

One day, I answered the door to find Michael the Warrior standing there.   While Michael’s immediate family wasn’t religious, his extended family was, and he was wearing a costume given to him by his aunt.  He was in his Ephesians 6 regalia, and just had to come over to show us.

In the Jewish scriptures, Michael is the archangel warrior, the prince and protector of Israel.  He is also recognized in Christianity and Islam,  a healer and slayer of dragons.  In Revelation 12:7, we see Michael fighting a battle against the the devil and defeating him.

People want to name their children heroic names; it’s seen as kind of a blessing, or sometimes a remembrance  of someone powerful or dearly loved.   We are more casual about names than people who lived in Biblical times; then it was felt that a name also conferred a calling.  Patriarchs Abram and Jacob were given new names when there was a major shift in identity.

Perhaps we, like innocent children,  have no idea of the epic scale of some of the concepts at play in the world.  The great story of the battle of good versus evil echoes in hundreds of warrior stories.  They are told in obscure places, and set in cultures and their mythologies.

While our children are yet small, we want them to be equipped with all the armour of God to endure and prevail through all the hardships and perils of life.  As adults, we still need all the spiritual armour available to us.

“Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:13-17  

Sometimes, wisdom is revealed from the mouths of babes.  Like it was the day Michael the Warrior showed up on our doorstep.

There was once an elephant who
Was tired of being wrinkled and gray.
He didn’t see what he could do.
So he lay there the livelong day.

Envying the sauntering peacock
Who flaunted his brilliant blue,
And even those black and white
Like the zebras at the zoo.

There he sat, a dejected lump
Till along came a little mouse
Who ran into him with a bump.
Then asked, “What is the matter?”

So the elephant told his tale piteously
As he carefully guarded his trunk.
“I need to watch,” said he warily
Mice can be so hard to get rid of!”

The mouse patiently listened
Until the story was done.
Then said to him, “You know,
I’m gray, too, but life’s still so much fun.”

“You’re big and I’m little
So it’s somewhat strange to me
You’ve made your world so small.
It’s the big picture you need to see.

Open your eyes, take in the view
And use those huge ears to listen!
See the colours that glow all round you.
You’ll soon dance with the music again!

There’s the blue of the sky
And the green of the grass
There’s a scarlet cardinal
Flitting in the tree I just passed.

The sun is shining yellow
Hyacinths purple and blue
Look! Orange tiger lilies and
Pink petunias in front of you!

So instead of wishing
You are what you’re not
Spending the day whining
For all you’ve not got.

Open all the gifts that you see
Though they seem ordinary
They’re part of the world God made.
Live joyfully, live gratefully.

We were given a wonderful world
There’s always something new
Come, friend, let’s travel together
So we can share it with you!”

                                                            Trudy Prins

Annoyingly, I had forgotten something in town, which necessitated going back immediately.   As a result, we opted to change up our regular local walking route, choosing to take the Pinafore Park trail around “Lake” Margaret.

The park was a popular destination, the weather having co-operated by being cold enough to allow skating.  It was exhilarating to see people out: the day before,  we were told, the over-65 seniors challenged the kids in a game and “got their butts kicked.”     Arena sports are currently off-limits, so this brought a bit of impromptu joy into kids’ lives.   It was an old-fashioned scene, harkening back to the days before sports were so organized.  It brought back memories of happy childhood hours skating on the little pond in our farmyard.

Layer on clothes,
Lace up skates
Clomp to the pond
To join our mates.

Venture onto surface ice
Step by step, tiny, halting
Tentative, uncertain
Until we begin a-gliding.

And then we dream of canals
Or maybe a frozen river
So for hours we could skate
On and on, and on forever.

 

As the planets in the sky have blazed
While we stood in awe, amazed,
As we peer into worlds unknown
Where is the path that leads us home?

Lord, You are the truth, the life, the way
The Spirit who leads and guides each day.
The future leads through uncertain place
We are in desperate need of grace.

And as we on Your life do gaze
Our lives in words and deeds shall praise
Your love, your courage as our fears you faced
We journey on this path that first you traced.

On this past winter solstice, December 21, 2020, those of us fortunate enough to have a clear sky caught a glimpse of Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our solar system in the best conjunction since 1226 AD.  The effect is that of a bright star, dubbed a Christmas star.

Was there something similar in their starry night sky that prompted the wise men to journey to find a king?  We wonder if we can trace the path of our past and future in the stars, or whether we really are made of stardust.  We wonder what earth’s future is in this one galaxy, itself among many other galaxies.  We are on a journey, and it seems earth itself is travelling, too.

As we ponder our place in this universe, our paths seem earthbound, mundane.  Daily walks have become more complicated as we zigzag our way around each other to maintain pandemic social distance, a kind of “2020s shuffle.”  The old Family Circle featured cartoons that tracked a child’s random path around a neighbourhood.  Who knows?  Maybe someday we will be able to download a similar history of our lifetime “travels,” from a recording GPS.

There are times when the path has been arduous, or frightening, or seemed to go nowhere.  But we are comforted in knowing that we have a companion who pioneered our earthly and celestial ways.   It is this same Jesus  who now prepares the destination, and who will be welcoming us home.