Lover of Soul(s) and Inviter to the Dance

            This Summer I was at Camp Gilmont for a week of camp as the theme enabler/bible leader.  It was my second summer and I really enjoy it.  I got to spend time with some wonderful kids, fantastic counselors and staff and just chilled.  My total teaching time was a couple of hours a day, so I spent the rest of my time reading, eating, napping, and walking in the woods.  I highly recommend the experience.
            Every afternoon, I would take a 2-3 hour hike on the trails at Camp Gilmont, always trying to go somewhere I had not been before.  Most of the time I tried simply to be present in the woods, looking, listening, paying attention to what is before me and around me.  I tried not to have an agenda.  Just walk and explore, look and see.
            One day a question kept popping in my head.  “What am I supposed to be doing in my life?”  This is the question I have been living with the last four years, especially since I left the church I was serving.  One advantage to serving a church as a pastor is you know what you are supposed to be doing.  Pastors have both job descriptions and job expectations. The challenge as a pastor, at least for me, was that I had too much to do and not enough time to do it.  Surprisingly, these last four years also have been filled with lots to do.  I am always busy with too much to do.  The question is “Is this what I am supposed to be doing?’  How would I know?  I have no job description and no job expectations. This is wonderful in so many ways but doesn’t help me to know what my purpose is. Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?  Is there something else? 
            For those of us who seek to follow Christ, this question becomes a faith question.  Am I being faithful to the One who called me?  I see that I am on a unique journey.  Am I on the right path?  Is there something I am missing?  How will I know?
            Walking that day in the woods at Camp Gilmont, this question kept repeating itself to me, “What am I supposed to be doing?”  I’ve learned that when these questions keep coming at me again and again, it is best not to push them away but to enter into them.  Embrace them. The question is asking that all previous answers be reexamined and redefined.  Look and see.  Be present and explore.
            I sat with my back against a pine tree and looked down the trail at another pine tree.  This second pine tree was over 100 feet tall, an impressive specimen. I stared that this massive tree for a while and decided to ask the tree the question I have been struggling with for so long.  “What am I supposed to be doing?” I asked.  Then I sat in the silence.  For a while. Breathing in.  Breathing out.  Presence.
            Suddenly these words came into my mind. “You are to be Lover of Soul(s) and Inviter to the Dance.”  Was the pine tree responding? Who knows but I believe it was.  The tree was inviting me to see what I had not seen before. 
I am called to love the soul of each person, that part of us where our true self resides, which is our depth, our life, our purpose.  For so many of us the soul resides in the unconscious, the unknown part of us.  It is the place of faith, of hope and of love from which faith, hope, and love break forth into our lives.  Ultimately there is only One Soul, just as there is One Life. I call this One Life/One Soul Christ. We are all unique incarnations of the One Soul, which is why when I love my soul, I love yours and when I love your soul, I love mine.  I am called to be a Lover of this Soul(s).
            What is this Dance to which I am to invite others?  That is what the Wild Mustang Dance blog is about.  The Dance to which I am called. The Dance to which all of us are called – all humans, all creatures, all living things, all that is.  God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in one eternal dance (perichoresis) and Jesus Christ came to make sure we can all join in.  I invite you to continue to read this blog to see all the wonderful ways this Dance unfolds.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Promise to the Ants

My Promise to the Ants             Last month I was at Ghost Ranch Conference Center in New Mexico attending the Seminary of the Wild.   We had been discussing and experiencing the Wild Earth, the Wild Self, and the Wild Christ. Toward the end of the week, we were sent out onto the land to be and listen and be present.   I decided to return to a great cedar tree that I had sat under earlier to listen to who or what would speak.             As I sat there, fire ants started gathering around me.   I could see a huge fire ant mound about twenty yards away and wondered why all these ants were gathering around me.   Much to my surprise, they picked me up and began to carry me toward the mound.   I was not at all sure how they were doing it or why.   They were not gentle as they dragged me over several sharp rocks.   I thought about just stan...
Read more

Playing in Syria

Playing in Syria             In September 2016, I went to Lebanon with a group from Grace Presbytery.   We visited churches in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, part of the Presbyterian family. As part of the trip, we had the option to go into Syria.   Syria was in the midst of its civil war and we were promised that we would go into a part of the country where there was no fighting and where it was safe.   I talked to Crysta, my wife, about entering Syria and she said I could, as long as I did not come back in a body bag.   I decide to go into Syria, intent on avoiding all body bags.             Our small group was led into Syria by Elmarie Parker, a Presbyterian mission co-worker. It took almost three hours for us to cross the border from northern Lebanon.   The Syrian border guards were not sure why a group of Americans woul...
Read more

R.I.P. My Friend, the Thistle

Image
R.I.P. My Friend, the Thistle             Each day as part of the Seminary of the Wild virtual retreat we were invited to go out onto the land. We were instructed to find a portal, something we could cross over or ask permission of in order to begin our wanderings. These portals are important because they help us shift from our ordinary time into the mysterious, where we don’t know what might happen.             On the first day of my wanderings at Erwin Park in McKinney, as I walked from my car, I saw a thistle plant standing tall above the surrounding grasses. I was drawn to this particular thistle plant and went over to look at her.   The thistle had one bud at the top of the stem and a smaller one coming forth from a lower branch. Thistles are fast growing plants and I knew I would enjoy coming each day to see what new growth she had had. I looked at the leave...
Read more