Clay invites New Arisings

(In this week of deepening disappointment in our newly forming government, I take a risk of being vulnerable to you.)

I bring my shattered self

To sit with my clay at the wheel.

Together we try to get centered

  Give up and just go with what is.

Alas, the vessel is lopsided

I have to trim off the excess

Of clay on the top of the vessel

  To save it from being trashed.

Again and again we’re off center

Until one lump of clay remains.

I release my tight grip on the outcome

  And find that still point of the clay.

I take a moment to breathe

And to sense the calmness within

Then lean in to the work before me

Listening with my fingers to clay.

I remember the beginning of the process

Of holding the clay in my hand

I say YES to the whole of the work

As I throw the lump onto the wheel.

In this time of shock and unknowing,

I seek for the YES in my heart

I want to stay supple and response-able

Like the dance with the clay on the wheel.

When the clay becomes fully centered,

And one hand is deep in the well,

The other hand outside for resistance,

  Pushes the clay upward and onward.

The turn of the wheel and the turn of events

   Blend the opening and resistance,

To reconcile the two opposite forces

  And form a new vessel for use.

I watch for that point of pressure in life

And ask what the resistance desires.

What is the opening that is waiting for voice

And how will God turn a new vessel?

I find I am willing to take some new risks

Of writing and sharing with others.

I first had to trim off the excess of fear

  That holds me captive inside me.

I find my center in being held in God’s hands

And release a tight grip on the future.

This is my way of responding and growing

I invite your own crossing of threshold.

When Herod was king and controlled all the land

God’s love found birth in brave Mary.

The headlines speak control and cut-off of people,

But that is not the whole story.

The whole world is reacting to seismic changes

  And many swing back to find comfort.

Let us seek to move forward, despite the resistance

  And keep growing the love that’s within us.

I trust God to bring together

  the openness to change and resistance.

I’ll reach out to the other and welcome connection

  Leaving the outcome to God.

I say “YES” to the process and throw myself in

To being centered and still in the moment.

I take risks new to me in feeling the forces

Rise up and create something new.

  

Whether you lament or rejoice in the outcome

Of the voice of our country in voting,

Let’s cross the thresholds that invite new risks,

  For the good of ALL of God’s creation.