Monday, December 31, 2007

From "Here to There": Celebrating the Leap into 2008!

Friends,

Please join in celebrating the sweet steps, jumps, leaps! that we all are invited to take into the New Year....I want to recognize the courage and faith that any inching-forward requires, and simultaneously hold the beauty of being still in the present moment.

Hmmm...Yes!

My dear Phillipian faith friend and love, Michael Benham, sent the image and poem above, as part of his New Year's Greeting. Michael's work always inspires me. And this Benham-special I thought a perfect way to close out my own year and usher in the new...

As I've not posted a blog in over a month, Michael's words here have a buoying effect, inspiring not just a year-end entry in this online-meditation-space, they also arrive as invitation to imagine that which seems impossible, and "go for it!"

"It's the belief that we can not do it/ and still take that leap"

This past six weeks of quiet in the blog-sphere has been a kind of equivalent to my sizing up the jump ahead. I have been feeling like what I imagine Jimmie, (the sweet child in the picture) to be feeling before his leap: fear, possible trepidation, doubt.
"Is this physically possible? How much momentum do I need?
Can I calculate my landing point before I jump?
Are bruised limbs, or broken bones a possible consequence?
If so, who will pick me up?
Could I die?"
HA!

But Michael's picture is not about the before or after: he's captured the mid-way point! And it seems to me to celebrate the process of leaping in and of itself!

So: as I hold fast (and as loosely as possible) to my own fears, and cling to the voice and invitation of God-within me to do what I feel called to do, I similarly invite you to do the same. Don't get too hung up on what the outcome will be in your new years' ventures, just trust yourself, and take one step towards that.

(This will hopefully be the last cliche-like, Hallmark-card-kind-of-advice-writing-that I ever do.)

Now: Happy New Year!

Blessings!

I Hope this hasn't made anyone puke!

Peace and Inspiration in your world!

Till 2008,
Love,
Melissa