Lessons from A Hurricane

One day I arrived at work and it was as if a hurricane blew through my life. Everything was in upheaval. The external arrangements at work were changing. What we did and how we did it was suddenly altered. My place within the organization was changed. The hurricane also scattered my interior world. It was as if I’d left the windows of my home open and the wind had uprooted trees, torn off the shutters, and scattered my papers and belongings around the house. Disruption arrived.

Can you relate? When have you had a ‘hurricane’ blow through your life?

In the following weeks which turned into months, I sought to restore order both to my external and internal world. I offer you a series of reflections entitled ‘Lessons from the Hurricane’. The first is…

Soul Windows

When I arrived at work that day it was, within my soul, balmy and mild – a lovely summer day. My soul windows were wide open, welcoming all who came my way.

Thich Nhat Hanh uses that expression to describe the openness of our being to what is around us – to the TV shows, the internet, the advertising, the conversations, the interactions with strangers, friends, colleagues and family. And yes, we want to be open, but open wisely for sometimes we need to close our windows. Sometimes, during a TV program, or work project, or conversation,  when we can feel the loss of peace within us, it’s time to close a bit. We are to “Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.” (Colossians 3.15).

That sense of peace is my known experience. I’ve come to value it deeply. When the hurricane blew, I lost my sense of interior peace.  I lived for the next few months rarely knowing interior peace. It was like crossing a rushing river with stepping stones. Occasionally I’d find a solid moment till the next rush unsettled me. One day from a scripture study in Colossians I was reminded that peace was to be my lived experience. It is the gift God gives to us when our lives are reconciled with the Divine.  We are at Peace with our Maker and that peace is to permeate our daily life. That awareness from the scripture study was like a hand reaching out to rescue me. I sought to grasp that hand and decided that nothing is more valuable than recovering the Peace that is God’s gift to me.

One lesson for me from the hurricane has been a deeper awareness that I have ‘soul windows’.  I am responsible for both opening and closing my windows. Next time more about healthy ways to close soul windows.

What does the expression ‘soul window’ mean to you?

Peace crossing the river…

Anne

Community Leader Canada

Contemplative Fire