33 - Already?
Hard to believe we've reached July already, this year has gone by in what feels like a flash. But warm temperatures are here to keep us company, and the Midway is right around the corner! Very exciting times, and I am very much looking forward to catching up with family and friends, and hope you too have some plans this week. It can be easy to overlook and focus on other priorities, but take this as a gentle reminder that our faith asks us to deliberately strive to make time for our holy days - particularly the Midway.
The Midway asks us two things: (i) look back and reflect, how have you bettered yourself and your community, and (ii) spend time with ones you care for. Finding time with others can be tricky, but is essentially a clerical exercise of finding the time. Looking back and engaging in reflection is the more difficult task, real yeoman's work. Let's touch on ways we can streamline this process!
As a preparatory step, or if scheduling issues persist, engage in the Ritual of Introspection. Consider recent events and view them with a critical eye, perhaps through a lens that you might not have applied in the moment. One approach I've heard is to imagine a person a bit better than yourself (smarter, faster, cleverer), and then think, what would they have done? What approach might they take? It sounded silly to me at first, but the more I tried it the more I came to appreciate the depth of meaning embedded in those words.
You can engage in the Liturgy of Connection with others - discuss recent events in your lives. Share happy news, or something that may have troubled you. Discuss positive outcomes or brainstorm alternative approaches to situations you felt could have gone better. Sharing good and bad benefits each of us, and getting a second opinion can always help - and it echoes the Fourth Keystone - Endeavor to learn new things and be educated by others.
For the very intrepid among us, the Midway celebration can be an opportunity to engage in the Ritual of Community, and in concert with quality time with loved ones, some efforts can be put forward and invested into your shared community.
Now this is also an excellent reminder of the First Keystone - Strive to be efficient, competent and autonomous. If the Five Keystones are our guide posts, the First is our lodestar, guiding each of us as we sail through life's unknowns. Often it can be difficult to make plans with others and even follow-through on plans already made. But the celebration of the Midway and the spirit behind it are more than worthy aims in their own right. They represent the very calling of our faith and the very reason we do what we do in life.
It is not always easy to walk the path of the Paraclete, but we must find that energy for our sake and for the sake of our environment and community.
This is the tide that lifts all ships.
This is the Way.
