14 January 2011

My own "X"

A friend and I are reading a book together, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, by Barbara Brown Taylor.  She's an Episcopal priest who now teaches at Piedmont College in rural northeast Georgia.

It's going to be one of those books that ends up heavily highlighted.  That started two pages into the introduction.  There Ms Taylor managed to identify and illuminate the very thing I've been mulling over for months now:  the longing for something, the longing for something that seems just out of sight or out of reach, the longing for the something more that I, and I suspect lots of people, would like to understand  -- or understand at least a little.
No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it.  The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company.  All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need.  The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are. (xvi-xvii)
Looking toward the 14th fairway
at Pine Ridge Country Club
The yellow tree demanded to be noticed.
There's way too much to say in response to that paragraph in a single day's posting, especially late as it is.  Perhaps these images made since the first of the year shed light on my own "X."



Belle's feet front feet during a nap

Ice patterns on our front sidewalk two
days after the January 2010 snow

Looks like I'm standing in a pretty good place, huh?  I just have to keep looking around.

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