What Ever Things are Lovely


No surprise to those who know me,I'm a voracious reader. I prefer reading to most things that take up our time. I prefer reading to movies and television...to soduko and crossword puzzles...to facebook and farmville... to Hearts and Solitare. You get the picture.

Years ago I had an ongoing conversation with a friend about the kinds of things I read; much of which I consumed as fodder for the next thing I would write. It was for me one of those uncomfortable seasons of discernment about my very being. Am I more than what I do professionally? Is there room for a small percentage of reading material for "me" and not for "Rev. Dr." I don't think that conversation ever came to a conclusion. I didn't start reading trashy novels to compensate for the many volumes of theology and religious history! I did begin to read more poetry.

That conversation bubbled back up to a conscious level as I looked at the book on the glass coffee table, marked by a creased page -93- I'm half way through. THE SOUND OF A WILD SNAIL EATING, by Elisabeth Tova Bailey, doesn't at first seem like something I'd read. For library purposes you can find it under: "1.snails as pets-anecdotes. Gastropoda-Physiology. 3. Gastropods-Anatomy. 4.Bailey, Elisabet Tove-Health. 5. Chronically ill-Biography. All this for someone who never took any science class beyond required sophomore Biology in high school. [Bless you Sister Marie Frances wherever you are]

I smiled this morning when I looked down at the pencil drawing of the small friendly-looking Gastropod on the dust jacket of the book. [Don't ask me how I know he looked friendly] But the next thoughts came quickly: "What a curious choice of reading material for me. Why did I ever pick this up off the shelf? It could become one of my favorite books, right up there with GIFT FROM THE SEA by Anne Morrow Lindbergh." All these thoughts jettisoned me back to the observations and conversations about what I read and why from long ago. Could this single-footed creature have something to tell me?

I feel as though his crossing my path has brought resolution to the reading dilemma which has remained an open question for me. The dichotomy which I couldn't seem to address was perhaps not able to be solved/resolved, because it was false. At the very ground of my being (occupational hazard aside) is a thirst, a quest, a passion, a quiet calling, for beauty that erases the ugliness of the world... for truth that wipes out what is false... for rightness that stands to halt injustice... or in the words of the author of Philippians: "Finally, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." My reading habits aren't single-focused because my credentials begin with "Rev. Dr." -- I'm drawn, perhaps even compelled to read things which sit well with my soul.

Yesterday I went outside the front door of Peace River Spirituality center and picked up one of the many snails that live there. I made a new home for him in a large container filled with damp soil, clean water, rotting leaves, and fresh egg shells. [Take my word for it, snails like all these things] Today, I'll shop for some nice mushrooms for his dinner.

Whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, whatever is noble, lovely... meditate on these things. Perhaps I have a voracious appetite for such as these, so that I can share from this well with others. I know that I've personally been healed by what has come to me from the pages of a Book. What kinds of things do you meditate on?
PEACE AND JOY TO YOU, THE CELTIC MONK

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