Awake to Awareness

 

We are continuing this week to open our sacred imaginations to the image of treasures in clay vessels.  On Monday, I invited you to start a list of the treasures you have in the clay vessel of the art project called, “Your life”.  Yesterday, we prayed for the treasure we have in the clay vessel of our country.  To be sure, to put a treasure in a container that is fragile is a contradiction.  I wonder if Paul is drawing on what he might have learned in reading the book of Ecclesiastes.  In that book, the author offers the metaphor that all life is like mist.  Mist is something you can feel on your face, taste on the tip of your tongue, but can also quickly evaporate.  You cannot contain or capture mist, it is fleeting and fades fast.  Even though we may not have tactile or tangible evidence, we know the experience of walking through mist, even if we cannot hold it.  So, too, Paul says, the treasures of life are experienced through this clay vessel called human life.  We know that our life is wild and precious.  We know that life is also fragile and can change in the blink of an eye.  Throughout scripture, and the wisdom Paul is pointing to, is to enjoy this present moment as fully as you can.  Too often this moment right here is crammed full of pain from the past or worry about the future or thousands of fictional “what if” scenarios that my creative mind can come up with.  We can physically be in one place and emotionally/intellectually be miles away lost in thought.  The treasure of the clay vessel of your life right here and now today is an invitation for each of us to hold carefully and prayerfully.  To show up, be fully present to the mystery of your life, will take intention and attention.  There are countless ways to do that.  One is to cease trying to multitask.  It can be so easy to try to do two or three things at once.  What if today, you focused on one task at a time and the person right in front of you?  Another way to engage your senses.  A few times today look around at five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can smell, two things you can reach out to touch/feel, and one thing you can taste.  Or a final suggestion is at meals today, try to slow down and savor the food you are eating giving thanks to God.  I don’t claim that any of this will magically make life better or easier.  To be present and show up to your life is a gift of honoring the treasure of being you in this clay vessel of this day.  

Prayer: God awaken me to awareness that You are here with me.  Awaken me to the sacredness woven into moments today. Awaken me to the treasures of those I encourage and each breath I take.  Amen.